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In response, one hundred cops were unleashed on the protestors, and two arrests were made, with Ethan Geto, an organizer of the protests, comparing the production of Cruising to “the Ku Klux Klan making a movie about the black community on 125th Street in Harlem.”ĭespite the onslaught of adversity and protest, as well as having to cut 40 minutes from the film to get the MPAA to rate the film as R rather than X, Cruising was finally released in 1980. With this rejection from the city, the fight against Cruising’s production came to a head on July 26th of 1979, when 1,000 protestors marched on the film production’s headquarters in Greenwich Village, blocking traffic by enacting a sit-in on the street. Koch rejected these demands, citing an opposition to censorship and a drive to encourage the film industry of New York. On the political action front, gay rights groups petitioned New York City mayor Ed Koch to cut the film’s tax benefits and deny it filming permits. The all out guerilla war against Cruising was so prevalent that the film, which was almost entirely shot on location, had to have its audio almost completely redubbed in post production due to protestors armed with airhorns and loud music. As The Village Voice’s own Jason Bailey recounted in 2018, “Pamphlets were distributed, rallies were held, streets were blocked, bottles and bricks were thrown, demonstrators were roughed up, and arrests were made.” Bailey explained further how mounting pressure made gay bars reneg on their agreements to be shooting locations, protestors ruined shots, and some extras quit, with others staying behind to serve as de-facto spies for the film's critics. To put it mildly, Bell’s suggestion was embraced.