Bad Lieutenant | 
 enlarge | Director: Abel Ferrara
Actors: Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Paul Calderon, Leonard L. Thomas, Robin Burrows
Studio: Lions Gate
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $4.63
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Rating:  92 reviews
Sales Rank: 5173
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 96 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: 11430
UPC: 012236114307
EAN: 0012236114307
ASIN: B00005OM6L
Theatrical Release Date: November 20, 1992
Release Date: August 14, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New and Factory Sealed Item Fast Shipping
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Proving that he may be the most fearless actor of his or any other generation, Harvey Keitel gives an amazing, no-holds-barred performance in director Abel Ferrara's uncompromising 1992 film about a New York cop on the edge of self-annihilation. The film's title is meant to be taken literally: Keitel's character has no redeeming values whatsoever, save for his desperate need for redemption. Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide is correct in calling this an "over-the-top Catholic guilt movie," but it's been made with such conviction that Ferrara and Keitel transcend the sheer unpleasantness of the material to give it a kind of tragic divinity. Here's a character so vile and corrupted that he consumes or re-sells the drugs he confiscates, but when he's assigned to investigate the brutal rape of a nun who refuses to press charges, he feels that this is his opportunity to redeem his rotten soul. Deservedly rated NC-17 due to its rough content and a frontal nude scene that even Keitel's most loyal fans could do without, this film tends to divide viewers into love-it-or-hate-it categories, but few could deny its raw power and the deeply anguished humanity that Keitel brings to his role. Whatever your reaction may be, few would deny this is an unforgettable film. --Jeff Shannon
Product Description
He's a gambler...a thief...a junkie...a killer and a cop. Now he is investigating the most shocking case of his life and as he moves closer to the truth his self-destructive past is closing in.System Requirements:Starring Harvey Keitel Leonard Thomas Paul Calderone Paul Hipp Victor Argo Victoria Bastel Zoe Tamerlis Directed by Abel Ferrara Running time: 96 minutes Copyright Artisan EntertainmentFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NC-17 UPC: 012236114307 Manufacturer No: 11430
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| Customer Reviews: Read 87 more reviews...
 Theme could have been powerful August 29, 2008
Elizabeth G. Melillo
Indeed, the plot had potential for a theme of redemption, and one moving in this direction because of an example of forgiveness. One who looks for this will be greatly disappointed. The dialogue and acting are dreadful, the plot filled with such extreme and unreal stereotypes that those who watch films on religious themes, and who think that Richard Burton in Exorcist II was the worst of the lot, may wish to consider turning over that trophy to this cast.
Keitel certainly captures the image of a man who is an absolute mess - one unforgettable scene, for example, is when his curses and rage precede his shooting a car radio through his ire over a huge gambling loss. One wonders if he belongs to a police department where even a semblance of sanity is a requirement.
The main character, I am sure, was intended to capture passion and conflict. The trouble is that his passion is expressed in nothing beyond constant strings of obscenities. The anguished facial expression which I imagine was intended is a gargoyle grimace, unvarying, which puts one in mind of a character with a perpetual stomach virus (though I suppose heavy drug usage, such as this 'bad cop' displays, can cause such an effect.
The nun who should provide the inspiration seems catatonic rather than ethereal - a vowed Stepford wife, or perhaps, with today's technology, a robot. Her words on forgiveness, obviously intended as a powerful contrast with the lieutenant's despair and hatred, are so 'canned' as to make one think one is digesting rations left over from the second world war. Her indifference towards seeing a rapist prosecuted could leave one puzzled as to whether vowed life leaves any room for protecting others from the horrid fate.
As the Amazon reviewer quoted, this is a "Catholic guilt" film - stereotypical, but without substance. The church scenes, probably filmed to give an impression of call and response in some vague fashion, give more of a sense of one sinking into paranoid schizophrenia.
This must rank with one of the absolute worst films of this or any decade.
 Harvey must have needed to pay the bills to take on this one August 2, 2008
One Voice (San Bruno, CA)
I believe this is [the] bottom of the barrel performance of Keitel's life. The story was stilted, disjointed and incoherent. Maybe it was meant to be that way, but it was a dumb movie, altogether. I won't waste my time detailing the premise of the story, but there are parts that will make you laugh out loud - the car scene with the two young girls that Keitel "gets his rocks off" (literally), that's absolutely hilarious. I really don't feel that this movie was meant to be serious, because it was too far out there. It's possible that the drug-induced scenes were real, because Harvey Keitel had to have been on drugs to perform the way he did in this film. The Director must've been on drugs when he made this movie....honestly.
 BAD LIEUTENANT IS A HIT AND MISS BUT MOSTLY IT'S AMAZING! June 14, 2008
Jack A. Lana (San Diego, CA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am reviewing this because I am a guy that likes Bad Cop/Good Cop movies. With this movie, "The Bad Lieutenant" it's from the same director that did, "King of New York" Which was one of my favorite movies of all time.
Bad Lieutenant has a lot of things going for it. It was a very well pace movie, but also savage and sometimes strange. Yes there are some parts in this movie that is kind of a hit and miss, but most its a very good movie that I am glad was made.
If you like these type of movies, the Bad Lieutenant is a good choice for any die hard fan of these movies.
P.S. There is a remake coming in 2009 with Nicolas Cage. Which the director has already said it was not going to be a remake. We'll just have to see and wait.
To the depths of hell and clawing his way out May 13, 2008
Judy K. Polhemus (Shreveport, LA)
44 out of 83 found this review helpful
Whisper his name. Harvey Keitel. Shout his name. Harvey Keitel. No matter. He did not win any awards for this role, this damnation, this damned man, a police detective in "Bad Lieutenant."
There's a song, "Bad to the Bone," which might sum up the detective, or it might not be strong enough because Harvey Keitel's character is bad to the bone and then some. He lives as a family man, but on the edge, clearly not part of this family, a stuffed man, stuffed with aloneness, stuffed with horrors of his own making. Director Abel Ferrara's filming technique extends this isolation by making the movie look like a docudrama. Filmed on location. No takes. Shoot as is. Keep the cameras rolling.
He starts the day clean as he drops his two sons off at school. During the course of the day he investigates two vicious murders, a store theft he turns to his advantage by keeping the stolen money, does drugs with a stoned out, emaciated redhead, and engages in a menage-a-trois with two women. During this scene he evens out the equal rights debate for male actors to engage in full frontal nudity. Yes, he does. Then he gets his life-defining case--the vicious rape of a young nun by two local petty drug dealers.
Harvey Keitel has spent the day engaged in personal encounters with, well, let's name it, sins of the flesh, of the soul. He sees the nun several times over the next few days, trying to understand what happened to her. When she tells him with her own mouth that she forgives the two men and will not identify them or name them, but only forgives them, he has a major crisis of conscience.
One reviewer calls this film a major religious movie, and, indeed, it becomes so. These are scenes to cherish for their truthful beauty, for their naked exposure of a soul in dire peril. Harvey Keitel produces a keening for his soul the like which will make your hair stand on end. The following scenes need to be seen and not read.
What transpires resonants with the viewer as the viewer comes to understand the moment's eternal meaning. No more will I say.
Note: This movie is rated NC-17 and is not for the squeamish.
Sheer Genius: A Tale of Agony and Redemption. April 20, 2008
Anne Rice (Little Paradise, California)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This film is not for children. Buy a DVD for them, and when they grow up, give it to them. It's a classic. I saw it over and over when it was first released, and I never cease to be astonished by its bravery and its raw, often horrifying beauty. Ferrara and Keitel are both geniuses. The film is brilliantly paced and controlled and every detail has rich meaning. It's a tale of damnation, deep suffering and redemption. All of Keitel's performances are terrific, but this is one of the very greatest, even rivalling his performance in The Piano. --- Again, this is not for children. But it is for the adult mind that craves originality, fearless artistic vision and absolutely dazzling film making. Never forget, even during the most shocking scenes that this is a film with a conscience and immense depth. It's transformative and unforgettable. During my long years away from the Church, this was a film that drew me closer to my Catholic faith, and certainly closer to my final admission that I believed in God. The film believes in God, and it will astonish you as it reveals this to you. --- I can't praise it enough. I feel inadequate in the face of its complexity. And the Bad Lieutenant is no one dimensional character, not by any means. ---- It's worth noting that the HBO series Deadwood had a similar raw and muscular beauty and a similar profound morality.
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