From: Eric Swenson
Tony,
Yes, it could be interesting to see "Cruising" again. Action shown in the movie most certainly would be more tolerated these days..., one hopes! But, the movie was a horrible experience for me as well, in addition to showing a really ugly (but exceptionally rare) depiction of leather and leather sex. To see someone you actually know on the movie screen being picked up, having erotic leather sex, and murdered was quite a shock to me. He was a friend (an actor I worked with at the Old Globe) and a very hot man I had sex with.
I thank God for all of the wonderful leathermen in San Diego, who over the years have since given me many opportunities to trust, play with, and love in the years since. It was just a movie... A fiction... One character's unusual circumstances... I think the crime of the story could have been shown a lot less sensationally... Now, we have a chance to judge again.
Your old buddy,
Eric Swenson
I dunno. I saw it back then and thought it was spot on, probably the only depiction of gay leather life that's ever been on film to be so accurate. The stuff in the bars was, well, as real as it gets, maybe a little tame from what really went on there. Streets, too, etc. The fact is that still today, there are victims and monsters within our own community, why it pays to be careful and either get references or at the least let the person you've gone with know you've shared their address or phone number with a friend, or call a friend and let them know where you're going. For the most part, we're a fun loving group but now, as then, there are folks that give us a bad name.
The only thing that didn't click in Cruising was the bad guy's haircut. That was out there at the time and no matter how hot his leathers were he wouldn't have gotten much attention.
It was a horror movie. Set in our community. That scene with the knife will stick, has stuck, in my brain forever.
Be careful who you go home with, good advice today as it was thirty years ago
Mark
