16 Mt-See Classic Gay Movi From Before You Were Born

Contents:

• THE BT GAY AND LBIAN FILMS OF THE 1960S
• 16 MT-SEE CLASSIC GAY MOVI FROM BEFORE YOU WERE BORN
• 10 GREAT FRENCH GAY FILMS
• 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS

THE BT GAY AND LBIAN FILMS OF THE 1960S

Spoiler alert: Sebastian ed Cathere to lure attractive young men for him to have sex wh, and a group of them killed Sebastian an pecially barbaric the time, the release of a film pend on whether met the standards of the Productn Co (this was before the Motn Picture Associatn of Ameri's ratg system) and the film was approved to pict Sebastian as gay only "sce the film illtrat the horrors of such a liftyle, n be nsired moral theme even though als wh sexual perversn. Spoiler alert: One of the women is ed gay and love wh her worker, and thgs don't end well for a box office flop, the movie opened to cril acclaim, and received five Amy Award nomatns and three Goln Globe nods, cludg one for MacLae for Bt (1962)This Brish film, wrten by a woman (Ja Green wh John McCormick), was a repudiatn of that natn's harsh antigay laws. A blackmailer is targetg London's gays, mandg money exchange for keepg secret their same-sex affairs; many fancially strapped victims m suici rather than face prison or huiatn.

The sidns of ernment-sponsored homophobia is at the foreont of the movie, which is revolutnary for s pictn of a bisexual protagonist not to be msed wh; he's the furtht thg om a victim. Midnight Cowboy (1969)This prsg drama om gay director John Schlger stars Jon Voight and Dt Hoffman as htlers who enter to a "plited" bs relatnship while workg the streets of New York. The film received an X ratg om the MPAA due to s "homosexual ame of reference and possible fluence upon youngsters, " and end up beg the only X-rated film to w the Bt Picture Amy Award.

16 MT-SEE CLASSIC GAY MOVI FROM BEFORE YOU WERE BORN

The homosexualy was more implied than featured -- the relatnship between Voight and Hoffman is not what you'd ll passnate -- but there is a memorable scene wh Voight beg serviced by a young man at a movie theater. You n cred gay director John Schlger for that; y, the same John Schlger who directed the ld Midnight Cowboy and the absolutely rid Madonna vehicle The Next Bt Daniel Day-Lewis, then a teenager, has a small, uncreded role. Wrten by mored lovers Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perks (that would be the famo poser and the star of Psycho), The Last of Sheila lifted a mpy veil on the gay athetic that remas so tegral to Trouble (1974)For any lennial unfaiar wh out wrer-director John Waters: Shame on you!

The movie attacked every Amerin nventn (for example, an obe nt played by Edh Massey repeatedly tri to nvce her straight nephew to go gay bee "If they're smart they're queer, if they're stupid they're straight") Cage x Foll (1978)This French-Italian film about a middle-aged gay uple, Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) and Alb (Michel Serrlt), who try to pose as straight to w over their son's fiancee and her nservative parents, walked the tightrope between homage and stereotype -- the gay characters were over-the-top but still lovable (pare that to The Boys the Band). La Cage x Foll (1978)Tradnally France has been seen as one of the most liberal untri the world, and boasts an enviable rerd on gay rights, spe the ocsnal rantgs om Brigte Bardot. We’ve kept the list to films that are easily available to watch the UK, but honourable mentn should go to The Ostrich Has Two Eggs (1957), a dated farce that at least has a sympathetic gay son, albe one who never appears on screen, and L Amiés particulièr (1964), set a boys’ boardg school.

Un chant d’amour (1950)French wrer Jean Ge is one of the key figur of gay culture, whose novels (cludg Querelle of Brt), plays and says have been champned by gay and straight rears alike. There’s nothg explicly gay here, but any film that shov Jacqu Perr  a sailor su, squeez Gee Chakiris to tight whe troers and rat self wh lavish, lurid sets fely has a queer eye. Blier’s films often foc on two aquate men ung agast women (L Valss, the Osr-wng Get Out Your Handkerchiefs), and unrton of homosexualy have always lgered the air.

10 GREAT FRENCH GAY FILMS

When a woman (Amira Casar) slash her wrists a gay bar, she challeng her homosexual rcuer (Italian porn star Roc Sifedi) to spend four nights wh her to “watch me where I’m unwatchable”.

It’s easy to snigger at the portento dialogue (“The elasticy of a boy’s an don’t lie about the tightns of the lower tt”) and the assumptn of misogyny may rile male viewers, gay or straight. Most reviews foc on the showy performance of the equently naked Nilas Cazalé as the rebel whout much of a e the first chapter, but the emotnal heart li the fal third, as Morel explor the plexi of the vulnerable gay youth who mt choose between aternal loyalty and a chance at romantic happs. L Invisibl (2012)Sébastien Lifshz is bt known for his gay featur (Prque rien, Gog South), but his ft work to date is this revealg documentary which gay men and women their 60s and 70s talk about their liv and lov.

10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS

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.

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. 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.