In sharp contrast to the negative reaction it garnered from gay audiences during its initial 1980 run, the William Friedkin-directed thriller Cruising was warmly received by the crowd during a recent screening at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco.

In an interview before the show, Friedkin recalled, "It was made after Stonewall, when the gay rights movement was beginning to be recognized and to make political gains. I could see why some people felt like it was not the way to put the best foot forward at the time, but I also felt I had the right to make a movie, not a political statement."

Then film critic Frank Rich, in his 1980 Time Magazine review of Cruising, warned that “the simulation of S-M couplings will appall many moviegoers of all sexual persuasions” but said the film was “not antigay, any more than a film like American Gigolo is anti-heterosexual.”

The New York Times reported in August of 1979 that during filming, gay activists staged angry demonstrations, “huge and noisy, filled with shouting, bell-ringing and noise-making, as homosexuals sought to ‘raise the consciousness’ of the filmmakers.” 

There was also controversy over the film’s rating, as described in a Times article on July 8^th of the following year. A San Diego theater filed a civil suit in Federal court, charging Friedkin et al. with misrepresenting the film to earn it an R rating, when it rightfully deserved an X.

"What went on at the time was ridiculous,” said screening attendee Jean Paul Rimes. “It was from a bunch of people who hadn't even seen the movie.”

Beginning on September 7^th, the film will play for a short time in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco prior to its DVD release on September 18^th.