Cruising

It’s refreshing to see Al Pacino in a movie where he isn’t screaming his lines. “YOU’RE OUT OF ORDER!” and “ATTICA!” or “YOU’RE AN ABSENTEE LANDLORD” or how about “I’D TAKE A FLAME-THROWER TO THIS PLACE!” He’s surprisingly restrained and subtle in a movie that, if it were released today, would probably receive an X rating. Admittedly, though, I was baffled by the ending, and therefore couldn’t really reconcile the plot. But there are great performances here and director Friedkin confidently takes us to a place we have never been before: a land of fetish cops and Crisco fists.