One of thoes makes me feel sick to my stomach hard to watch so well done sort of movies.

I had heard good things about this movie and I liked Ferrara's King of New York. 80% of this movie is just Keitel getting high and ignoring the case. Then in the last 15 minutes he flips out and finds out who the suspects are. A really big disappointment.

Perhaps the most overrated, underrated film ever.

After more than 30 minutes of Keitel being a Bad Person it becomes obvious how little else there is to this film. His performance is great, but in the end this felt quite forgettable.

The character's almost total isolation on screen, his driftlessness, his stuporousness, his endless devotion to misdeeds -- never impinged upon by the call of duty -- are perhaps meant to convey a spiritual or psychological state. But a little obligatory contact with his family (he has one), a partner (he hasn't one), or simply the stationhouse (assuming there is one) would have helped us to gauge his depravity; would have given us a touchstone of normalcy.

A superb movie in which all the elements from conception to execution seem to have come together very fortuitously. Note that some DVD versions of this film are missing part of the soundtrack: the Schoolly D song "Signifying Rapper" was removed, due to a copyright dispute brought by Jimmy Page, concerning the sampling of a Led Zeppelin song. This removal does not improve the film.

Really interesting look at good and evil and the gray area in between. Stark Christian imagery may offend some, but it isn't exploitative. Ironic, considering one of Ferrara's other films is a little ditty called "The Driller Killer".

Somehow this film managed to hit such a depth of depravity that an ending you could normally see a mile away is completely unexpected. A highly effective profile of a guilty conscience.

How not to make a point about Keitel's performance?

Flawed but also provocative and absorbing. Keitel's performance is formidable and hilarious at times. Herzog is remaking this ? I'm there !!!

Keitel rocked, and I LOVED that it was centered around a Mets-Dodgers NLCS. However, the whole Catholic thing did nothing for me. It was all down hill after the masturbation scene.

the greatest religious movie after Pasolini's "Gospel According to St Matthew" ! ! ! Not enough words to describe how much i love this movie

Kinky, but featuring unusually restrained direction from Ferrara and a fine performance from Keitel.

Bad lieutenant: 8 // 9 // 9 // 7 // 7 // 8 // 7

Truly miserable in the best way possible. It doesn't seem right to list the few flaws I couldn't shake when you get a performance/atmosphere of this level- forget Tarantino - this is why people still talk about Harvey Keitel.

As repellent as movie characters come, but there is nothing salacious and everything fascinating about this movie.

Existential despair and guilt brought forth on the screen by Keitel's incredible performance. Painful.

I didn't like this the first time I watched it, but upon rewatching I don't find it difficult to view at all. The bad lieutenant is certainly not that bad, and his sins are probably tantamount to what you and I do every day. Ferrara seems to be suggesting we are all beyond redemption, at least those of us who commit a similar measure of sins as the main character. Although the lieutenant received a kind of redemption at the end, I have to wait a little longer before anyone can forgive me.

For all it's shortcomings it has enough memorable scenes to be worth a view. Keitel is utterly convincing as a corrupt NY police lieutenant. There's some hilarious whining when his chips are down, and a masturbation scene, that's either unsettling or pathetic. Either way it's not easily forgot.

Movie's built around its climax, which is fine, but it takes way too long to get there.

i've done so many bad things...