Cruising (1980 Future Cult Classic)

The twelfth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1980 features our future cult classic pick, William Friedkin’s Cruising. Written and directed by William Friedkin (based on the novel by Gerald Walker) and starring Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox and Don Scardino, Cruising was met with controversy and criticism on its release but has since been reassessed and appreciated.

The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/cruising-1980), Frank Rich in Time magazine (https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,921835,00.html), and Charles Champlin in the Los Angeles Times (https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2010/02/charles-champlin-on-cruising.html).

Special thanks to our guest Mike Prevatt for joining us. You can follow Mike on Twitter @mikeprevatt and hear his work on KNPR 88.9-FM in Las Vegas and at https://knpr.org

Please like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in for the next 1980 installment, featuring our audience choice poll winner, John Carpenter’s The Fog.