Bad Lieutenant (1992)

BAD LIEUTENANT IS A HIT AND MISS BUT MOSTLY IT'S AMAZING!

I am reviewing this because I am a guy that likes Bad Cop/Good Cop movies. With this movie, "The Bad Lieutenant" it's from the same director that did, "King of New York" Which was one of my favorite movies of all time.

Bad Lieutenant has a lot of things going for it. It was a very well pace movie, but also savage and sometimes strange. Yes there are some parts in this movie that is kind of a hit and miss, but most its a very good movie that I am glad was made.

If you like these type of movies, the Bad Lieutenant is a good choice for any die hard fan of these movies.

P.S. There is a remake coming in 2009 with Nicolas Cage. Which the director has already said it was not going to be a remake. We'll just have to see and wait. June 14, 2008

To the depths of hell and clawing his way out

Whisper his name. Harvey Keitel. Shout his name. Harvey Keitel. No matter. He did not win any awards for this role, this damnation, this damned man, a police detective in "Bad Lieutenant."

There's a song, "Bad to the Bone," which might sum up the detective, or it might not be strong enough because Harvey Keitel's character is bad to the bone and then some. He lives as a family man, but on the edge, clearly not part of this family, a stuffed man, stuffed with aloneness, stuffed with horrors of his own making. Director Abel Ferrara's filming technique extends this isolation by making the movie look like a docudrama. Filmed on location. No takes. Shoot as is. Keep the cameras rolling.

He starts the day clean as he drops his two sons off at school. During the course of the day he investigates two vicious murders, a store theft he turns to his advantage by keeping the stolen money, does drugs with a stoned out, emaciated redhead, and engages in a menage-a-trois with two women. During this scene he evens out the equal rights debate for male actors to engage in full frontal nudity. Yes, he does. Then he gets his life-defining case--the vicious rape of a young nun by two local petty drug dealers.

Harvey Keitel has spent the day engaged in personal encounters with, well, let's name it, sins of the flesh, of the soul. He sees the nun several times over the next few days, trying to understand what happened to her. When she tells him with her own mouth that she forgives the two men and will not identify them or name them, but only forgives them, he has a major crisis of conscience.

One reviewer calls this film a major religious movie, and, indeed, it becomes so. These are scenes to cherish for their truthful beauty, for their naked exposure of a soul in dire peril. Harvey Keitel produces a keening for his soul the like which will make your hair stand on end. The following scenes need to be seen and not read.

What transpires resonants with the viewer as the viewer comes to understand the moment's eternal meaning. No more will I say.

Note: This movie is rated NC-17 and is not for the squeamish.
May 13, 2008

Sheer Genius: A Tale of Agony and Redemption.

This film is not for children. Buy a DVD for them, and when they grow up, give it to them. It's a classic. I saw it over and over when it was first released, and I never cease to be astonished by its bravery and its raw, often horrifying beauty. Ferrara and Keitel are both geniuses. The film is brilliantly paced and controlled and every detail has rich meaning. It's a tale of damnation, deep suffering and redemption. All of Keitel's performances are terrific, but this is one of the very greatest, even rivalling his performance in The Piano. --- Again, this is not for children. But it is for the adult mind that craves originality, fearless artistic vision and absolutely dazzling film making. Never forget, even during the most shocking scenes that this is a film with a conscience and immense depth. It's transformative and unforgettable. During my long years away from the Church, this was a film that drew me closer to my Catholic faith, and certainly closer to my final admission that I believed in God. The film believes in God, and it will astonish you as it reveals this to you. --- I can't praise it enough. I feel inadequate in the face of its complexity. And the Bad Lieutenant is no one dimensional character, not by any means. ---- It's worth noting that the HBO series Deadwood had a similar raw and muscular beauty and a similar profound morality. April 20, 2008

Fantastic performance by Keitel

Yes, a truly memorable performance by Keitel, but apart from that, this film offers nothing. The story is very weak and other performances are forgettable. That's 96 wasted minutes of my life.
March 7, 2008

this might be the worst movie ever made ...

... except that it's not really a movie. movies have dialogue and character interaction and plot. this film does not. most of the running time is unrelated scenes of harvey keitel doing drugs with random people and being an immoral scumbag in general. i can accept evil, unlikeable characters as long as they are doing something interesting. but the first half hour of this film is scenes that might as well have been from different movies. nothing connects them except for the presence of keitel. we don't know who any of the supporting characters are, since none of them are even given names that i remember.

the plot, if it can be called that, revolves around keitel's reckless gambling, and the violent rape of a nun. he is somehow given the case, although why remains a mystery. he certainly doesn't spend any of the film doing actual police work. he's supposed to be a cop, but don't cops have to do police work sometimes? he spends most of the movie doing drugs and wandering aimlessly from scene to scene.

and most of the scenes are unwatchable. the scene where he pulls over the young women and basically coerces them into a sex act is pretty much the most reprehensible thing i've ever scene. the agonizing rape of the nun, and keitel's insane rambling confession to jesus are also pretty much impossible to watch.

the real problem is that we have no idea how he became such a godawful human being in the first place. he has a wife and kids, but exactly how he manages that is also a mystery, since he again spends most of the movie drugged out of his mind, passed out in random locations. that he actually has a family and a job was probably the most unbelievable part of the film. there is simply no way keitel could behave the way he does without his family and fellow police officers catching on. the film had no credibility whatsoever.

and the end? well, let's just say that it made no sense, and leave it at that. it was probably the most pointless and idiotic ending in movie history.

the only redeeming quality of the film is keitel's absolutely unflinching performance. it's amazing really, but he wasted it on a horrible film. if you want to see a good movie with keitel, watch reservior dogs. if you want to see a good movie by abel ferrara, watch king of new york. December 9, 2007

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