Some might remember the outrage sparked by 1980’s Cruising, William Friedkin’s thriller in which straight cop Al Pacino went undercover in the world of underground gay sadomasochism clubs to catch a serial killer who preyed on gay men? Gay rights advocates were up in arms over the movie’s alleged negative stereotyping. Two years later, however, there was nary a peep over what was essentially a comic version of the same premise. Ryan O’Neal plays an uptight straight cop who goes undercover to catch a killer of male models. He teams up with John Hurt, a police desk clerk who’s flamboyantly gay, in order to help him infiltrate the gay underground. There’s a lot of humor in here that was probably groundbreaking 30 years ago but comes off as offensive now. The broad screenplay was by Francis Veber, screenwriter of La Cage aux Folles.
It’s the only movie to date directed by James Burrows, better known as the top sitcom director in the business. It’s hard to believe that the man who went on to direct 188 episodes of Will & Grace made a project that took such a sledgehammer-unsubtle approach to gay content, but then again, Burrows seems drawn to projects with this title. He directed a short-lived sitcom called Partners (with Tate Donovan and Jon Cryer) in the mid-’90s and another one this past season, starring David Krumholtz and Michael Urie as a straight man and gay man who are business partners. Plus ca change…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDnvfUV6vD0]