Bad Lieutenant

A New York policeman whose name is never given. He spends his days among cocaine, heroin, gambling and bribes; his debts grow and the baseball bets finish him. A nun is raped in a church and refuses to name the men, saying she forgives them. For the lieutenant that case becomes a way out. Abel Ferrara directed and wrote it with Zoe Lund, who said she also had a real hand in the directing. Harvey Keitel stars; Christopher Walken had been considered first. It opened on 20 November 1992. It received an NC-17 for sexual violence, strong sexual situations and dialogue, and graphic drug use, making it one of the few films rated that way largely because of drugs. An R-rated version was prepared for the major rental chains such as Blockbuster. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 78 percent. Roger Ebert gave four stars and called Keitel's work one of the great screen performances in recent years. Martin Scorsese ranked it the fifth best film of the decade. Who it is for: viewers who like films about the bottom and works carried by a single performance. Who it is not for: anyone who cannot take drug use and sexual violence on screen. The film shows both at length and head-on.