{"id":17338,"date":"2021-11-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=17338"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:13:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:13:52","slug":"neon-slime-the-sleaze-noirs-of-the-1980s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/neon-slime-the-sleaze-noirs-of-the-1980s\/","title":{"rendered":"Neon Slime: The Sleaze Noirs of the 1980s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cBang-bang! Shoot \u2018em up!<\/em>
Talkin\u2019 about crime!<\/em>
Everybody\u2019s swimming in the neon slime!<\/em>
\u00a0The streets are flowing with neon slime!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The above lyrics belong to \u201cNeon Slime\u201d, the song that opens and closes Gary Sherman\u2019s 1981 masterpiece Vice Squad<\/em>. As sung\u2014or, rather, screamed\u2014by actor Wings Hauser, whose star turn in the film as a remorseless and sadistic cowboy pimp named Ramrod stands as one of the greatest villainous performances in all of cinema, the track could serve as the theme song to any number of urban thrillers made during its decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a certain kind of film connoisseur, the \u201880\u2019s are synonymous with urban nightmare films, be they of the action, horror, crime or mystery variety (a thorough catalog<\/a> has been compiled by writer Jedidiah Ayres). With their backdrop of metropolitan grime and air of danger and paranoia, they serve as a continuation of post-war films noir, as well as the neo-noirs of the \u201870s, but filtered through the flashy, Day-Glo ambience, coked-up decadence and muscular action of the new era. Many, although not all, of these individual examples are also outright exploitation pictures, albeit ones aimed at larger audiences thanks to the burgeoning home video and multiplex industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viewed through a modern lens, these films, even more than those from earlier times, are likely to be regarded as retrograde in their worldviews (to say nothing of their content), and not entirely without good reason. More than simply a case of changing social mores or sensitivities, the urban anxieties expressed in them went a long way towards bolstering the conservative fear mongering and cultural backlash that swept Ronald Reagan into the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, amongst this crop of\u2014let\u2019s call them Sleaze Noirs, why not? \u2014there are few examples that stand out for the surprising pathos and even dignity they afford to the members of their particular underclass, which was often far greater than any found in mainstream, respectable films. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the first American films released in 1980 was William Friedkin\u2019s Cruising<\/em>, a key work in the Sleaze Noir cannon. An ultra-bleak police mystery thriller that frequently veers into horror\u2014the film\u2019s style owes as much to Italian giallos<\/a> as it does gritty American police procedurals, and it would go on to serve as a major influence on David Fincher\u2019s Se7en<\/em> fifteen years later\u2014Cruising<\/em> feels of a piece with the sex trade-set dramas of the preceding years, particularly those scripted and\/or directed by Paul Schrader, such as Taxi Driver<\/em> (1976) and Hardcore<\/em> (1979). (Schrader\u2019s American Giglio<\/em>, which one could argue fits into the Sleaze Noir category despite its higher-minded, Bressonian aesthetics, would be released only a month after Cruising<\/em>). Along with fellow troubled United Artist productions Heaven\u2019s Gate<\/em><\/a> (1980) and Cutter\u2019s Way<\/em><\/a> (1981), it serves an appropriately downbeat, even downright apocalyptic, coda to the New Hollywood revolution,while also being a harbinger of the new cinematic landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As notorious a studio film as has ever been made, Cruising<\/em>\u2014which stars Al Pacino as an ostensibly straight New York City police officer who reluctantly goes undercover as a gay man in the underground leather bar scene in order to catch a serial killer preying on its denizens\u2014was met with furious condemnation (and even attempted sabotage<\/a>) from members of the gay community, who charged it with being homophobic and viciously exploitative, as well as cultural conservatives, including members of the MPAA, who forced Friedkin to cut 40 minutes from the film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the initial critical reception to Cruising<\/em> was one of near-unanimous revulsion, over the years, the tide has turned, as it has come to be appreciated for the troubling, challenging work of pitch-black noir that it is. And although many would still take offense to the film\u2019s representation of gay culture (charging that it links homosexual sex, if not necessarily homosexuality itself, to depravity and violence), it\u2019s impossible to ignore how modern its viewpoint is regarding the nature of policing, which it accurately and unambiguously depicts as innately predatory (the title itself referring to both gay pickup culture and police patroling). The film\u2019s aesthetics, meanwhile, have proved highly influential on the work of individual gay artists, such as Robert Mapplethorpe and Travis Matthews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Less publicized, although not necessarily less influential, was Sherman\u2019s Vice Squad<\/em>, released two years later. That film, which can best be summarized as a proto-Terminator<\/em> set within the flesh trade of Los Angeles’ Skid Row district\u2014and it really is hard to believe that James Cameron didn\u2019t watch the movie before helming his breakout hit (nor, for that matter, is it believable that Clint Eastwood, or at least someone in his orbit, hadn\u2019t seen it prior to the making of 1983\u2019s Sudden Impact<\/em>, since the iconic \u201cMake my day\u201d line appears first in Vice Squad<\/em>)\u2014is a prime example of the go-for-broke, everything-including-the-kitchen sink style found in the best exploitation pictures, what with its mix of high-octane action, intentionally (and effectively) disturbing sexual violence, random acts of surrealist comedy, and gritty, slice-of-life drama.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s that latter element that gives Vice Squad<\/em> a weightier feel than most other films of its type (well, that and the subtly incredible cinematography from John Alcott\u2014best known as Stanley Kubrick\u2019s regular director of photography). When prepping the film, Sherman threw himself into the world of his story, spending so much time with actual Los Angeles vice cops that he became a volunteer deputy. However, he made sure to dedicate as much attention to the people on the other side of the law, voluntarily spending hours upon hours in county lockups and interviewing prostitutes, pimps, junkies, crooks and tramps. The attention to detail comes through not only in the use of legitimate street lingo (Vice Squad<\/em> may well be the second mainstream feature film to use the term \u2018golden shower\u2019, the first being, of course, Cruising<\/em>), but also the recognition of sex work as legitimate labor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the film doesn\u2019t shy away from the more prurient aspects of the job (although notably, there is almost no nudity in the film and only one sex scene, which is markedly not<\/em> played for titillation), it also takes pains to show other sides of it, including how ridiculous, boring and even therapeutic it can be. In its dramatic, yet clear-eyed depiction of sex work, Vice Squad<\/em> has more in common with Alan J. Pakula and Jane Fonda\u2019s Klute<\/em> from 1971. As such, it\u2019s not at all surprising that none other than Martin Scorsese proclaimed it the best film of its year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s any movie that makes for a perfect double bill with Vice Squad<\/em> (and I should know, since I recently attended just such a program at Los Angeles\u2019s New Beverly cinema), it\u2019s 1984\u2019s Angel<\/em>. A cult classic that spawned two sequels, the movie is probably most famous for its iconic VHS cover<\/a>. But despite the racy premise as summed up by its tagline\u2014”High school honor student by day. Hollywood hooker by night.\u201d\u2014the film is a surprisingly tender character study of a troubled young girl and her adopted family of sex workers, street performers and drag queens, all of whom are portrayed with grit and poignancy. This isn\u2019t to say the movie is short on lurid thrills (it\u2019s partly a slasher, as well as revenge film),only that it balances the luridness with real heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The same year saw the release of Abel Ferrara\u2019s Fear City<\/em>, a much scuzzier movie which, like Angel<\/em>, features a kung-fu practicing serial killer preying on sex workers. Although it is a rousing and essential example of Sleaze Noir, Ferrara is working primarily in flashy, exploitation mode, with his far more challenging and thematically complex work coming three years prior and nine years later, by way of Ms. 45<\/em> and King of New York<\/em>, respectively.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1987, New Hollywood auteur Jerry Schatzberg made his own foray into the urban underworld with Street Smart,<\/em> about an amoral newspaper reporter (Christopher Reeve) who concocts a profile of a fake pimp, only to bring him to the attention of a very real, and very dangerous pimp named Fast Black (Morgan Freeman, in one of his early breakout performances). By explicitly noting how white, upper-class intellectuals fetishize and exploit the underclass in the name of storytelling, Street Smart<\/em> serves a wry meta-commentary on this particular subgenre of film, even if Schatzberg ultimately undercuts this theme by having Reeve\u2019s character earn both redemption and revenge by the film\u2019s end.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But regardless of how exploitative any of these films are, they all serve as essential documents of the worlds in which they are set. Shot mostly on real locations, with members of the subcultures they depict (Cruising<\/em> used real members of the leather bar scene, Vice Squad<\/em> and Angel<\/em> feature real sunset strip regulars, and the porno-set thrillers Body Double<\/em> and 52 Pickup<\/em> are stacked with cameos of that industry\u2019s Silver Age stars), and featuring legitimate bits of anthropological detail (one of Cruising\u2019s<\/em> most memorable scenes<\/a> features Powers Booth as a sex shop cashier detailing the \u2018handkercheif code\u2019 to Pacino\u2019s character), they captured the decadent, dirty, and entrancing era of inner city American life in the final years before gentrification, corporate \u2018revitalization\u2019 and the broken windows theory<\/a> of policing swept it away. \"\"\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In films like \u2018Angel,\u2019 \u2018Cruising,\u2019 and \u2018Vice Squad,\u2019 filmmakers of the sleek, go-go \u201880s explored the seedier side of urban life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":506,"featured_media":17340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1399],"tags":[1422],"class_list":["post-17338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-looking-back","tag-looking-back"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/506"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22141,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17338\/revisions\/22141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}