Talk:Cruising (novel)

WRONG SYNOPSIS FOR NOVEL "CRUISING" BY GERALD WALKER

The synopsis of "Cruising" as a novel (1970) about a serial killer amok in the leather subculture of the New York gay community is incorrect.

There is no reference to a leather subculture in the novel. That was added for clearly sensationalistic purposes by Friedkin when he chose to make the film a decade later.

The novel was a quite well-written noir novel dealing with a college student going nutty, feeling guilt about his sexuality, fighting it, and about some homicide detectives working separately and with no knowledge of each other trying to stop the crimes. The suspense in the novel reached highs unattanable in the film because of Friedkin's dropping of the number of police involved from ten to one, thus eliminating a high-tension scene in which two cops, thinking the other is the killer, meet up in a darkened park and see which one will escape alive. No character is without problematic character traits in the book; usually some sort of xenophobic bigotry. All are very real and alive.

The early scene in which a gigantic black s/m cop in a jock strap beats a suspect and a cop doesn't happen in the book.

It's worth reading. I will have further notes on the revised version of the film which Friedkin tried to re-release as an art film ahead of its time under film comments in the near future.

Friedkin often included a contemptuous scene about gays in his movies, although the criticism for his "Boys in the Band" seemed to me unnecessary; it followed the play, and while many gays felt that such bitchiness was exaggerated, I ran into -- and participated in it -- every morning tending bar at six in the morning during my amphetamine years. But that's another story.

Generally speaking, Friedkin always had to slap gays, and he does again in the revised version of "Cruising" he tried to glom on us in 2007.

Incidentally, I have tried and tried to find information on the author, Gerald Walker, and can find nothing -- no other writings, nothing but birth and death dates. Anyone know anything or is this supposed to be a mystery?

(please note - this was not written by me, but merely transfered from the main page to the talk page, where it should be) :: ehmjay (talk) 06:01, 13 January 2008 (UTC)