Bad Lieutenant (1992)
79%RT Audience Score:
Awards & Nominations: 2 wins & 5 nominations
Bad Lieutenant will challenge less desensitized viewers with its depiction of police corruption, but Harvey Keitel’s committed performance makes it hard to turn away
Bad Lieutenant is a wild ride that will leave you questioning your own morals and sanity. Harvey Keitel’s performance is nothing short of incredible as he takes us on a journey through the darkest corners of the human soul. Ferrara’s direction is unapologetic and unrelenting, leaving no stone unturned in his exploration of police corruption and the depths of depravity. This film is not for the faint of heart, but for those brave enough to take the plunge, it’s a cinematic experience unlike any other.
Production Company(ies)
Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures,
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
1911 Hone Avenue, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated NC-17 for sexual violence, strong sexual situations & dialogue, graphic drug use
Year of Release
1992
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English, Spanish
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Jul 28, 2009
Genre(s)
Crime/Drama
Keyword(s)
Bad Lieutenant, Harvey Keitel, Abel Ferrara, Edward R Pressman, Mary Kane, Crime, Drama, NC-17, $47.5K, reviewed by Peter Rainer, Rolling Stone, Sheila Johnston, Jeremiah Kipp, Duane Byrge, Clark Collis, Richard Propes, C.H Newell, Gary Shannon, Vanessa Letts, Malcolm Johnson, Sean Burns, corrupt cop, gambling debt, sexual harassment, teenage girls, embezzlement, drugs, mob lackey, ultimatum, $50,000 reward, thugs, raped a nun, redemption, Harvey Keitel as The Lieutenant, Frankie Thorn as The Nun, Zoë Lund as Zoe, Anthony Ruggiero as Lite, Eddie Daniels as Jersey Girl, Bianca Hunter as Jersey Girl – Passenger
Worldwide gross: $2,038,916
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $4,364,352
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,213
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 475,938
US/Canada gross: $2,000,022
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $4,281,098
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,848
US/Canada opening weekend: $47,454
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $101,576
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,929
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $1,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $2,140,526
Production budget ranking: 2,021
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $1,152,673
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $1,071,153
ROI to date (est.): 33%
ROI ranking: 1,234
Frankie Thorn – The Nun
Zoë Lund – Zoe
Anthony Ruggiero – Lite
Eddie Daniels – Jersey Girl (driver)
Bianca Hunter – Jersey Girl – Passenger
Director(s)
Abel Ferrara
Writer(s)
Abel Ferrara
Producer(s)
Edward R. Pressman, Mary Kane
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
2 wins & 5 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (48) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (11)
[Keitel] keeps us watching his descent without wanting to look away. Only an actor with tremendous reserves of power could accomplish that.
January 8, 2019
Peter Rainer
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
It’s a powerhouse performance in a film of jabbing intensity and wit.
January 8, 2019
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
TOP CRITIC
This is bull of a very high order.
November 13, 2017
Sheila Johnston
Independent (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Ferrara was in the right place at the right time to make Bad Lieutenant.
August 5, 2009 | Rating: 4/4
Jeremiah Kipp
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Members of the gutter-al elite will be the sole survivors.
April 9, 2008
Duane Byrge
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
Keitel is onscreen for pretty much the entire movie and clearly relishes the opportunity of playing someone not so much teetering on the abyss as leaping off with a grand piano manacled to each ankle.
April 9, 2008 | Rating: 3/5
Clark Collis
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Keitel’s performance is courageous, almost psychotic, because it is deeply and profoundly authentic.
September 2, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
Ferrara uses this fictional piece to penetrate the corrupt soul of a dirty rotten cop when he is confronted with something more terrible than even himself.
May 3, 2019 | Rating: 4.5/5
C.H. Newell
Father Son Holy Gore
The greatest New York City depiction of repentance in the deepest, darkest slums of the human soul since Scorsese’s “Mean Streets.”
January 7, 2019 | Rating: 8/10
Gary Shannon
The Young Folks
As emptily defiant as a bit of graffiti on the base of a dustbin.
July 24, 2018
Vanessa Letts
The Spectator
Bad Lieutenant generates a fascination of abominations as Ferrara drives home his message about police corruption — with Keitel’s cop as the avatar of everything sick and evil in perverted law enforcement.
May 30, 2018
Malcolm Johnson
Hartford Courant
It’s a movie of wall-to-wall depravity and profound spiritual longing, at once one of the dirtiest and most deeply religious pictures I’ve ever seen.
May 17, 2018
Sean Burns
The ARTery…
Plot
A police Lieutenant goes about his daily tasks of investigating homicides, but is more interested in pursuing his vices. He has accumulated a massive debt betting on baseball, and he keeps doubling to try to recover. His bookies are beginning to get agitated. The Lieutenant does copious amounts of drugs, cavorts with prostitutes, and uses his status to take advantage of teenage girls. While investigating a nun’s rape, he begins to reflect on his lifestyle.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels praises Harvey Keitel’s “powerhouse performance” in Bad Lieutenant, calling it “courageous, almost psychotic, because it is deeply and profoundly authentic.”
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