The Gay Film That Changed Your Life

[Scripps2]

A TV movie from the 1980s about a Scottish mother raising two sons on her own. Much of the film focused on the older son getting into trouble, whilst a sub-plot had the younger son coming to terms with being gay.

I can't remember the film's title but I can definitely remember the scenes of the younger son, who played for the local rugby team, and his team-mates in the changing room and the communal rugby bath. It was the first time I experienced lightning-in-the-loins lust, and that long before rugby acquired the homoerotic reputation it has now.

[CarlosAlberto]

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW most definitely. I was there at the 8th Street Playhouse every Friday and/or Saturday night from 1984 - 1986.

And although it wasn't instrumental in my coming out because I saw it years after I came out I do love THE BOYS IN THE BAND. I know a lot of gay men do not care for this film because many would not care to admit that a lot of the "ugliness" in it is actually the truth slapping them in the face in very much the same way Larry Kramer's "FAGG0TS" did ten years later.

I also love the fact that Natalie Wood gave Mart Crowley a year off with pay so he could concentrate on writing it. One more reason why I love that woman!

[JustAGuy]

Namo...thanks for posting that link. It was nice way to start my Sunday morning.

I guess I knew that nearly the entire cast is now gone...but it was sort of shocking to see how young so many of them were when they passed.

"Who do you have to f#ck to get a drink around here?"

Has to be one the most quoted lines from any movie. Whether people know they are quoting it or not.

[jrb_actor]

Torch Song Trilogy. Seeing Matthew Broderick and Brian Kerwin kissing blew my mind!

[FindingNamo]

I was at a press luncheon for Harvey before Torch Song Trilogy was released and most of the people covering it were interested in the Matthew Broderick kiss, but I could've spent significant time asking Harvey what it was like kissing Brian Kerwin. I'm glad I didn't because I would have looked like Harvey later looked as Edna asking Tracy if fame was everything she hoped it would be.

[doodlenyc]

"Making Love"
"Lianna"
"Personal Best"
"Rocky Horror Picture Show"

[FindingNamo]

I stumbled on a TV broadcast on Channel 9 of "The Naked Civil Servant" when I was 14, a very important moment in my life when I needed to have my femmephobia challenged.

Also, "Querelle." And "El Paso Wrecking Corp."

[doodlenyc]

Jeepers! "Querelle"! Franco Nero!
Though I saw that after i came out, it should be on my list just for my huge crush on Nero.
"Taxi Zum Klo" also.

[PalJoey]

I guess I would have to say

Auntie Mame
All About Eve
A Star Is Born
The Women

[tazber]

Oh yes, Rainer Werner Fassbinder. A deeply complex (and debatably homophobic) homosexual director.

Besides Querele he made some other significant gay films, most notably Fox and His Friends.

Also The melodramas Bitter Tears Of Petra von Kant and In A Year With 13 Moons.

Worth exploring if you feel like doing a study of the evolution of gay cinema.

[EricMontreal22]

I think we have moved past the idea that Boys in the Band is somehow insulting. A friend of mine was in a stage production a few years back and I took the guy I was dating at the time to see it and he couldn't get over how much of it was still relevent.

[Mister Matt]

Namo - For me, it's L.A. Tool & Die.

[JustAGuy]

If we're speaking of that genre...then BOYS IN THE SAND. Cal Culver/Casey Donovan ... be still my heart. At one time in my life I had the 8mm film and the projector to go with it!

[Kristie-K2]

There was a TV movie that I watch in the eighties that showed me how some people reacted to Aids...An Early Frost...There are a few scenes that I never forgot...All of John Glover scenes(Brilliant Actor) and when Grandma Syliva Sidney kissed her Grandson at the end...blew me away. I cried for days

This was the first time I realized how big the Aids epidemic was going to be...

[Luscious]

For anyone interested in THE BOYS IN THE BAND, I highly recommend the documentary MAKING THE BOYS. It's available instantly on Netflix. More than just a documentary on the evolution of the play and movie, it's a snapshot of gay life in the 60's and 70's, and includes some great archival footage.





MAKING THE BOYS

[FindingNamo]

I just rented and watched that Luscious, thanks for reminding me it was out there. So, to sum up, thanks to JohnBoy's jejune little post, this weekend I rewatched The Boys in the Band for the first time in a decade, then watched All About The Boys in the Band, and finally Making The Boys.

Really great stuff in all three.

[PalJoey]

Okay, spot quiz: What's more boring than a queen doing a Judy Garland imitation?

[FindingNamo]

A queen doing a Bette Davis impersonation.

More boring than that: JohnBoy2.

[PalJoey]

You mean JohnBoy2 doing a Julie Andrews imitation...

Sleep! Sleep! I couldn't sleep tonight! Not for all the jew-els in the world...!

[CarlosAlberto]

I rented MAKING THE BOYS. It was so well made and informative. It's so sad no one knows where Reuben Greene is. I had such a crush on that man.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Strangely, I just watched Boys in the Band this weekend as well. A friend had never seen it, I had just bought it, so we had a viewing party. Right up until the end (Michael's marevlously histrionic meltdown), my friends and I just kept saying 'Shit don't CHANGE!' I kinda love the movie. I love the way Friedkin shot the whole thing...the amazingly bizarre performances...that fabulous apartment.

I guess the movie that changed me forever was Longtime Companion. The moment Fuzzy turned to the camera and started lipsynching DREAMGIRLS was the first time I ever knew that who I was was ok. It was an amazing piece of validation. And it's probably solidified my attraction to a certain class of men served by the website Scruff.

[henrikegerman]

Law of Desire.

[Mister Matt]

The moment Fuzzy turned to the camera and started lipsynching DREAMGIRLS was the first time I ever knew that who I was was ok.

I cannot think of that film without immediately recalling that wonderful scene. Imagine how thrilled I was to see Stephen Caffrey (Fuzzy) play Steve in Jeffrey in San Francisco just a few years later. Bliss!

[TxTwoStep]

for me, it's probably LONGTIME COMPANION. That coupled with the "genderless" love of PRELUDE TO A KISS made me appreciate Craig Lucas in a way that changed my artistic life.

And as to DEATHTRAP, i saw it with a very large audience and at "the moment" one large lady was heard to exclaim in shock "OH SUPER MAN NO! TELL ME IT AIN'T SO! NO!"

[TxTwoStep]

i also adore (somewhat guiltily) OBJECT OF AFFECTION and with pride, the HBO version of ANGELS IN AMERICA. As to Koestenbaum, he is as charming in person as he is in print...if you can see him speak live, avail yourself. He's also very agressive and flirty and we had a great time. His book THE QUEEN'S THROAT is incredible in how through the subjective lens of his own preferences, he is able to say to much in objectivity about the sociology of gay men and opera...and the infamous correlation of leathermen and Opera Queens.

[TxTwoStep]

i also concur with AN EARLY FROST, but in "made for network TV category" would add DOING TIME ON MAPLE DRIVE to see not only the central performance of William McNamara, but also a very restrained dramatic one by Jim Carrey BEFORE he blew up into a comedy superstar. And they play brothers, not lovers...and BTW WEHT William McNamara? he was so easy on the eye and a fine actor.