From Victim to Weekend, we remember some of the bt Brish gay films.
Contents:
10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
* uk gay movie *
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).
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. * uk gay movie *
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. 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.
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.
Celebrate the bt gay movi wh our list of the 50 most sential LGBTQ+ films ever ma * uk gay movie *
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. 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.
Sign up to BFI Flare emailsGet the latt #BFIFlare news and ticket release raged agast the renewed ti of state-sanctned homophobia the 80s, while the 90s brought the much-loved Betiful Thg (1996). A very slight relaxatn of dranian censorship l allowed a smatterg of hts that this man of the church is queer, that certa othg homophob know and are jumpg at the chance to get him the stocks. Dream A40 (1965)Wh mastream cema still reluctant to tackle gay characters and plots the mid-60s, Jamain actor-director Lloyd Reckord took matters to his own hands wh this extraordary unrground short that terrogat the psychologil impact of persecutn.