Dear lennials, the generatn born durg the '80s, the are the gay-themed movi — some wonrful, some wonrfully terrible — worth your time.
Contents:
- THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’
- GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
- 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
- 16 MT-SEE CLASSIC GAY MOVI FROM BEFORE YOU WERE BORN
THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’
In a sea of nned cktails, Gay Water wants to stand out. * western gay films *
(Image cred: Alamy)The actor Sam Elltt's ntroversial recent ments cricised The Power of the Dog's 'allns to homosexualy', but queer readgs of wterns stretch back s, and Zachariah is a prime example, wr Sean the ialistic 1960s gave way to the cynil 1970s, US cema began servg up creasgly nihilistic and psychologilly plex stori, all wh sour endgs to match. Zachariah ptur the overlap between anti-Vietnam War, rock mic, sexual liberatn, femism, the emergence of gay rights, civil rights, environmentalism – they're all alcg – Gary NeedhamZachariah's screenplay was rewrten many tim. In all s Firign-fuelled youth-culture provotn, Needham tells BBC Culture, the film "ptur the overlap between anti-Vietnam War, rock mic, sexual liberatn, femism, the emergence of gay rights, civil rights, environmentalism – they're all alcg" wtern was a predomant mo through which mascule performance was tght, pecially to young whe Amerin menThe boys' embrace at the end of Zachariah, then, is an earnt rebuttal of the toxic, vlent mascule mor on which the wtern genre was built.
Wh Don Johnson gracg s ver, the March 1971 edn of The Advote, the US's olst LGBT publitn, featured a review wh the headle "Are they gay? On the homosexual implitns of the iendship, he wrote, "I'm aaid that's all is – iendship, " addg that the film's script leads to the brk of homosexualy only to back away before be explic. " Gay people will be posive that the boys were lovers, and the straights will be left wh only spicns.
The New York Tim' Roger Greenspun looked closer (too close, perhaps), ncludg that the film "propagandised homosexual love". In his book Idol Worship: A Shamels Celebratn of Male Bety the Movi (2003), Michael Fergon refers to Johnson at this stage of his reer as "an stant h wh gay dienc", and "sold as chicken feed and pecked at wh light".
GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
Celebrate the bt gay movi wh our list of the 50 most sential LGBTQ+ films ever ma * western gay films *
Nu stills om his works were regularly prted gay magaz, and Johnson was, says Fergon, "extremely gay-iendly and gay-thankful". When Zach first approach Matthew, he’s shirtls and sweaty, wearg ltle but a blacksmh's smock, Fergon wrote: "the homoerotic possibili of this exchange [might] turn to the first gay wtern sce Andy Warhol's Lonome Cowboys (1969)". Red River (1948), a film laced wh nuendo which John Wayne and Montgomery Clift, a closeted gay man, admire each other's firearms, was labelled a queer touchstone – alongsi Calamy Jane (1953) and Johnny Guar (1954), which also upend genr rol – Vo Rso's 1981 book The Celluloid Closet: Homosexualy the Movi, and the documentary of the same name (1995).
Andy Warhol's Horse (1965) and Lonome Cowboys (1969) make clear the nnectns between stume, Amerin male inty and homosexualy. "The wboy has always had a lot of currency gay eroti and eventual pornography, " says Needham, who pots also to gay-liberatn films such as Song of the Loon (1970), and gay porn featur such as The Savag (1971), as exampl. Zachariah picts men, even if they're not terpreted as gay, as unbound by the mascule paranoia that surrounds touch, feelgs and emotnsIn 1969, Midnight Cowboy would repackage the them and athetics to ask qutns about Ameri's mols of masculy.
Needham wr his say Hollywood Tra: Midnight Cowboy and Unrground Cema, the film "'outs' post-war gay culture's cultural productn and erotic fascatn wh wboys". That, says Needham, might be part of Zachariah's appeal to gay dienc: bee picts men, even if they're not terpreted as gay, as unbound by the mascule paranoia that surrounds touch, feelgs and emotns. There was clearly a precent for gay wboys by 1971, even if was mostly unknown to Zachariah's makers.
'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
* western gay films *
And as Sam Elltt's ntroversial ments regardg Jane Campn's The Power of The Dog's "allns to homosexualy" this week show, 's an archetype that some fd hard to shake. Pedro Almodovar is makg his own Brokeback Mounta, and we nnot wa to see how all turns upg gay wtern romance, tled Strange Way of Life, will feature Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pasl the lead rol.
"The sire to make his own gay wtern film me om Almodovar not beg ntent wh the rtrictns placed on him when he was beg nsired to direct Brokeback Mounta.
As a rult, many fans have been expectg Strange Way of Life to be a much more unfiltered movie when to the gay uple 'll have to stay tuned for more tails about Almodovar's new film, but we're really likg what we're hearg so far!
16 MT-SEE CLASSIC GAY MOVI FROM BEFORE YOU WERE BORN
RELATED | Here's When & Where You Can Fally Stream BrosFrom Your Se ArticlPedro Pasl Is Daddy & Sarah Plson Is Mommy This 'SNL' Sketch ›The Inter Is Redisverg This Gay Role Pedro Pasl Played the '90s ›35 Sexy Pics of Manu Ríos From 'Éle' & 'Strange Way of Life' ›Here's When You Can Watch Almodóvar’s Gay Wtern 'Strange Way of Life' ›. Jt about everythg about the wboy way of life screams gay: leather, assls chaps, wboy hats, nim jackets, tight jeans, and spendg a lot of time buildg up a sweat wh other guys.
Brokeback Mounta was a heartbreakg movie, but also was one of the first gay films to be regnized as a te masterpiece.
It’s not exactly the same type of prtige drama as the other films on this list, but Dashg December has s own special place our gay wboy hearts. Cast a few top-shelf gay ins there — your Bette Middlers, your Joan Crawfords, your Faye Dunaways playg Joan Crawford — and pecially have them reparteeg bchy l tearg each other to piec, and have an athetic that’s outre and unironilly mp, and you’ve got the wng-formula starter-pack for somethg licly fabulo and queer, even if not by tentnal sign. But settg a precent for movi now nonized by gay culture that don’t technilly have any (non-d, anyway) gay characters were some of Hollywood’s most all-time legendary actrs: Bette Davis “All About Eve” ma “’s gog to be a bumpy ri” an idmatic quip, while Elizabeth Taylor then ma Bette Davis’ “what a dump” even more inic aga the openg le of “Who’s Aaid of Virgia Woolf, ” livered while gnawg down on a chicken wg.