Bad Lieutenant (1992)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Abel Ferrara

Writers:

Victor Argo (writer)
Paul Calderon (writer)

Release Date:

20 November 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Gambler. Thief. Junkie. Killer. Cop.

Plot:

While investigating a young nun's rape, a corrupt New York City police detective, with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness.

Plot Keywords:

Nun | Lieutenant | Drugs | Rape | Police

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Harvey Keitel	...	The Lieutenant
Victor Argo	...	Beat Cop
Paul Calderon	...	Cop #1 (as Paul Calderone)
Leonard L. Thomas	...	Cop #2 (as Leonard Thomas)
Robin Burrows	...	Ariane
Frankie Thorn	...	The Nun
Victoria Bastel	...	Bowtay
Paul Hipp	...	Jesus
Brian McElroy	...	Lieutenant's Son (#1)
Frankie Acciarito	...	Lieutenant's Son (#2)
Peggy Gormley	...	Lieutenant's Wife
Stella Keitel	...	Lieutenant's Daughter
Dana Dee	...	Lieutenant's Baby Girl
Anthony Ruggiero	...	Lite
Vincent Laresca	...	J.C.

MPAA:

Rated NC-17 for sexual violence, strong sexual situations & dialogue, graphic drug use.; Rated R for drug use, language, violence and nudity. (edited version)

Runtime:

96 min | 91 min (R-rated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM14 (cut) | Italy:VM18 | Ireland:18 (IFCO) | Finland:K-16 (heavily cut) (1994) | South Korea:18 | France:-16 | Japan:R-18 | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (1993) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Denmark:16 | Hungary:16 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:R | Germany:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:NC-17 | USA:R (cut) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) (cut) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Bad Lt. Productions

Trivia:

Co-writer Zoë Lund plays the women that Harvey Keitel's character does drugs with in her home.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the Lieutenant apprehends the two rapists from the crack house, he puts both of them in the back seat. However, when he gets into his car, one of them is in the front seat. Later, when they all get out at the Port Authority Terminal, both are back in the rear seat.

Quotes:

[crying to a hallucination of Jesus Christ]
The Lieutenant: I'm sorry, Lord. I've done so many bad things.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Short Film About the Long Career of Abel Ferrara (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

SIGNIFYING RAPPER

Intense, subtle, and in some ways unique- Bad Lieutenant is the sleeper of 1992

Abel Ferrara has on his hands a small masterwork of one man's existence in the doldrums, and he has such a way of dealing with "the streets" as a perpetually gritty, hellish world in a movie that I didn't disbelieve it for a second. In a sense he can be compared to the likes of Scorsese, however he certainly works in a different frame of honesty in mind in depicting his lead character and those he encounters. At the core of this extremely well made, unconventional film is the best performance Harvey Keitel delivered in the nineties, a bravado piece of work in which he bares all of the qualities that can make up the badness in the lieutenant. The Lieutenant spends little time with his kids, and when he does is hardly happy, and when he leaves them he goes into the underworld to do coke, crack and heroin, gulps down alcohol like Evian, and tries to cling onto whatever dignity he has left in betting on the Mets in the championship series.

When a startling case occurs - a nun is raped by two street kids - the lieutenant is on the scene, however fogged in his muck, and can't understand how somebody, even a nun, can forgive such a crime. This leads into the third act of the film, and this is where the work propels itself into a higher ground, mature, spiritual, and ultimately fascinating in every aspect. Overall, Bad Lieutenant is a lean, un-abashed first-person singular in a rather sophisticated delivery. We are delivered a character, like Alex in Clockwork Orange for example, who is not even a half-way decent person. But just by the way Ferrara and Keitel bring us into his world, and the details of his existence, a viewer can start to understand that the film works on other levels besides those of a conventional "all around bad-cop" story.