{"id":2236,"date":"2024-08-12T03:40:54","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T03:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2236"},"modified":"2024-10-14T13:16:49","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:16:49","slug":"bad-lieutenant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/12\/bad-lieutenant\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad Lieutenant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Bad Lieutenant<\/strong> (1992)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Aries Films\/Drama-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated NC-17 (sexual violence, strong sexual situations and dialogue, graphic drug use, pervasive bad language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Abel Ferrara\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Zoe Lund and Abel Ferrara\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Joe Delia\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ken Kelsch\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 15, 1993 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Paul Calderone, Leonard Thomas, Robin Burrows, Frankie Thorn, Victoria Bastel, Paul Hipp, Eddie Daniels, Bianca Hunter, Zoe Lund, Vincent Laresca, Fernando Velez, Joseph Michael Cruz, Frank Adonis, Anthony Ruggiero.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $2M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0In Abel Ferrara\u2019s entire body of work, none of his films are as divisive as Bad Lieutenant<\/strong>, a drama of uncompromising honesty about its main character\u2019s total absence of humanity or anything even remotely resembling common decency. Some say it\u2019s a brilliant character study; others call it vile and dirty. Don\u2019t they realize that \u201cvile and dirty\u201d is precisely the point of Bad Lieutenant<\/strong>? It\u2019s about a man with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He\u2019s so filled with self-loathing and rage, it\u2019s a wonder he hasn\u2019t already imploded.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Harvey Keitel (Reservoir Dogs) plays the bad lieutenant of the title, a character not given a name because that would imply something about him is still human. That\u2019s all gone. What\u2019s left is a shell of a man on the verge of total self-destruction. Let\u2019s call him LT. He spends his days flouting the law he\u2019s supposed to uphold and his nights in a haze of booze, drugs and illicit sex with hookers. He provides dealers with stolen drugs in exchange for a cut of the profits. At the scene of a grocery store stick-up, he takes the money off the thieves and pockets it in full view of the owner\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A compulsive gambler, he\u2019s up to his chin in debt to his bookie. It keeps growing because he keeps doubling his bets on the losing team of the National League Championship Series. In one truly shocking episode, he pulls over two teenage girls from Jersey driving their father\u2019s car without a license and without permission. Instead of arresting them, he does something incredibly gross and reprehensible (not to mention illegal). To call LT a dirty cop would be a vast understatement.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The movie\u2019s central theme is redemption. LT sees a chance at it when a nun (Thorn) is beaten and raped in her church. He\u2019s all set to deliver justice in a style befitting Charles Bronson when he gets something of a shock to his system. The good sister knows her rapists, but refuses to name them because she\u2019s already forgiven them. He doesn\u2019t get it. How can she forgive them for such a heinous crime? HOWEVER, if she can forgive her rapists, maybe there\u2019s a chance for him. As the film progresses, guilt consumes him to the point where he finds himself screaming at a vision of Christ.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Given all the degradation in which he swims, LT is easily Keitel\u2019s boldest performance to date. I\u2019ve seen Bad Lieutenant<\/strong> a few times and still can\u2019t believe the depths to which his character sinks. The way he plunges the depths of what\u2019s left of his character\u2019s soul is beyond amazing. This is an individual not comfortable in his own skin. He\u2019s equally uncomfortable playing at leading a normal middle class existence with a family and home in the suburbs. He can barely stand his own kids. When they show affection, he doesn\u2019t even react. He sleeps on the couch indicating that intimacy with his wife is a thing of the past. His family has adjusted to his madness accordingly. As the movie progresses, he spends less and less time there. It\u2019s the final leg of his journey to self-annihilation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Catholicism is another important theme of Bad Lieutenant<\/strong>. Like Scorsese, Ferrara makes frequent and effective use of religious iconography. It\u2019s an indicator of Catholic guilt on LT\u2019s part. Deep down, he feels bad for his sins and wishes to atone, but isn\u2019t sure it he even deserves it. He\u2019s what you call a lapsed Catholic, a VERY lapsed Catholic. He indulges in every vice on the planet yet he\u2019s still outraged about a nun getting raped in a church. He\u2019s a complex character to say the least.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ferrara, with the valuable assistance of cinematographer Ken Kelsch, pulls you right into the sewer with its title character. It\u2019s a raw and gritty piece that lays bare what\u2019s left of its main character\u2019s soul. Shot non-intrusively on grainy film stock, it allows the viewer to observe everything objectively. At the same time, it brings the viewer too close to a subject most wouldn\u2019t touch with a 100-foot pole.<\/p>\n

\u00a0You are going to want a hot shower after watching Bad Lieutenant<\/strong>. It\u2019s not an easy film to watch. The pain of watching LT hit rock bottom is palpable as is the sleaze he wallows in. For me, the experience was enhanced by seeing it at a small Center City movie house that specialized in non-mainstream films. It wasn\u2019t the cleanest theater in the world nor the most technologically advanced. It just felt right. Funny, since nothing that happens in Bad Lieutenant<\/strong> is even close to right. If you can handle it, it\u2019s one of Ferrara\u2019s best movies.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bad Lieutenant (1992)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Aries Films\/Drama-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated NC-17 (sexual violence, strong sexual situations and dialogue, graphic drug use, pervasive bad language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Abel Ferrara\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Zoe Lund and Abel Ferrara\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Joe Delia\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ken Kelsch\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 15, 1993 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Paul Calderone, Leonard Thomas, Robin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Bad-Lieutenant-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2236"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3171,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236\/revisions\/3171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}