Keep in mind when you watch this that William Friedkin based a lot, if not most, of the events and characters on real crimes of late 70's New York. Often dialogue was put in verbatim as he remembered hearing it. Knowing cops and criminals helped him gain insight and access to a world most of us never see in person.
One thing is certain. Gay men were and are being murdered in many cities, sometimes by closeted men, other times by those who hate homosexuals and get away with it because homophobia still resonates in police departments and these deaths aren't always a top priority to solve. Arthur Dong's brilliant film "Licensed To Kill" was powerful in letting us simply watch these kind of felons explain their horrific crimes in their own words. "Cruising" is a murder mystery where no form of justice can punish the guilty.
Al Pacino turns in his darkest work here, showing Patrolman Steve Burns as a young cop given an assignment no one should envy. Pose in clubs where men who looked like him met a man that butchered them. Paul Sorvino indeed shows what Friedkin calls "profound sadness" and is Burns' sole police contact for this incredibly dangerous mission. Burns, undercover as "John Forbes", meets people he likes and others he doesn't and they all have one thing in common. None know who he really is and that is the ultimate mystery of "Cruising". Watch this to see a New York that doesn't exist today.
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