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MOVIES / ON DVD / BAD LIEUTENANT
Bad Lieutenant

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Bad Lieutenant (1992)

74%
67%
74%
N/A
N/A
N/A
74 %
Reviews Counted: 35 Fresh: 26  Rotten:9 Average Rating: 6.8/10
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Synopsis:
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... [More]
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. [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Frankie Acciario, Brian McElroy, Peggy Formley, Stella Keitel

Director: Abel Ferrara

DVD Info

Release:

Feb 15, 2000

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case - Sensormatic
  • Widescreen

Additional Release Material:

  • Trailer - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer

Interactive Features:

  • Interactive Menus
  • Scene Access

Text/Photo Galleries:

  • Production Notes
  • Biographies - 1. Cast and Crew

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Ratings Image

Members of the gutter-al elite will be the sole survivors.

Full Review | Comment
04/09/08 11:39 AM
Duane Byrge
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

The work of a warped wizard.

Full Review | Comment
04/09/08 11:38 AM
Channel 4 Film
Ratings Image

Keitel is onscreen for pretty much the entire movie and clearly relishes the opportunity of playing someone not so much teetering on the abyss as leaping off with a grand piano manacled to each ankle.

Full Review | Comment
04/09/08 11:26 AM
Clark Collis
Empire Magazine
Ratings Image

Quite possibly Ferrara's finest hour, with an almost unbearably sincere performance from Keitel.

Full Review | Comment
04/09/08 11:26 AM
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
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Bad Lieutenant is finally a pulp parable of sin, addiction, and redemption, a movie that, like its subversive hero, revels in the pleasure -- and danger -- of going too far.

Full Review | Comment
04/09/08 11:24 AM
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
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Ratings Image

Abel Ferrara's uncompromising Bad Lieutenant is a harrowing journey with a corrupt N.Y. cop sinking into the lower depths.

Full Review | Comment
04/09/08 11:20 AM
Lawrence Cohn
Variety
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Ratings Image

Though hardly a film for all sensibilities, Bad Lieutenant has the courage of its own convictions, and follows them to the bitter end.

Full Review | Comment
04/09/08 11:11 AM
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image

There's an undeniable formal elegance in the way Ferrara, who coauthored the script with Zoe Lund, frames and holds certain shots, and Keitel certainly gives his all.

Full Review | Comment
04/09/08 11:01 AM
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
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Ratings Image

The highlight of Ferrara's career--sublime.

| Comment
07/27/07 11:51 PM
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
12/29/06 02:28 AM
Michael Dequina
Mr. Brown's Movies
Ratings Image

[Ferrara's] crowning achievement.

Full Review | Comment
05/05/06 02:01 PM
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
Ratings Image

Ferrara allows his star to dictate the pace, and is rewarded with a performance of extraordinary, terrifying honesty.

Full Review | Comment
01/26/06 03:16 AM
Time Out
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
07/29/05 02:39 AM
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
07/18/05 11:30 PM
John Larsen
Light Views
Ratings Image

Scabrously powerful, the film dives into the addictive psyche, mixing Ferrara's fave elements: sex, drugs, and mayhem. Yet like his other films, it's a morality play about reclaimed sinners desperate for salvation in a world devoid of love and decency.

Full Review | Comment
07/17/05 09:11 PM
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image

Slightly disturbing, slightly more boring.

| Comment
06/22/05 02:57 PM
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
02/22/04 04:42 PM
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
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No review available.

| Comment
07/31/03 10:38 PM
Ryan Cracknell
Movie Views
Ratings Image

When Abel Ferrara calls something bad, better believe it: he means business.

Full Review | Comment
05/20/03 05:13 PM
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
01/12/03 07:16 PM
Josh Ralske
All Movie Guide
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