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| “ | I've been biting the f-cking bullet since I was fourteen. No one can kill me. I'm blessed... . I'm a catholic. | „ |
| ~ The Lieutenant |
| “ | Mutt! You got something that you want to say to me? You f-ck! You ratf-ck, you ratf-ck! Here's your... What? Say something, I know you're just standing there. What am I gonna do? You gotta say something! Something! You f-ck, you f-cking stand there and you want me to do every f-cking thing! Where were you? Where the f-ck are you? Where were you? Where the hell were you? I... I... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! I did so many bad things. I'm sorry. I tried to do... I try to do the right thing, but I'm weak, I'm too f-cking weak. I need you to help me! Help me! I need you to help me! Forgive me! Forgive me! Forgive me, please! Forgive me, father! | „ |
| ~ The Lieutenant's raging breakdown as he begs an apparition of Jesus for forgiveness. |
The Lieutenant is the villainous protagonist of the controversial 1992 neo-noir crime film Bad Lieutenant directed by Abel Ferrara. He is a corrupt police lieutenant from New York City with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness and redemption.
He was portrayed by Harvey Keitel, who also portrayed Sport in Taxi Driver, Lawrence Dimmick in Reservoir Dogs, Victor the Cleaner in Point of No Return, Vince LaRocca in Sister Act, Ray Donlan in Cop Land and Winston Wolfe in Pulp Fiction.
Biography[]
The Lieutenant, whose name is not revealed is a corrupt police detective in New York City. After dropping off his two sons at Catholic School, he sniffs cocaine and drives to the scene of a double homicide in Union Square while intoxicated. He later meets up with a drug dealer and hands over to him a bag of drugs he stole from the crime scene, while smoking crack with him, the dealer promises to give him the money he makes from selling the drugs in a few days. Later at night, instead of returning home to his wife, kids and his sister, he engages in a threesome with two prostitutes and spends the night with them. At the same time, a young nun is being raped by two young delinquents inside a church, they would also steal a chalice after the ordeal before selling it to a local pawn shop.
The Lieutenant is also revealed to have betted $10,000 on a National League Championship Series game between the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers, of which he lost. He attempts to win back his money by doubling his wager on the Dodgers in the next game, much to the annoyance of the broker. He later drives over to another crime scene where he attempts to steal the drugs from the crime scene only to be caught, when the bag full of drugs falls out his jacket, he covers it up by telling a fellow officer to store it for evidence. The lieutenant later learns of the nun that was raped and observes her examination at a hospital where he learns that she was raped with a crucifix. Later that night, he pulls over two underage girls who are driving their father's car without a license and blackmails them into bending over and simulating oral sex while he masturbates.
The following day, he drunkenly visits the crime scene of the church where he falls asleep after wandering around. The next day, after indirectly robbing a store, he returns to the church and listens in on the nun's confession to her priest, where she confesses that she knows who assaulted her but refuses to identify them due to being under oath. While driving intoxicated through the streets of Times Square, he listens to the final moments of The Mets-Dodgers game and shoots his car radio in rage when the Dodgers lose. As a result, his debt has reached $30,000 however, he doubles his wager once again for the next game in hopes of winning. During the next game however, The Dodgers lose yet once again as he watches in despair at a bar. He would soon head over to a nightclub and scores cocaine with a dealer there before meeting the broker there who refuses to double his wage for the third time, insisting that the bookie would kill him and his family.
The lieutenant soon receives his $30,000 share from the drug dealer at his home and calls the bookie personally to place his bet. The bookie however, arranges to meet him in front of Madison Square Garden to discuss his debt, to which the lieutenant reluctantly agrees. After taking drugs with another dealer, he visits the church once again where he greets the nun who is praying at the alter. He tells the nun that he would seek revenge on her behalf for what the two delinquents did to her, she calmly tells him that she forgave them and leaves much to his shock and disbelief. As a result, the lieutenant has an emotional breakdown and begs forgiveness for his crimes and sins to an apparition of Jesus. The apparition is revealed to be a woman holding a golden chalice, which turns out to have been pawned at her husband's shop.
With her help, he manages to track the two boys down whose names are revealed to be Julio & Paulo, to a crack den in Spanish Harlem and holds them at gunpoint where he smokes crack with them while watching the final Mets-Dodgers game where the Dodgers once again, lose. Instead of taking them to the station, he decides to redeem himself by driving them to the Port Authority Bus Terminal while berating them and puts them on a bus with a cigar box containing the $30,000. He angrily demands that they never come back to New York. After he leaves the terminal, he parks on the street in front of Penn Station. Another car drives up beside him, and the driver, presumably the bookie with whom the lieutenant is implied to have missed the meeting with, shoots and kills the lieutenant in broad daylight.
Personality[]
The Lieutenant is the perfect representation of a corrupt official who believed that he is above the law and is free to commit all sorts of horrid and disgusting acts due to his authoritarian position. He is vile, depraved and perverted as when the nun was being examined nude, he spied on her from the creek of the ward door and was implied to have been aroused by it, he also sexually harassed two teenage sisters without a driver's license and blackmailed them into simulating sex acts for him as he pleasured himself. He is also arrogant and hypocritical as due to his position, he viewed himself as untouchable which led him to make more stupid and rash decisions such as doubling his wager, putting his life and his family's life in danger. Behind the corruption however, he was a depressed and cynical man who had lost hope in himself and society and punished himself for it by fueling his addiction to drugs and alcohol.
Despite his vile traits, he is somewhat affable towards his fellow officers and his family, and despite being emotionally distant from his family, he would routinely take his sons to school and treated them very well, including his infant daughter of whom he stroked her cheek when she had trouble sleeping at night, he also attended his sons choir performance at the catholic church to support them, revealing that despite his destructive behavior, he was not an absent father. He also appears to have standards such as being disgusted by the rape of the nun up to the point of initially not being able to comprehend her forgiveness towards her rapists. Towards the end of his life however, he feels deep remorse for his crimes and sins, even breaking down and begging Jesus for forgiveness before finally deciding to do good for once in his life by "forgiving" the rapists before he is abruptly killed.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Harvey Keitel stayed in character on set throughout the production.
- Harvey Keitel's character's real name is unknown. He is only credited as "LT", and referred to as "Lieutenant".
- Christopher Walken was originally the first choice for the role before Harvey Keitel was cast.