Favorite (and Least Favorite) Gay-Themed Movies

[bigvalboy]

LOL...you are right on both counts. Writing his character the way it was written was essential to the narrative, and it still bothered me. But, hell, he just looked so pretty.

 

Seeing as how I was such a picky bitch on the other thread about "white twenty something," funny how all it takes is one handsome white twenty something (I think he was 29 when Bird Cage was released) to make me suspend critical judgment.

 

Life is nothing if not ironic.

 

Now that is funny...lol...

[bigvalboy]

Last one..."Making Love." Disclaimer: At the time I really liked that film, but not a gay friend I knew on the planet liked it, or ever has liked it. Hate is such a strong word, but they really hated it...I gave up defending it years ago, after getting verbally beaten up at many a dinner party. I don't care, I still liked it...so there.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e1/Postermakinglove.jpg/220px-Postermakinglove.jpg

[bostonman]

Two I haven't seen mentioned yet, that would be on my "yes" list - Beautiful Thing, and another film that I haven't seen in many years but remember being very moved by - Entre Nous.

 

Beautiful Thing involves a coming out story for two teen boys, though it's really Linda Henry (as the mother of one of the boys) who drives the film, IMO. Entre Nous is more ambiguous in its story of sexuality - the story of two women who bond in a powerful friendship, but we're slyly left wondering if they ever truly consummate their feelings sexually.

[Irish69]

http://33.media.tumblr.com/806c9382c8e48e8ec513270d17da233c/tumblr_inline_n6q5loiO681rll1xc.gif

 

http://33.media.tumblr.com/543e41f77bac2cf9c19c560735fb0edd/tumblr_m2skawZCwa1qakh43o6_r1_250.gif

 

http://33.media.tumblr.com/1158f388021a9f9235189d4e61330370/tumblr_m2skawZCwa1qakh43o4_r2_250.gif

 

 

R.I.P. Robin Williams

 

 

Irish69

RentMen Rick

 

 

 

BVB... Please Call Or Text Me... Thank-You

 

Irish69

[bigvalboy]

BVB... Please Call Or Text Me... Thank-You

 

Irish69

 

Hey Irish. I no longer have your number. I sent you a PM with my number. I'll be home all day tomorrow.

[+ stevenkesslar]

For me it was Brokeback Mountain. Interesting analysis by quoththeraven. I didn't see the movie the same way. I thought the sexual tension was one of the more powerful elements of the movie. Timid, perhaps a bit, but I thought that the movie stayed true to itself from beginning to the end....and the end, it was just brilliantly done.

 

Well, you get a star on your Gay Card for these comments. I saw Brokeback twice. The first time I saw it the way quoththeraven did - very disappointed. I think it was because I expected to be what it was marketed as - "a gay cowboy love story." The second time I saw it for what it was - a poignant tragedy about the crushing and ultimately fatal impact of homophobia on two men who were perhaps somewhat emotionally stunted to start with. Interesting how you can see the same movie twice, and see totally different movies.

 

Last one..."Making Love." Disclaimer: At the time I really liked that film, but not a gay friend I knew on the planet liked it, or ever has liked it. Hate is such a strong word, but they really hated it...I gave up defending it years ago, after getting verbally beaten up at many a dinner party. I don't care, I still liked it...so there.

 

Not deserving to be on a Top 10 list, but it had it's place in the annals of LGBT cinema. It did get the credit it deserved in The Celluloid Closet, which does deserve to be on a Top 10 list. Celluloid came out in 1995 and both spoke to and reflected the opening of American minds on the topic of homosexuality in cinema. Here's a few anecdotes told about Making Love that describe why it was, in addition to being flawed, also courageous and ahead of its time:

 

Making Love Producer Daniel Melnick recalled in the critically acclaimed documentary The Celluloid Closet, "I had the unpleasant task of running the rough cut of the film" for a man who in Melnick's own words was not from "the film world, nor the intellectual world, nor the world of letters and arts." Squirming in his seat throughout the screening, it was at the point at which the two men embrace and kiss, "that he jumped up and said 'you made a goddamn faggot movie' and stormed out." Such a reaction however was one that was to be mirrored up and down the US, given the majority of the cinema going public showed via the exit door, that they were ill-at-ease with the sight of two men being intimate with each other on the big screen. Thankfully a lot has changed during the interim years, but back then and inspite of nothing remotely explicit on view, many still lay uncomfortable with the subject matter, prompting Twentieth Century Fox to warn viewers at the beginning of the film of a delicate issue that "may be too strong for some people."

Here's a brief clip from Celluloid that described the audience reaction:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4vcC0V611Y

 

Both films are a reminder of how proud we can be of how far we've cum - er, come.

[thickornotatall]

Cut Sleeve Boys

Test

Naked As We Came

That's What I Am

Come Undone

Getting Go The Go Doc Project

Yossi And Jagger

Free Fall

Stranger By The Lake *************** Almost All European Made Gay Themed Movies Are Very Good...So Much Better Than Domestic*****

[jakeleyman]

Watch for a short documentary called "Penny." I just screened it for a festival. It's a short doc about Penny Cooper a gay defense attorney in the Bay area. "She's the one", the film says that "every inmate at San Quenton wants to hire to get them out." The prosecuting attorney says, "I love Penny. She's like my favorite aunt. But if I turn my head, she'll slit my throat."

 

Anybody like "Gerontophilia?"

[+ quoththeraven]

Just to add to my two cents on Brokeback -- the fact that Jack and Ennis took off on vacation together and Ennis' family never did really pissed me off. So selfish. Being female and seeing the events thought the wives' eyes made a difference to me. The music was beautiful and the cinematography was beautiful; otherwise, I'd rather read the story on which it's based. It's better and less confusing and ambiguous than the movie.

 

Does reading the book count? I've read Tales of the City and More Tales of the City. I thought that was a miniseries for a premium cable channel, though, not a theatrical release.

 

I'd also thought about Birdcage, but decided that while enjoyable, it was a teensy bit lightweight compared to the other movies I mentioned. The ex and I had already seen La Cage aux Folies.

 

Someday I have to see Shortbus, Death in Venice, The Boys in the Band, and Dog Day Afternoon. BVB, I remember when Making Love came out (so to speak). It might not have been an accomplished movie, but it was a brave one.

 

I notice no one has mentioned Philadelphia yet.

[+ WhamIAm]

Faves

 

Pretty much Pedro Almodovar's entire catalog -- All About My Mother, Bad Education, Labyrinth of Passion and especially Law of Desire (besides being a great flick, a young Antonio Banderas bottoms).

Shortbus

Latter Days

Longtime Companion

Hedwig

Freier Fall

Yossi and Jagger

Bent

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Eyes Wide Open

[bostonman]

I was waiting for someone to mention Longtime Companion lol. A bit soap-opera-ish at times, I think, but still very moving (the last "reunion" scene packs a huge emotional wallop IMO - it had me sobbing the first time I saw it) - and I do like Craig Lucas' work in general. And, I do think it's a very important film in terms of its era.

[+ WhamIAm]

I was waiting for someone to mention Longtime Companion lol. A bit soap-opera-ish at times, I think, but still very moving (the last "reunion" scene packs a huge emotional wallop IMO - it had me sobbing the first time I saw it) - and I do like Craig Lucas' work in general. And, I do think it's a very important film in terms of its era.

 

100% agree. It is a tad melodramatic at point, and my guess is that it probably hasn't aged well. Screen it for a group of 25-year-old gay dudes and I'd bet you'd get more rolling eyes than teary eyes. I think it's very much if you weren't there, you just won't get it. But, the end scene still makes for a good, cathartic weep every time I watch it.

 

Not usually a comedy guy, but I'd also add Jeffrey. Very cute movie, and Captain Piccard can do no wrong in my eyes. And, what the hell ever happened to Michael T Weiss. That man was smokin' hot.

[TruHart1]

Thanks for reminding me about The Boys in the Band, QTR. That and Making Love were both seen way before I came out and I was moved so much when I originally saw them. Now, I can hardly sit through Boys because it is such a negative view of gay life to me. I'm certainly glad my gay friends have never been as bitchy/jealous as those characters! Making Love really moved my younger self (probably due to the hotness of Ontkean and especially Hamlin, whom I lusted unconditionally after back then!) but now, not much at all. A movie I saw back then, (in my 20's, i.e. ancient history ) which still holds up so well as a comedy based on a fine play, was The Ritz! I had a lusty crush on Treat Williams after seeing that one for about 30 years!!! Another gay movie that I believe is a true classic of cinematography and structure, not to mention the lead, Brad Davis, who was so excellent in it, is Querelle. I still find that film very other-worldly, moving and beautiful!

 

TruHart1

[mike carey]

When I started reading this thread I thought I'd have nothing to say ('Hasn't stopped you before', I hear you say.) but reading it reminded me of a few films. I haven't seen Brokeback, only read the novella.

 

My two entries into the conversation would be Transamerica which I thought was delightful and also sensitive, and Sasha a German film about a piano prodigy falling in love with his teacher. Much of the drama was the less than sympathetic response of his Balkan immigrant father.

[ZhenXBear]

I recently watched North Sea Texas and it made me get all sappy.

[+ WmClarke]

Faves

...

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

 

Finally someone mentions a movie I saw once or twice... Or 150 times....

 

Also Cabaret has one of the bext dialogue exchanges:

 

Brian (Michael York): Fuck the Baron!

Sally (Liza Minelli): I do!

Brian: So do I!

[+ WilliamM]

I agree about Almodovar's films, especially Law of Desire and Bad Education.

 

Bent was originally a play, in the US on Broadway in 1979 with Richard Gere. He is not a great actor and was too good looking for his role. Still I wish the play had been filmed. Gere was extraordinary in person.

[thickornotatall]

Last one..."Making Love." Disclaimer: At the time I really liked that film, but not a gay friend I knew on the planet liked it, or ever has liked it. Hate is such a strong word, but they really hated it...I gave up defending it years ago, after getting verbally beaten up at many a dinner party. I don't care, I still liked it...so there.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e1/Postermakinglove.jpg/220px-Postermakinglove.jpg

I bought the VHS tape at Crazy Eddie when it was first released...still have it..Michael Ontkean....dreamy...

[+ Chris Eisenhower]

The Broken Hearts Club. I remember that one of the characters called Patrick (top right) ugly. This came late in the movie and was treated like the elephant in the room. I remember thinking, "Wow, gay men definitely have high standards."

 

The other one is a documentary called Gay Sex in the 70s that I saw with a date. (Classic Fluffy) It was long, and people were yawning by the end.

But it was fascinating to learn about all the stuff that happened on the trucks, the Christopher street piers, and the streets of NY as a whole.

 

http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0000/297/MI0000297929.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

 

I do love this movie. "Go" also has a really funny gay subplot and also stars Timothy Olyphant.

 

Has anyone mentioned "Love! Valor! Compassion!"?

[Battle]

Worst of all time,Lola And Billy The Kid, Turkish transvestites in Germany.

A very close second, the recent Saint Laurent bio-pic....bad acting, poor production, in French with what might have been English subtitles.

[Rod Hagen]

Steam. Steam. Steam is one of my favorite films Ever, and I've seen every movie listed in this thread. I get SO angry when I see what's happening to Turkey now.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3425034/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-WSmNQ9Euk

http://www.amazon.com/Steam-Turkish-Bath-Alessandro-Gassman/dp/B005P2BLC4

 

Also, O Fantasma, while nowhere near Steam's caliber, transfixes me.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0239381/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

http://www.amazon.com/O-Fantasma-Ricardo-Meneses/dp/B0000C508N/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432565276&sr=8-1&keywords=O+Fantasma

 

By far the best gay movie in the last 5 years was Keep The Lights On.

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Keep-the-Lights-On/70227942

 

Also recent and quite good, despite the first scene which is bad,

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Strapped/70153840

 

And Mysterious Skin, mentioned earlier in this thread, is a masterwork from a VERY unlikely director (not that I don't like Araki, I do. I was simply surprised he had this in him):

 

 

 

Movies are almost as important to me as books, so I can't stay away from this thread. Fox and His Friends is not an erotic film by any means, although the mere sight of a Moroccan man makes me simultaneously scared and hard (things happened in Morocco during my transformative years) it is such a precise take-down of the cruelty of, Germans specifically and men generally, that I gotta say it's another excellent feel-bad gay movie from one of our most busy directors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaW7M8iqHP0

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Fox-and-His-Friends/60021489

 

I can not express emphatically enough how much I hate the movie Weekend.

 

And stop shitting on Brokeback. It's a brilliant movie. (actually, in the short story Ennis did hook up with another woman ("Putting the blocks to her") after his divorce and while Jack was still alive, it's not fleshed out in the short story the way it is in the movie because it's a short story). Sure, there's no happy ending. In Wyoming, then, there couldn't be.

[+ SundayZip]

I have lots of favorites, but here's a start:

- Brokeback Mountain

- Trick

- The Broken Hearts Club

- Shortbus

- My Beautiful Laundrette

- Patrik, Age 1.5

 

Here's a couple recently seen that I really disliked:

- Aleksandr's Price

- Strapped

[Rod Hagen]

I

Here's a couple recently seen that I really disliked:

- Aleksandr's Price

- Strapped

 

I'm really sorry to hear you didn't like Strapped. What didn't you like about it?

[+ Robster]

Parting Glances was the first gay-themed film I ever saw, and it's still one of my favorites.

 

Wayne and I saw Keep The Lights On at the Ken Cinema in San Diego a few years ago, and hated it.

The Next Best Thing, with Madonna and Rupert Everett, is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Hated it, hated it, HATED IT!!

 

Some of my other favorites include:

 

Torch Song Trilogy (my first boyfriend introduced me to it. Such a great film)

Trick (one of the first movies Wayne and I ever watched together. We love it!)

The Boys in the Band (hard to watch, but worth the effort, in my opinion)

Stonewall (another one that's hard for me to watch in parts, but definitely worth it)

The Object Of My Affection (great movie, and Paul Rudd is totally adorable in it, of course)

Jeffrey (Steven Weber is whiny and annoying as the lead, but the rest of the all-star cast is great!)

In & Out (speaking of all-star casts! This is such a fun movie. Joan Cusack is hilarious, as always)

 

Some lesser-known films I enjoyed, which may have already been mentioned:

 

The Trip

Straight-Jacket

Edge of Seventeen

All Over The Guy

Broadway Damage

[Doe Be Doe]

Parting Glances! Yes!