Hollywood First Gay Kiss: Schlger's Sunday Bloody Sunday, Starrg Peter Fch, Glenda Jackson, and Murray Head as the Guy they Both Love | Emanuel Levy

Contents:

• HOLLYWOOD FIRST GAY KISS: SCHLGER’S SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY, STARRG PETER FCH, GLENDA JACKSON, AND MURRAY HEAD AS THE GUY THEY BOTH LOVE
• SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY (1971): SCHLGER’S ROMANTIC TRIANGLE, GAY MAN (FCH), STRAIGHT WOMAN (JACKSON) AND GAY MAN BOTH LOVE
• 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
• GAY KISS ‘BLOODY SUNDAY’ BROKE RUL: THE RAER FILE
• ELRGAYS TELL ME ABOUT FILM "SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY"

HOLLYWOOD FIRST GAY KISS: SCHLGER’S SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY, STARRG PETER FCH, GLENDA JACKSON, AND MURRAY HEAD AS THE GUY THEY BOTH LOVE

Based on Penelope Gilliatt’s sharply observed screenplay, the movie holds an important place film history, offerg the first posive image of a homosexual character (and a Jewish one at that) a lead role a mastream movie. Schlger, the late Jewish, openly gay filmmaker, is better-known for his Osr-wng picture, Midnight Cowboy (1969). That movie, starrg Dt Hoffman and Jon Voight, also had gay subtext the relatnship between s two loser-protagonists.

SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY (1971): SCHLGER’S ROMANTIC TRIANGLE, GAY MAN (FCH), STRAIGHT WOMAN (JACKSON) AND GAY MAN BOTH LOVE

Daniel Hirsch (Peter Fch), a gay Jewish doctor his forti, and Alex Gerville (Glenda Jackson), a reer unselor her thirti, are both love wh Bob Elk (Murray Head), a boyish, succsful sculptor who sually divis his time and affectns between them. Hirsch is somethg of a first–a homosexual who is not pathetic, grotque, or pathologil–a man wh self-teem and digny. In July 1971, when Sunday Bloody Sunday me out, viewers–pecially gay men–uld ga solace om the passnate film.

10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS

The film reprents a happy nouement for a gay character whose rignatn is not a product of his sexual orientatn. ” The speech has ltle to do wh homosexualy, suggtg that gay relatnships, even fleetg on, are “somethg. Schlger shows a remarkable gift for brgg together all the elements of moviemakg: The movie has been nsistently ced as one of the first “posive” gay films.

Unfortunately, this mature drama never found s dience and s box-office failure was ed by Hollywood as “proof” that gay ntents was not a money-makg proposn.

It would take at least two more s for Hollywood to fally regnizg the artistic–and mercial value–of posive or at least nonjudgmental gay-oriented entertament.

GAY KISS ‘BLOODY SUNDAY’ BROKE RUL: THE RAER FILE

Unlike most films at the time, Sunday Bloody Sunday took for granted the protagonists’ sexualy–somethg that gay and lbian activists have been askg for generatns.

That kd of rponse revealed once more the latent homophobia that prevailed not only among mastream dienc but also among some crics. ’s Sexual Offenc Act of 1967, which crimalized “homosexual acts private between nsentg adults, ” two landmark Brish films centralizg the experienc of gay male characters celebrate signifint anniversari this year.

Part of s director’s valuable n of “social problem” pictur, Victim is a tt, clenched thriller which criqu the then-current law that ma gay men easy targets for blackmail. You and I are both gay male films crics, simultaneoly of highly varied cultural backgrounds and of unnny affy of taste.

ELRGAYS TELL ME ABOUT FILM "SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY"

To my young, pre-g-out self, this was the most strikg film how sually and matter-of-factly prented a gay male relatnship. Alex Ramon: Growg up and realizg my sexualy, I was attuned to disverg work focg on gay characters, and certa early and mid-Neti films, whether firmly mastream like Jonathan Demme’s Philalphia (1993) or fiantly not like Gregg Araki’s The Livg End (1992) (the latter taped om TV and watched secret), were important to me.