Harvey Keitel stars as a nameless New York cop, hopelessy addicted to drugs, gambling, and sex, in this intense, hallucinatory portrait of sin and redemption by Abel Ferrara. The film follows the lieutenant as he makes his way to various crime scenes, concerned only with taking bets from his fellow cops on the outcome of the ongoing National League playoffs. As his bad decisions drive him deeper into debt, his life becomes a surreal hell, with a constant intake of crack, coke, heroin, and booze eroding what remains of his sanity. An investigation into the rape of a nun (Frankie Thorn) leads to his spiritual breakdown at the church crime scene, where he sees Jesus and the road to his salvation. This gutsy, highly original tale is one of Ferrara's most perfectly realized films and a pinnacle in the career of Keitel, whose performance transcends the screen in its sheer bravery.
Product Identifiers
EAN
5060002830628
eBay Product ID (ePID)
3959074
Product Key Features
Actor
Paul Calderon, Victor Argo, Robin Burrows, Victoria Bastel, Harvey Keitel, Paul Hipp, Frankie Thorn, Leonard Thomas, Zoe Tamerlaine Lund
Chicago Sun-Times - ...[The film] takes spirituality and morality more seriously than most films do. And in the bad lieutenant, Keitel gives us one of the great screen performances in recent years..., New York Times - A film that would seem outrageously, unforgivably lurid if it were not also somehow perfectly isncere .Keitel gives the Lieutenant role his all, Sight and Sound - ...[A] terrifyingly powerful film....Visually visceral....It's narrative heart is palatably spiritual...