Prince Of The City vs. CruisingPrince Of The CityBefore this film had come out, Sidney Lumet had already created a great film about morality and police corruption in the NYPD in
Serpico. Well, he has done is again in this film as well. Treat Williams stars as Daniel Ciello, a corrupt New York narcotics detective who volunteers himself to go out and expose corrupt cops. It is a shame he was not nominated for Academy Award for his performance. He did get a Golden Globe nomination, which is nice. Even with that said, it is Jerry Orbach who steals the movie as Gus Levy. The only Oscar nod this film received was for it’s screenplay, which is brilliant. The film is structured so well and Lumet and his writing partnerJay Presson Allen are able to nail down cop dialogue brilliantly. Sidney Lumet has proven time and time again that he can make a really great drama an/or thriller. More people need to check this film out because it is right up there, I feel, with
Serpico as a great cop film.
CruisingI defended William Friedkin last time on this bracket because I had a lot of fun with
To Live And Die In L.A.. However, with this film, I can not. This film is chaotic, incoherent, and homophobic. In fact, when this was originally released, one man went into a gay bar and shot two men after seeing this film. It portrays just about all gay men as those who are always strapped in leather. Some say that this is just a portrait of that section of the gay community, but you never see any other section in the film to compare it to. I think that the filmmakers believed this was an accurate portrayal of the gay community. But the film itself is just lousy on its own terms. The plot is ridiculous and Pacino is just on the verge from going from
Dog Day Afternoon to full on “Hoo-Ahh!”. This film is a mess, avoid it.
Winner And Advancement To Next Round:
Prince Of The City