Bad Lieutenant
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| Bad Lieutenant | |
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 Film poster for Bad Lieutenant |
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| Directed by | Abel Ferrara |
| Produced by | Mary Kane Edward Pressman |
| Written by | Abel Ferrara Zoe Lund |
| Starring | Harvey Keitel Victor Argo Paul Calderon |
| Music by | Joe Delia |
| Cinematography | Ken Kelsch |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate Films |
| Release date(s) | November 20, 1992 |
| Running time | 96 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Bad Lieutenant is a 1992 film crime drama directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Harvey Keitel as the titular "bad lieutenant". The screenplay was written by actress-model Zoë Tamerlis under the name "Zoë Lund." Tamerlis also played a small role in the film. Tamerlis had been discovered by Ferrara and had starred in his earlier film, Ms. 45.
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[edit] Plotline
We first see Keitel's nameless character advising his two sons on how to answer back to their aunt Wendy, which serves as a foreshadowing of his behavior through the rest of the film, in which he takes a twisted delight in humiliating women, most notoriously in the scene where he stops a couple of underage girls without a driving license and demands sexual favors in exchange for letting them off.
The "Bad Lieutenant" also is a drug-using gambler who finds himself plunged into debt when the New York Mets win the National League Championship Series after trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers and former Met Darryl Strawberry 3-0. The Mets' comeback is a sort of "minor miracle" that defies the Lieutenant's lack of faith and parallels his eventual redemption. The Lieutenant is also regularly linked with the prodigal Strawberry. The turning point in the film arrives when the Lieutenant investigates the rape of a nun and uses this as a chance to confront his inner demons and perhaps achieve redemption.
[edit] Alternate Versions
Blockbuster Video, the largest video rental company in the United States, had a policy prohibiting the purchase and rental of NC-17 movies. An R rated cut was created specifically so that Blockbuster would rent out the film. The R rated version is a full 5 minutes shorter than the original.
Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page got upset when he found out that the song Kashmir was sampled in the Schoolly D song Signifying Rapper that played just after Keitel drops off his kids, powders his nose, and drives off at the beginning of the movie, giving a strong musical underline to the appearing duality of the anti-hero's personality. The sample had not been cleared by Schoolly D's record company. A lawsuit forced the removal of the song from the soundtrack on some VHS and all DVD versions of the film.
[edit] Critical evaluation
Mark Kermode has mentioned that the movie was praised as "a powerful tale of redemptive Catholicism". [1]
Roger Ebert stated: "in the bad lieutenant, Keitel has given us one of the great screen performances in recent years" [2]
[edit] External links
Nicky's Film • The Hold Up • The Driller Killer • Ms. 45 • Fear City • China Girl (film) • Cat Chaser • King of New York • Bad Lieutenant • Body Snatchers • Dangerous Game • The Addiction • The Funeral • The Blackout • New Rose Hotel • R Xmas • Mary
