Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders

Mineshaft: Morderstwa z „Cruising”

Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders

A fascinating documentary about one of the most controversial films of the 1970s

True crimes, gay clubs, and the controversy surrounding “Cruising” starring Al Pacino. A gripping documentary that blends true crime with film history and the story of queer New York in the 1970s.

It’s the late 1970s, and William Friedkin, director of “The Exorcist”, arrives in New York’s West Village to shoot “Cruising”, a thriller inspired by real-life crimes about an undercover cop who enters the world of gay bars in search of a serial killer. Al Pacino stars, and his presence alone seems to promise the film a warm reception. But the production soon proves more controversial than the screenplay itself. The queer community protests against the film, while a real-life crime lurks in the background. “Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders” revisits these events and the turbulent history of “Cruising”, one of the most controversial films of its era and a cinematic record of a world that no longer exists.

“Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders” takes viewers back to 1970s New York, into a world of leather, whips, chains, sweat, sex, and clubs where sexual liberation went hand in hand with danger. It is a brutally honest portrait of a time when the queer community was fighting for its rights and for representation, not only against society at large but also against Hollywood. A time just before the AIDS epidemic and the social changes that followed. Yet this is no celebratory tribute or nostalgic postcard from a vanished era. “Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders” digs beneath the surface of “Cruising”, revealing how cinema, true crime, the media, and politics became entangled during one of the most extraordinary periods in queer cultural history. “Mineshaft” is an erotic, dirty, claustrophobic documentary, and utterly fascinating.

“Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders” is directed by Jeffrey Schwarz, the documentary filmmaker behind “Vito”, “I Am Divine”, and “Tab Hunter Confidential”. Schwarz also produced and edited the film alongside producer John Boccardo. The score comes from Makeup and Vanity Set, while the interviewees include Dan Savage, Michael Musto, Randy Jurgensen, Richard Goldstein, and Pamela Verrill Walker, sister of the murdered Addison. This is another of Schwarz’s films exploring queer history, intelligently combining archival footage, personal testimony, and cultural analysis.