hrkepler Werner Herzog's version of 'Bad Lieutenant' is better crafted and might be better film altogether, but Herzog's camera will not bring the restless grittiness like Ferrara's guerrilla style work, and Nicolas Cage's craziness will not match Harvey Keitel's pure absence of morals. When Abel Ferrara titles his film 'Bad Lieutenant' then he means bad, like really bad. Harvey Keitel is awesomely sinister as nameless police lieutenant who spirals deeper and deeper into the world of drugs and gambling and obscene behavior (the scene where lieutenant pulls over the two girls with broken taillight probably shows best how messed up his thinking is).Ferrara has never been afraid of shocking the audience. Same goes with 'Bad Lieutenant' - the nudity, violence and grotesque images are so in your face that it elevates the film onto another level. Talking about unnecessary nudity used wright. Although the film mainly follows Keitel's character drinking, doing drugs or visiting hookers, and focuses very little on the detective work, 'Bad Lieutenant' has different layers talking also about forgiveness and finding redemption.Lurid and dirty, but done with such sincerity and bravado, 'Bad Lieutenant' remains one of the most impacting and influential cult films of the 1990s, and is worth to watch for Hervey Keitel's powerhouse performance alone.

PimpinAinttEasy Dear Harvey Keitel,there are some films which are elevated to another level by the actors. In fact, John Huston remarked that "Half of directing is casting the right actors." Bad Lieutenant might have ended up an average film if a lesser actor had played the lead role. But as one of the greatest wasters in movie history, you have inspired fans to compare the film to Taxi Driver. The long tracking shots interwoven with point of view shots and real life locations wouldn't have amounted to much if it wasn't for your performance, Harvey. Frankly, there aren't that many memorable dialogs. I did not enjoy the arty-farty sex scenes. And parts of the movie were uninspired. Especially your character forgiving those two rapists in the end. But there is hardly a scene where you aren't at your very best, Harvey. I think Terry Zwigoff did a better job with this film's remake - Bad Santa (2003) than Abel Ferrera.Best Regards, Pimpin.(8/10)

chris I really wasn't expecting too much from 'Bad Lieutenant' but the experience it provided was way more than I had contemplated. As the title suggests - the lieutenant is very bad indeed. However I expected a degree of cheesiness and quips - instead we are shown a centralized and harrowing insight into addiction and the pain and depravity that comes with it. The drug taking scenes are quite shocking and unforgettable. There is also a scene where the lieutenant stops two young girls in a car that is so intense and unexpected it's truly one of the most memorable scenes I have ever witnessed on film. At the heart of it all is Harvey Keitel - with what must be one of the greatest acting performances of all time. He absolutely absorbs the role of a man who was weak enough to give into all of the temptations around him. He does things he shouldn't. He doesn't care about anyone around him. He is absolutely selfish, corrupt and completely past caring. He is a man on self destruct mode. Keitel pulls off every scene so convincingly that he is either a real life maniac or an actor of the very highest quality. Some people will not enjoy this because it does lack any storyline outside of Keitel's character and there is no background on him - even his name! However the movie is about him in the moment he is in - it's a focus on a man completely absorbed by addiction who wants to be on anything he can, anywhere he has to - to get a release outside of his own mind. Ultimately it's a very dark and disturbing story of a man in a very dark place. And quite unforgettable.

videorama-759-859391 Bad Lieutenant would be one of Abel Ferrara's most powerful movies and best too. It's actually in another class, outside all his other flicks, which always powerfully shock as in the violence, especially his early deals. The shock matter of his films, is something you don't estimate, and this is one of his best examples, seen in the visual proof. Here's a sad tale about a lonely detective, lonely as inside himself, who's really hit rock bottom, with all the ugliness and crap around. He's kind of like the Travis Bickle character, but this one flies in a different direction, doing much more bad than good, where his good and justful deed near the end is something you don't expect, nor is his fate. This background description, is all inferred by the way he casually goes about his business through the movie, doing one unlawful thing, after another, one that's truly despicable, if not downright sick, when propositioning two young girls, into a lewd act, in exchange for letting them off the hook, for sneaking Daddy's car out. The heart of the story, amongst this other stuff, has Keitel, investigating the rape of a nun and the deformation of a church, that impels him to make what's wrong right, if claim a little bit of redemption. How the nun forgiving of these two young rapists, truly, like that proposition scene made me sick. Keitel fills a most challenging role, where he must take full bravado here, as well as a lot of bloody credit, in one of the most morbid films you'll ever see, one that totally stands alone. He's fantastic, and you got to take your hat off to him. Keitel's heroin addicted mistress is good too, where Harvey doesn't mind a ménage de trois, or taking his shirt off, and moaning pathetically to a song, in the film's funniest if guiltiest moment from the viewer's side. Although loosely remade 17 years later, if you want to be shocked, opt for this one, where for church people, whatever, as a forewarning, opt to watch another flick, may'be even the other Bad Lieutenant. The whole unhurried flow of the movie, I must say, moves beautifully through it's 93 minutes, where to this aspect, you can either like it or lump it. There's almost a brilliance in the combining of all the unlawful scenes, one after the other, where that avenging plot carries a small couple of other scenes, apart from some family ones, and some with his mate cop, warning him on the all too real consequences he'll pay, thanks to another vice. Again, I must say this film is unique, as check out why the end scrolling credits playing over a screen, without sound. A must for you sickie Ferrara fans. Mr Willing and able to shock Ferrara, you've come through again.