Arrow Video's 4K Scan Of Writer/Director William Friedkin's Cruising Available On Blu-ray On Aug. 20

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has announced a new 4K scan from the original camera negative (approved and supervised by the filmmaker himself) of writer/director William Friedkin’s 1980 film adaptation of New York Times report Gerald Walker’s 1970 novel, Cruising.

The Blu-ray presentation will be available on Aug. 20.

Interest in the book as a film adaptation — a story about an undercover cop investigating a serial killer of gay men in the Greenwich Village area of New York City — begin as early as 1971, with industry trade reports surfacing in 1972 indicating that Paul Morrissey, fresh from the underground success of Trash (1970) and Women in Revolt (1971), had signed on as the director of the project.

Production was to begin in early 1973, with both Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges (who had both come to prominence after their 1971 performances in The Last Picture Show) being considered for the role of the undercover detective.   However, the project blew up and Morrissey turned his attention to what would become his cult masterpieces, Flesh for Frankenstein (1973) and Blood for Dracula (1974).

It wasn’t until 1979, when producer Jerry Weintraub (who had been chalking up annual Emmy Awards nominations for his TV music specials featuring the likes of John Denver and Neil Diamond) entered the picture and William Friedkin came onboard as the director, that Cruising was back in the limelight.

A backstory appeared in the New York Times indicating that Weintraub had been in contact with the filmmaker over a number of years to direct the project, but Friedkin was concerned that he didn’t fully understand the culture.   Although he had adapted Mart Crowley’s gay “cat-fight” play, The Boys in the Band, back in 1970 (prior to the success of both The French Connection and The Exorcist), Cruising was a very different world.   After some research, Friedkin decided to adapt the book himself … he took the barebones of Walker’s novel and freely adapted, which he kept secret during the film’s production.

Filming begin in July of 1979 — with a ten-week New York City shooting schedule — with Al Pacino in the role of Steve Burns/John Forbes, the undercover cop assigned to investigate the series of murders.   All hell broke loose among the gay community in New York City (familiar with the book), who did everything possible to disrupt the filming.

Even after the film was “in the can,” the controversy continued as the MPAA kept slapping the X-rating on it, which was cut, cut and re-cut to finally achieve the coveted R-rating.   This didn’t satisfy exhibitors who, despite the R-rating, treated the film, because of its subject matter, as an X-rated release.

Friedkin’s adaptation of Cruising turns out to be part detective-thriller — who is stalking and killing gay men in Greenwich Village — mixed with the changes that Pacino’s character undergoes (i.e. “messed up”) while undercover.   The ending, although ambivalent, suggests that while undercover Pacino’s character may have committed one of the murders.

Bonus features include an archival commentary from filmmaker William Friedkin and two previously released production featurettes — “The History of Cruising” and “Exorcizing Cruising.”