Bad Lieutenant, 1992.
Directed by Abel Ferrara.
Starring Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Stella Keitel, Peggy Gormley, Leonard L. Thomas.
SYNOPSIS:
A corrupt New York cop investigating the brutal rape of a nun seeks redemption from his life of sin.
The titular lieutenant in this movie is so bad he doesn’t even have a name. Those are the sorts of roles reserved for brave actors willing to go the extra mile to get a landmark performance, and Harvey Keitel is so good, so believable in this role that it is surprising there wasn’t a production line of Bad Lieutenant sequels (no, we’re not counting THAT one) to cash in on it. Then again, Keitel is an actor of such integrity that he probably wouldn’t have done it anyway.
Bad Lieutenant tells the story of Keitel’s character (just known as ‘Lieutenant’) as he goes about his daily business of scoring cocaine, snorting cocaine, drinking excessively to come down from his cocaine high, smoking heroin with another junkie, losing lots of money on baseball games and then paying for sex because he wants human contact of some sort. In between doing these things he also does some police work, and when a nun is brutally raped by two street thugs Lieutenant goes on a personal journey as he learns the nun has forgiven her attackers. Desperate to be forgiven for his own sins, Lieutenant finds the two thugs and does what he thinks is best in order to redeem himself and show he’s not totally gone the way of the street urchin.
And what that action is may just surprise you, given how despicable and unlikeable Lieutenant is, and also that this is an Abel Ferrara movie so you know you probably won’t get a happy ending. Filmed in New York as it was coming out of its grimy 1970s/’80s phase but just before it got totally cleaned up, Bad Lieutenant is one of those movies that is difficult to recommend to people looking for a crime thriller they can throw on to have a good time with, because it doesn’t have the polish of Goodfellas, the scale and budget of The Godfather or the wit and watchability of The Long Good Friday.
What is does have, though, is a director and lead actor both at the peak of their powers, delivering an intense and uncomfortable portrayal of a man who is alive but isn’t living – he’s barely surviving – despite having a family who put up with this lifestyle because they have a roof over their head and colleagues who clearly don’t trust or respect him but, again, put up with his shenanigans because of his rank. The only people who actually pay him any positive – if that is the correct word – attention are the criminals, and that is because he is paying them to keep his secrets.
But watching him go about his unsavoury business doesn’t make a movie, and it is his redemption arc – or his attempt at finding one – that is what the movie is really about. This being an Abel Ferrara movie means that he isn’t going to get one that easily, and for a movie that runs just over 90 minutes Bad Lieutenant does things at a methodical pace.
We don’t need to see his sink into corruption as it is all written into the script, and Keitel plays the role with such a powerful grimace on his face that we know he is not a man we are supposed to like; even his first scene where he takes his kids to school is full of insults and terrible things that are never said, but implied by Keitel’s expression. The rape of the nun is shown in quick edits so we don’t have to dwell on its content and, strangely, this is not the centrepiece scene that other filmmakers may have made it, so details are drip fed to us – and to Lieutenant – later on that add weight and impact.
So, being a deliberately paced movie in such a filthy, sleazy setting means that the more it goes on, the more uncomfortable Bad Lieutenant gets, which can be a positive or a negative depending on your approach, but whatever your approach may be, it must be said that this is a not a movie for casual viewers looking to fill an evening with something on in the background as it demands your attention for every single gritty frame (and despite the 4K UHD image being sharp and full of detail, it is still a gritty movie to look at).
To ensure that film fans and collector’s get the most out of it, 101 Films have made sure that this limited edition 4K/Blu-ray set is stacked full of new extras, including new interviews with Abel Ferrara and cinematographer Ken Kelsch, a Harvey Keitel featurette and a look at Abel Ferrara’s career. Plus there are tons of archive extras from previous releases that include interviews, a making-of documentary and an audio commentary with Abel Ferrara and Ken Kelsh, and as this is part of their Black Label range it all comes in gorgeous packaging featuring a rigid slipcase and new artwork.
Not an easy movie to watch, but that is the point and it is a rewarding experience if fearless filmmaking is what excites you as a viewer. It is slow and not always easy to follow as Lieutenant does go from scumbag to scumbag with little in the way of explanation, but stick with it and you can see masters at their craft working a particular kind of magic that doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves upon its initial release.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
Originally published August 17, 2025. Updated August 21, 2025.
