Bad Lieutenant

Horrorphile

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Horrorphile - May 2008

Bad Lieutenant

May 23rd 2008 05:44

“I’ve been dodging bullets since I was 14. No one can kill me, I’m blessed. I’m a fucking Catholic.”

Abel Ferrara’s searing indictment on what it is to be weak in a world corrupted by sin; Bad Lieutenant (1992) is a big ugly blister of a film. The Catholic guilt movie to end all Catholic guilt movies. Harvey Keitel as the eponymous lieutenant delivers the most wrenching, unapologetic and downright naked performance of his career.

Harvey Keitel IS the bad lieutenant

As Keitel read the script he didn’t want to do the film, but by the time he’d finished it he realised he had to do it. It was a calling. A mighty challenge, of course, but nevertheless he knew the film would be instrumental in helping him address his own inner demons. Abel Ferrara was his saviour leading him where angels fear to tread.

The bad lieutenant and colleagues have a pow wow over the Mets

The film’s plot is a bare bones tale of crime, punishment and redemption. Over the course of several days the film follows the ins and outs, the daily grind so to speak, of a New York cop, who is pushing his luck as far as it will go. He’s a husband, a father, gambler, a thief, a pervert, a junkie, with a licence to kill. We watch him snort coke, smoke crack, and inject heroin. We watch him gamble his life savings away whilst casually watching street crims steal from car boots. We watch him cavort with prostitutes and transvestites, and sexually harass teenage girls. We watch him scoff and abuse the mobster whom he owes too much money.

This officer of the law is a very troubled and dangerous man. It is only a matter of time …

Bad Lieutenant Zoe Lund and Harvey Keitel

Zoe Lund adminsters the cop his fix

Abel Ferrara is credited with co-writing the screenplay with the late Zoe Lund, the star of another of his controversial movies, Ms. 45 (1981, aka Angel of Vengeance). She plays a small part as a junkie friend, in what appear to be very realistic scenes of chasing the dragon and shooting up (apparently the actor was a staunch advocate of smack). Talk about Method acting! Imdb.com also credits Victor Argo and Paul Calderon, who both play police colleagues, as co-writers. I’m sure you could add Keitel as well, since it’s well known both he and Ferrara rely on improvisation as much as possible.

Bad Lieutenant Frankie Thorn and Harvey Keitel

The cop questions the nun (Frankie Thorn) about faith and forgiveness

The crucial sub-plot (if you can call it that) is the rape of a nun and how the lieutenant deals with it. He eventually confronts her at the altar after she’s been released from hospital. She has forgiven her attackers and the bad cop can’t fathom her decision. It leaves him reeling and sobbing in desperation. Christ appears before him and he begs for forgiveness. But he’s not strong enough. He’s simply too weak.

The cop at the end of his tether

Bad Lieutenant was released in America in a cut form and rated R. In the States it currently holds an NC-17, which is the equivalent of an X. Curiously the movie gained media attention in the music industry when it was hit with copyright infringement over the use of a Schoolly D. rap song Signifying Rapper which illegally uses a sample of Lez Zeppelin's Kashmir. Bad Lieutenant is certainly a film for adults; an urban nightmare of rage and contempt searching for solace and peace of mind.

Don't point unless you intend to shoot, and don't shoot unless you intend to kill

Ferrara has had an uneven career and has had terrible luck with trying to get his films distributed both in America and internationally. Bad Lieutenant is arguably his most powerful and most disturbing film, and it rides along with The Funeral, The Addiction and King of New York as his best work.

Here's the cop being bad in a blackly comic kinda way (Warning! Not work safe!):

Here's the cop in agony:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

9 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

May 23rd 2008 08:46

For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics

Man that is one long scene to have a grown man blubbering like a baby.

Comment by Bryn

May 23rd 2008 20:01

Horrorphile

Damo, you couldn't have said it better. You'd love this film ... if you haven't already seen it. There's so much food for thought in the most corrrupt way. Dig deeo and ye shall find ...

Comment by Cibbuano

May 24th 2008 02:37

20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

Great review... I've only seen part of this - would definitely love to see it again!

Comment by notes-from-the-other-side

May 24th 2008 03:24

the thing about this movie is the amount of coke he does.

that´s no effect man, the thing is there and then is no more.

Comment by Bryn

May 25th 2008 05:48

Horrorphile

hi notes ... are you trying to say you think Keitel is really snorting coke? which I doubt very much

Comment by stu-kicks

May 30th 2008 04:17

Harvey keital rules and is awesome in Taxi Driver!!!

Comment by Bryn

May 30th 2008 05:26

Horrorphile

stu ... didn't expect to see you here. you've actually said something that i agree with.

Comment by stu-kicks

May 31st 2008 00:39

hes mad in it especially the end bit when he kills everyone and puts hes finger to his head like a gun

Comment by Bryn

May 31st 2008 04:18

Horrorphile

dude ... (shaking my head) ... that's Robert de Niro who goes balastic at the end of Taxi Driver, not Harvey Keitel. Harvey is in Taxi Driver, but he plays Sport, the pimp whom Travis (De Niro) shoots outside ... .... .... or are you just winding me up?

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