20 Imag From the Naked Age of Erotic Gay Theater

Contents:

• THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’
• ‘COULDN’T BELIEVE I WAS SEEG ’: HOME MOVI OFFER RARE GLIMPSE OF GAY LIFE ST. LOUIS 1945
• 10 GREAT FRENCH GAY FILMS
• 16 MT-SEE CLASSIC GAY MOVI FROM BEFORE YOU WERE BORN
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’

Most prompts for gay porn, meanwhile, explibly flt to people of ambiguoly LatX scent wh an unrcut hairstyle. 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.

Ed Bianchi’s 1981 “The Fan, ” meanwhile, livered perhaps the greatt gift to gay film fans of a certa era stg Lren Ball as an agg actrs stgglg to hold onto her legacy while beg stalked by, what else but, a psychotic gay fan. Films like “9 to 5” and “Steel Magnolias” keep ptivatg bee their sts are all top-to-toe, inic-among-the-gays women who n duce tears and lghs and shout unfettably quotable l the same scene.

‘COULDN’T BELIEVE I WAS SEEG ’: HOME MOVI OFFER RARE GLIMPSE OF GAY LIFE ST. LOUIS 1945

There’s also, of urse, the trend many of the movi of men beg huiated and based — somethg the gay mal the dience love to partake — leavg our inic women wh all the chips the end and whom we n leave the theater rootg for. Below, IndieWire rounds up some of the bt cidly non-gay films that are actually gay after all — and gayer than many ntemporary movi proclaimg themselv as such actually are.

“All About Eve” has long been analyzed through a queer lens, wh many terpretg Eve and the character of Addison DeWt (Gee Sanrs) as gay. But even if you thk everyone the film is heterosexual, s gay appeal is unniable, wh an in like Davis the lead, geo stum, and all of the lightfully bchy snark between the magnificent actrs.

10 GREAT FRENCH GAY FILMS

Why ’s gay: Ameri’s arguably greatt director is normally regard as heteronormative (Wterns, war films, John Wayne, Amerin history), but his work is full of subtextual gay tert, rarely as much as here. Why ’s gay: Beyond s possible cln bee of the bare-chted Holn — a 1950s Hollywood beefke, seen here ep to his reer — what is notable is a possible alternative terpretatn of two female characters. The ridiculo Rosemary, sympathetilly portrayed, has overton of mon olr gay lt fantasi for younger men.

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

From the tfight the powr room to the over-the-top dialogue to the jaw-droppg mil numbers and not one but two montag that serve as md-bogglg time psul of the ’60s, the film is so outrageo that spired generatns of gay viewers to scream, “Sparkle, Neely, sparkle!

Why ’s gay: A wacky sexploatn film wh high mp productn valu and a killer theme song, Barbarella mt fight the evil Durand Durand (om which inic New Wave band Duran Duran took s name), while scg a shirtls Aryan angel and outlastg an evil sex mache. Why ’s gay: Endlsly quotable and drippg wh the fatigable spir of a stnch character, the tragic woman tak on a theatril magnificence wh Ltle Edie’s every twirl and outf change. What is: Although has been staged wh two men ( 2015 London), the straight uple’s suatn “Brief Enunter” — a drama of two married people (Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard) meetg by chance and their growg mutual affectn — works fe as a metaphor for barriers to gay romance.

Why ’s gay: More than the one-act Noel Coward play (the gay wrer expand the screenplay), this ni the possibily of realistic nsummatn, elevat the tratn impossible love, and als wh the sts of turng hont people to liars. Why ’s gay: Starrg a trifecta of hilarly talented legends, “9 to 5” slapstick, sexualy, and men’s huiatn to she a light on workplace harassment and discrimatn.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Why ’s gay: Although “Mommie Deart” was negatively received at the time of s release, attracted a strong gay fanbase pretty much immediately, due to Dunaway’s performance, which was received by many as mp — most famoly, the inic “no wire hangers” scene. Why ’s gay: What’s gayer than a movie wh Lren Ball beg stalked by a closeted mil buff than also that same movie segueg to an out-of-nowhere stage mil medley a la “Sg’ the Ra’s” entr’acte, featurg Ball speak-sgg onstage while beg lifted and twirled around by a pack of male dancers? Why ’s gay: Ridiculo, silly, and totally over the top, this sleight piece of slapstick would be totally fettable were not for Toml and Midler’s performanc.

Why ’s gay: What’s gayer than women tryg to hold their sh together, while men repeatedly fail them? ), punctuated wh unfettable l: “All gay men have track lightg, and all gay men are named Mark, Rick, or Steve! Why ’s gay: Those who had already read queer cu “Top Gun” three years earlier saw some the story of Dalton (Patrick Swayze, his first major film after “Dirty Dancg”), as a “oler” imported to a Missouri small-town bar om New York to impose orr.

Why ’s gay: Plenty of queer people will see the trma of stabily reflected the tumultuo childhoods of the two “Mermaids” girls. But they’ll also see themselv the spectacular rilience of Cher’s imperfect Rachel Flax, whose volatile outbursts are as gay as her bt l (“Don’t do anythg I wouldn’t do — or do anythg I would!