Sing-a-long-with-Pacino

What is it about 1979-1980 that just won't go away the past couple of weeks?

Okay, I gave in and bought the Cruising DVD this week. There was something deliciously subversive about nabbing it at a Best Buy next to all the copies of 30 Rock and The Office. It plays pretty much exactly as it did when I last saw it 27 years ago. My memory has fuzzed nothing, but the context is all different. When I saw it in a dim screening room in 1980 with a bunch of middle aged straight guys I sat transfixed while they laughed non-stop. This time I sat transfixed and laughed non-stop.

Who'd have guessed Al Pacino was such a deft comedian? The scene of him dancing with the other guy as they growl and chew on a skanky hanky is one of the most knee-slapping hilarious moments ever committed to celluloid. Some folks implied that he distanced himself from the flick for being perceived as gay in real life, but nothing confirms his pure hetero orientation as well as that scene. And he called that dancing? Stop it, Al, I may bust a gut laughing! The other hilarious bit is that Al's character is described as "a man in his late 20s." Yeah, right, and I'm a high school senior.

The interviews with the people behind the movie are pretty odd, as is the film itself, making you wonder who in the world they thought would see it. Gene Davis, the brother of Brad Davis, is rather memorable as a leather clad tranny in platinum wig and pumps. He's a fierce tranny with a heart who's tired of crap from the cops, a much more positive image than the one in Dressed to Kill from the same year.

What's easiest to overlook is that the film has some of the best music ever in a gay oriented movie. I'd take this soundtrack over the one from The Birdcage any day. No ABBA, Gloria Gaynor or other crap that sends this homo out the door. Actually some pretty cool minimalist proto-punk tunes. If they played this at Badlands, I might actually go there.

It's surprising that it never found a midnight movie audience, since some of the lines just call out for audience response, especially the killer's "You made me do it," which makes want to sing out "...and all the time you knew it/I guess you always knew it./You made me happy sometimes, you made me glad." Since I've always despised The Sound of Music, I've never had the slightest desire to go to one of those damned sing-a-longs. However, a sing-a-long Cruising is a Saturday night to remember in my book. Hey, the killer was a music theater major at Columbia anyway. You bring the amyl nitrate, and I'll bring the whips.