By Robert Scucci
| Published
Question time: what does 1992’s Bad Lieutenant and 2009’s Nicolas Cage-starring Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans have in common? Absolutely nothing, because Werner Herzog, the director of the latter title, hadn’t seen the original Abel Ferrara film at the time Port of Call New Orleans was being produced. While Ferrara was vehemently against this alleged remake, Herzog has gone on record time and time again stating that the movies have nothing in common aside from the title, which is in reference to its corrupt policeman, otherwise referred to as the bad lieutenant.
The two filmmakers had a drawn out feud over the matter, but apparently buried the hatchet in 2018.
In other words, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans isn’t a remake when you compare it to Ferrara’s film, but a similar character archetype is explored through Nicolas Cage’s Lieutenant Terence McDonagh.
From Good Officer To Bad Lieutenant
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, as its title suggests, is about Nicolas Cage’s Terence McDonagh, a very bad lieutenant. Sustaining a life-altering back injury after rescuing a drowning prisoner, Terence is promoted to Lieutenant, and thanks to his prescription-happy doctor has an open script for Vicodin to help manage his chronic pain. Finding that he can barely get through the day with what’s prescribed to him, Terence turns to progressively harder drugs, leading him to steal whatever schedule 1 narcotics from the evidence room he can get his hands on as his addiction takes hold – the kind of behavior that puts his superiors on heightened watch, which is the perfect role for Nicolas Cage.
Despite Mcdonagh’s deteriorating mental and physical state in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, he still does top-notch detective work … kind of.
Though Terence’s instincts often lead him to the right places during his ongoing investigation of the brutal murder of five illegal immigrants, he has little to no control over his impulses or addiction, which often leads to disastrous results in the form of messing with the wrong people while in pursuit of an elusive gang leader known as Big Fate (Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner).
Not Bad In The Sense That He’s Tough, But Bad In The Sense That He Doesn’t Do A Very Good Job
Nicolas Cage channels the same addictive behavior in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans that helped him bring home an Academy Award for his portrayal of Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas, and I don’t even want to know what kind of “research” he did to be able to so convincingly and enthusiastically extol the virtues of his “lucky crack pipe.” As Terence Mcdonagh’s professional life becomes more chaotic, it becomes clear that his personal life is in no better shape. His girlfriend, Frankie Donnenfeld (Eva Mendes), is an escort for high rollers, and Terence frequently hits her up for drugs while on the clock, more often than not in broad daylight when all eyes are on him.
What’s more, his ever-increasing gambling debt with his bookie, Ned Shoenholtz (Brad Dourif), spirals just as badly as his substance abuse problem, which only gets worse when Frankie moves in with his alcoholic father and stepmother, Pat (Tom Bower) and Genevieve (Jennifer Coolidge). Just when you think things can’t get any worse in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Terence finds a way to make it happen anyway, with results that will ultimately surprise you given how unhinged he becomes as the film progresses into its second and third acts thanks to Nicolas Cage fully understanding the assignment.
Streaming Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans
Doing what he does best in the form of slowly losing his mind until Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans escalates to the point of no return, this is one of the movies in Nicolas Cage’s filmography that confirms just how much of a legend he is. Having recently watched Deadfall for the first time, I feel like Cage set out to perfect the vibe and attitude that he originally wanted to capture in the 1993 neo-noir disasterpiece, and does so in spades thanks to the brilliant screenplay written by William M. Finkelstein and the directorial instinct of Werner Herzog.
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is a drug-addled odyssey about a corrupt cop in the height of addiction who still somehow knows how to do good old fashioned detective work when he puts his mind to it. While it’s hard to root for such an unthinkably volatile and mostly irredeemable character, you’ll still cheer him on, hoping that he’s not so far gone that he’s totally lost his way.
As of this writing, you can stream Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans for free on Tubi and witness Nicolas Cage losing his marbles like a pro.
