From: blake7@herahera.cc.bellcore.com (berardinelli,james)
Subject: REVIEW: THE BAD LIEUTENANT
Reply-To: blake7@herahera.cc.bellcore.com (berardinelli,james)
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 16:30:54 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01703
Keywords: author=Berardinelli

			        THE BAD LIEUTENANT
		       A film review by James Berardinelli
			Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli

Running Length:  1:37
Rated:  NC-17 (Nudity, violence, language, sex)

Starring:  Harvey Keitel
Director:  Abel Ferrara
Producer:  Edward R. Pressman
Screenplay:  Abel Ferrara and Zoe Lund
Music:  Joe Delia
Released by Aries Films

     Harvey Keitel plays an unnamed New York City lieutenant who's a lot
worse than the criminals that infest the streets he roams.  A womanizer,
drug abuser, alcoholic, and gambler, it's virtually impossible to find
anything positive about the bad lieutenant.  When his chance at
redemption comes as the result of the brutal rape of a nun, is there
anything left within him to redeem?

     If a movie could survive on the force of a single performance, THE
BAD LIEUTENANT would be it.  Keitel throws himself into his role with
such gusto that I didn't for one moment think of him as an actor playing
a part.  No one upstages him in this film.  In fact, most of the time
when he's on-screen, whoever happens to be sharing the scene with him is
virtually invisible.  Keitel holds nothing back, and his performance
serves to hide some, but not all, of THE BAD LIEUTENANT's flaws.

     While the first two-thirds of the movie work as a lurid character
study of the lieutenant, they are incomplete.  One of the most obvious
questions that goes unanswered is how he got to where he is.  Not only
does the film make no attempt to probe that issue, it's not concerned
about it.  Even though the lieutenant appears to have hit bottom by the
time the movie commences, he nevertheless manages to find new depths to
sink to.

     Unfortunately, the movie falls apart in its final third.  The issue
of redemption arises and suddenly the film skids off its tracks,
returning to them briefly and belatedly for the chillingly realistic
final scene.  Aside from being confusing and relatively pointless, the
last half-hour is also dull.

     Baseball and religion form important backdrops to the movie.  Both
are as critical to its development as they are to the eventual
resolution.  The plot itself is simple, doing little more than showing a
few days in the life of New York's most corrupt cop, and the conclusion
is easy to guess before THE BAD LIEUTENANT's halfway point.

     At least the mood isn't unremittingly bleak.  There are numerous
instances of black humor in this film, some of which are probably
unintentional.  The excesses of the bad lieutenant are at times so
extreme as to be almost comic.  There were occasions when the audience
broke out laughing when the director didn't intend for that to be the
response.

     Aside from Keitel's often over-the-top and always brilliant
performance, there's little of value in THE BAD LIEUTENANT.  The tale it
tells is not new, although the graphic detail with which it does that
is.  There are parallels to Keitel's other recent film, RESERVOIR DOGS,
in terms of tone, uncompromising display of violence, and the nature of
the actor's characters.  However, while in RESERVOIR DOGS, Keitel's
Mr. White has a few redeemable qualities, the bad lieutenant has none.
Those who were repulsed by RESERVOIR DOGS will likely find THE BAD
LIEUTENANT unbearable.

     In the final analysis, the only reason to see THE BAD LIEUTENANT is
to watch a powerful and underrated actor take over the screen.  Because
the film is rated NC-17, there will be no Best Actor nomination,
regardless of how deserving Keitel is of one.  Beyond the actor and his
performance, however, THE BAD LIEUTENANT had little to offer.  As good
as Keitel is, he isn't enough.

                         Rating:  6.7 (C, **)


- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)

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