Cruising

Roxy Cinema presents a special screening of William Friedkin’s controversial thriller Cruising, one of the most debated and discussed films in LGBTQ+ cinema history. Starring Al Pacino, the 1980 film follows a New York City police detective who goes undercover in the city’s leather and BDSM subculture to investigate a series of murders targeting gay men.

Set against the backdrop of late-1970s Manhattan, Cruising offers a rare cinematic glimpse into New York’s pre-AIDS queer nightlife. Filmed in and around actual leather bars and underground clubs, the movie inadvertently became an invaluable time capsule of LGBTQ+ spaces and communities that would soon be profoundly transformed by the AIDS epidemic. While intended as a crime thriller, the film has since taken on new significance as a document of queer history.

Upon its release, Cruising sparked widespread protests from LGBTQ+ activists, who criticized the film for reinforcing negative stereotypes about gay men and portraying queer spaces as dangerous and violent. Demonstrators attempted to disrupt production during filming, and the controversy surrounding the movie has continued for decades. At the same time, many contemporary critics and scholars have revisited the film, arguing that it offers a more complex portrait of identity, desire, and masculinity than was initially recognized.

Today, Cruising occupies a unique place in queer film history. It remains both controversial and essential viewing, prompting conversations about representation, censorship, and the evolution of LGBTQ+ visibility in mainstream cinema. Whether viewed as a flawed thriller, an important historical artifact, or both, the film continues to generate discussion more than forty years after its release.

Presented at Roxy Cinema, this screening offers audiences the opportunity to revisit one of the most provocative films ever made about New York’s gay underground and to reflect on its enduring cultural legacy.