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Movies / On DVD / Bad Lieutenant
Bad Lieutenant

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Bad Lieutenant (1992)

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Reviews Counted:36

Fresh:27

Rotten:9

Average Rating:6.8/10

Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins

Genre: Dramas

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... 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. [More]

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

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Frankie Acciario, Brian McElroy, Peggy Formley, Stella Keitel, Leonard Thomas, Victor Argo, Frankie Thorn, Zoë Tamerlis

Director: Abel Ferrara

Director: Abel Ferrara

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Bad Lieutenant

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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The work of a warped wizard.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
04/09/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/09/08
Clark Collis
Clark Collis
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/09/08
Ian Nathan
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ferrara was in the right place at the right time to make Bad Lieutenant.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
08/05/09
Jeremiah Kipp
Jeremiah Kipp
Slant Magazine

Keitel's performance is perhaps the needed counterpoint to Christopher Walken's ice-cold overlord in Ferrara's visionary crime opus King of New York

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
05/13/09
Chris Cabin
Chris Cabin
Filmcritic.com

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

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
04/09/08
Duane Byrge
Duane Byrge
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
04/09/08
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

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

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/09/08
Lawrence Cohn
Lawrence Cohn
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
04/09/08
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
04/09/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

The highlight of Ferrara's career--sublime.

comment Comment
07/27/07
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

No review available.

comment Comment
12/29/06
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

[Ferrara's] crowning achievement.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
05/05/06
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

No review available.

comment Comment
07/29/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

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 Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
07/17/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Slightly disturbing, slightly more boring.

comment Comment
06/22/05
Alex Sandell
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum

No review available.

comment Comment
02/22/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
07/31/03
Ryan Cracknell
Ryan Cracknell
Movie Views

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

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for Bad Lieutenant

May 27, 2009: Cage Unleashes Crazy In Bad Lieutenant Trailer
Okay, for everyone lamenting Nicolas Cage's decade-long slide into talent-wasting, hairpiece-abusing blockbuster mediocrity -- this one's for you. Below is the production... More...

October 03, 2008: Further Reading: Marion Cotillard and Forest Whittaker in Abel Ferrara's Mary
As the NFT in London prepares a Juliette Binoche season, Kim looks at Abel Ferrara's Mary which also stars Marion Cotillard and Forest Whittaker. More...

July 08, 2008: Herzog's Bad Lieutenant Grows Opens in new window
Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk, Jennifer Coolidge, Vondie Curtis Hall, Shawn Hatosy, Denzel Whitaker and Xzibit have joined Nicolas Cage in the cast of Werner Herzog's "update" of Bad... More...

June 16, 2008: Eva Mendes in Negotiations for Bad Lieutenant Opens in new window
Eva Mendes is in talks to star opposite Nicolas Cage in Werner Herzog's remake/not-a-remake of Bad Lieutenant. More...

See All

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