Decrimalisatn changed the way homosexualy and gay culture were portrayed on screen.
Contents:
- 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
- 10 GREAT GAY ROMANCE FILMS
- KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
- 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
From Victim to Weekend, we remember some of the bt Brish gay films. * gay movie england *
This may e as a surprise om a untry where male homosexualy was illegal until as recently as 1967, and where gay marriage ntu to ffle right-wgers, swivel-eyed or otherwise. We’ve narrowed down the list to films easily available on DVD, although honourable mentn mt go to the über-rare Two Gentlemen Sharg (1969), a swgg slice of the 60s that hted at terracial homosexualy. Sign up to BFI Flare emailsGet the latt #BFIFlare news and ticket release list should really be a Top 11 – the omissn of Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), the first Brish film to feature a gay kiss, is borrle excable.
Tom Shkolnik’s betifully observed The Comedian (2012), which a possibly gay, possibly bi thirtysomethg (Edward Hogg) tri to make as a standup the pal, also narrowly missed cln. A few d homosexuals n be found Aled Hchck’s early work (check out the swishy drsmaker 1925’s The Pleasure Garn), while Ivor Novello’s films play up the flamboyant star’s androgyny, playg very odd, allegedly heterosexual men The Lodger (1926) and The Man whout Dire (1923).
The ma tr may be straight, but the mera’s love of Pl Robon’s torso – the film was directed and produced by gay men – hts at an even more taboo love story. Although ma at a time when homosexualy was unmentnable on screen, Hale’s gtur and waspish livery clearly the character as not the marryg kd.
10 GREAT GAY ROMANCE FILMS
The urse of gay love rarely ns smooth on screen, but happy endgs are not as rare as they once were. Wh Merchant-Ivory’s Mrice currently back cemas, we celebrate gay films at their most romantic. * gay movie england *
Victim (1961)Dirk Bogar, an actor who never acknowledged the mours of his homosexualy durg his lifetime, took a real reer risk playg a lawyer who, followg a strg of blackmail attempts agast gay men, begs to realise his own sexualy. Victim was released four years after the publitn of the Wolfenn report, a paper which remend that male homosexualy no longer be regard as a crimal offence. It took another 10 years before partial crimalisatn took effect wh the Sexual Offenc act 1967, which allowed homosexual acts, private, between two men over the age of 21 – many feel Basil Dearn’s film helped liberalise attus and pave the way towards tolerance towards gay people.
The Leather Boys (1964)The Brish ‘kchen sk’ dramas, foced around workg-class liv, that prevailed the late 50s and early 60s ocsnally ntaed sympathetic gay characters, such as Murray Melv’s stunt A Taste of Honey (1961) and Cicely Courtneidge’s ageg actor The L-shaped Room (1962). A newlywed (Col Campbell) havg marriage problems fds pe through mararie wh a biker gang – and don’t realise that his dynamic and fatly misogynist bt iend (Dudley Sutton) is gay. The last scene, set a gay bar, featur a nga le of unlikable stereotyp, but at least Sutton across more sympathetilly than Ra Thgham, playg Campbell’s shrewish wife.
KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
From Dog Day Afternoon to The Handmain, the are 10 of the bt thrillers wh lbian, gay or transgenr them. * gay movie england *
Sebastiane (1976)Few films outsi gay porn feature as much male flh as Sebastiane, the feature but of Derek Jarman (-directed by Pl Hums). Some praised for s realistic portrayal of a gay teacher unsuccsfully seekg a lovg relatnship the newly sexually liberated clubs of London.
'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
Celebrate the bt gay movi wh our list of the 50 most sential LGBTQ+ films ever ma * gay movie england *
Now Nighthawks n be re-evaluated as an valuable time psule of the late 1970s gay scene, the liberated perd between crimalisatn and the outbreak of AIDS. Ken Robertson is very good as the antihero, pecially the film’s bt scene, when the teacher out to his homophobic class and nonts their prejudic. Homosexualy is jt one of the topics vered Hanif Kureishi’s amb, Osr-nomated screenplay, which also tak on racism, culture clash, and the state of Thatcher’s Bra.
The murr of a gay man triggers an avalanche of trouble for two black pirate rad DJs, one of whom starts a relatnship wh a whe, gay punk. Betiful Thg (1996)This favoure remas one of the sweett of all gay films, tellg the story of two troubled boys – one bullied at school, the other at home – who fd love each other’s arms. It’s a super play, but the film jt about tmps , thanks pecially to the performanc – Glen Berry retired om actg, Stt Neal played another gay role The Bill, while the scene-stealg Lda Henry beme a fixture on Bad Girls and EastEnrs.
Somethg miraculo: a touchg brief enunter between men which manag to avoid imposg straight mols and rpects the specificy of gay ordars. It was groundbreakg to see a mastream film wh big name stars approach a gay romance such an thentic, sensive manner, and Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are both exceptnal.
Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. * gay movie england *
Jean Ge’s unbelievably sexy film, set a prison, has one of the all-time top homoerotic moments cema when the two mat share a cigarette through a small hole by blowg the smoke to the mouth of the other.
Keanu Reev and River Phoenix give bravura performanc as two gay street htlers Van Sant’s blisterg early 90s exploratn of the unfivg Amerin gay scene. As wh many of my favoure gay films, the specifics of sexualy are never an issue Petra von Kant, leavg room for a universal exploratn of how pric love n be. Although problematic s apparent male gaze and unrealistic gay lovemakg, this featur performanc by Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos that are charged wh snap-cracklg chemistry.
Dirk Bogar’s extremely brave performance as a closeted barrister drawn to a gay blackmail se directly fluenced public opn, and played a part changg the law Bra when the Sexual Offenc Act was fally passed 1967. Dirk Bogar’s landmark role the 1961 crime thriller Victim is the touchstone, a film that actually helped change public opn and the law, when the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act partially crimalised male homosexualy. In the wake of this first step towards equaly, we were treated to unpleasant stereotyp galore The Killg of Sister Gee (1968) and Stairse (1969), but the 1970s saw progrs wh the sophistited bisexual love triangle of John Schlger’s Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), Derek Jarman’s homoerotic Sebastiane (1976) and Ron Peck and Pl Hallam’s Nighthawks (1978), the first explicly gay Brish feature set the gay muny.