Description |
1 videodisc (DVD) (approximately 120 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in |
Summary |
This was the first Hollywood film in which all the principal characters were homosexual. As such, it was viewed at the time as a serious study of gay men and mounted as a special project in which Crowley's off-Broadway play was adapted with great fidelity to the original text. To Vito Russo, The Boys In the Band is 'a perfunctory compendium of easily acceptable stereotypes who gather at a Manhattan birthday party and spend an evening savaging each other and their way of life'. Yet Russo also recognised it as a landmark film, 'part catharsis part catalyst', which opened the way for less stereotyped portrayals of homosexuality. The presentation of some attractive and functional gay men - notably the couple Hank and Larry - implicitly challenged the stereotype. The self hatred that marked a generation or more of gays is explored through the character of Michael |
Notes |
Based on the play by Mart Crowley |
|
Originally released: 1970 |
Credits |
Producer, script, Mart Crowley ; director, William Friedkin ; photography, Arthur J. Ornitz ; editors, Carl Lerner, Gerald Greenberg |
Cast |
Kenneth Nelson (Michael), Frederick Combs (Donald), Cliff Gorman (Emory), Laurence Luckinbill (Hank), Keith Prentice (Larry) |
Notes |
Rated: M |
|
DVD ; region 4 ; NTSC |
|
In English |
|
Available to Deakin University staff and students only |
Subject |
Gay men -- Drama.
|
|
Homosexuality -- Drama.
|
Genre/Form |
Feature films.
|
|
Video recordings.
|
|
Drama.
|
Author |
Gorman, Cliff.
|
|
Crowley, Mart, 1935-
|
|
Friedkin, William.
|
|
Ornitz, Arthur
|
|
Nelson, Kenneth, 1930-
|
|
Combs, Frederick, 1935-1992.
|
|