Drum (1976) Queer Film (F)
John Colicos’ DeMarigny is a loathsome excuse for a human being who harbors queer desires.
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Category: Film Reviews
The Ritz (1976) Queer Film C+
Part mob comedy and part drag review, this exhausting adaptation of Terence McNally’s hit play wears out its welcome in the first thirty minutes
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Norman… Is That You? (1976) Queer Film (C)
What we do have, however, is Redd Foxx as the dad and thank God for that! The result is a laugh every other minute. Foxx does not have to work for it, he’s a natural and he basically saves the movie.
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Car Wash (1976) Queer Film C+
You come to “Car Wash” for Antonio Vargas’ Lindy, who delivers razor-sharp shade to his homophobic coworker Duane (Bill Duke). You stay because a day at the Dee-Luxe Car Wash in Los Angeles is, despite the slurs, occasionally fun.
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Next Stop Greenwich Village (1976) Queer Film A-
Lenny Baker delivers a marvelous, lived‑in performance, radiating zest for life. Tragically, Baker’s career was cut short; he died of thyroid cancer at just 37 in 1982, never appearing in another film.
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Ode to Billy Joe (1976) Queer Film C+
Why did Billy Joe McAllister jump off the Tallahassee Bridge? The answer, according to director Max Baer, is because he slept with a man.
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Carrie (1976) Queer Film A+
Brian De Palma’s masterpiece and one of the GREAT HORROR MOVIES with tremendous performances from Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie. The unforgettable score is by Pino Donaggio.
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Sebastiane (1976) Queer Film C-
What seemed revolutionary in 1976 seems pretty mediocre today. More a series of tableaux vivants than an actual narrative feature, it wears out its welcome.
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Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) Queer Film Focus (F)
After two hours of heterosexual escapades—casual hookups, fleeting romances, and Theresa’s own search for identity—the story reserves its harshest judgment not for the straight milieu it has been dissecting, but for queer desire.
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Valentino (1977) Queer Film (F)
Russell’s worst film, it cannot even be enjoyed as camp. The audience either walked out or slept their way through the movie.
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The Choirboys (1977) Queer Film (F)
Blaney (Michael MacKezie Willis) is a young gay man who is cruising MacArthur Park in LA. The cops are there as well. When Blaney opens the police van’s door, he mistakenly thinks that Officer Lyles (Don Stroud) is waiting for him. Lyles, a Vietnam veteran, is in the middle of a PTSD flashback and shoots him in the face. The death of “the fag” gets a big cheer and a big laugh from the audience.
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Suspiria (1977) Queer Film A-
Italian director Dario Argento’s supernatural horror sensation! Jessica Harper is a ballet student whose school is a front for a coven of lesbian witches.
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A Special Day (1977) Queer Film (A)
Ettore Scola’s beautiful two-hander stars one of the Silver Screen’s great romantic couples – THE KING AND QUEEN OF ITALIAN CINEMA. Their megawatt star presence and memories of their previous work together in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and Marriage Italian Style permeate their characters.
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THE TURNING POINT (1977) Queer Film C+
How this managed to get eleven Oscar nominations only Hollywood knows. Browne and Baryshnikov cannot act and all of their scenes are painful to watch.
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The Goodbye Girl (1977) Queer Film (C)
Unfortunately, Elliot’s director (Paul Benedict) is a raving, mincing queen who insists that Dreyfus play the part of Shakespeare’s Richard III like Bette Midler.
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The Betsy (1978) Queer Film (F)
Loren Hardeman (Paul Ryan Rudd), the heir to Bethlehem Motors, is queer. Loren kills himself – it is Harold Robbins!
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A Different Story (1978) Queer Film (F)
That old you-can-switch-at-any-time scenario raises its ugly head. Interestingly, no photos of Foster with Curtain or King with Donat – their previous queer partners – appear in the stills library.
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Big Wednesday (1978) Queer Film (F)
Handled with the right tone, these scenes could have been funny, but Milius bungles it, and they end up as some of the most homophobic cinematic moments of a very homophobic decade.
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California Suite (1978) Queer Film C+
Meanwhile, Richard Prior, Bill Cosby and their onscreen partners suffer through one cringeworthy slapstick sequence after another.
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Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978) Queer Film B+
This is one of the great unsung Queer films of the 1970s. Featuring a sublimely queer turn by Robert Morley, an actor who played his share of gay roles over the years. He won the Best Supporting Actor award of 1978 from both the Los Angeles Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics.
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Midnight Express (1978) Queer Film. Movie Fiction. C-
The movie “Midnight Express” is primarily based on fact, but the finished product is mostly a work of fiction.
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Nighthawks (1978) Queer Film (B)
Influenced by the films of Nicholas Ray, particularly Rebel Without a Cause, Peck uses a relaxed cinema verité style with innovative use of hand-held camera and superb use of close-ups.
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The Warriors (1979) Queer Film B+
Screenplay by David Schaber and Walter Hill based on the novel of the same name by Sol Yurick, which, in turn, was based on Anabasis – the journey of the Ten Thousand from Greece to Persia in 401BCE – by Greek soldier Xenophon. Directed with great style by Walter Hill. Cinematography by Andrew Laszlo.
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The Rose (1979) Queer Film B+
Bette Midler made a spectacular movie debut playing The Rose, a rock singer who is emotionally unraveling during what she insists is her final concert tour. The film is based on the life of bisexual singer Janis Joplin and is a must-see for fans of the Divine Miss M.
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La Cage aux Folles (1979) Queer Film C+
What may have seemed like a scream fifty years ago now seems jaded, with just the occasional laugh. Still, it’s way better than the labored US remake.
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To Forget Venice (1979) Queer Film B+
I do have fond memories this movie. It was my first deeply queer film and my first glimpse a gay relationship, albeit with an age disparity. It mattered to me. It’s beautifully acted and photographed (Romano Albani) and well worth seeing.
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Manhattan (1979) Queer Film A+
However, from a queer perspective, the standout, among all the gifts Woody gives us in this movie, is Meryl Streep’s blistering, low-key, no-nonsense turn as Isaac’s (Allen’s) second ex-wife, Jill. When they married, she was bisexual. When they broke-up she was a confirmed lesbian. She left him for another woman, and now she is writing a tell-all memoir about their marriage.
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All That Jazz (1979) Queer Film A+
Joe Gideon (superbly played by Roy Scheider, in an Oscar‑nominated role) is a Broadway director and choreographer, clearly modeled on Bob Fosse himself. Gideon is simultaneously staging a new Broadway musical (NY/LA) and editing a film (The Stand‑Up), mirroring Fosse’s real‑life juggling of Chicago and Lenny.
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Cruising (1980) Queer Film (F)
Gay men in New York protested the making of this movie, and they were right. It boasts not a single redeeming feature. Exploitation, anyone?
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Windows (1980) Queer Film (F)
Virulently homophobic movie, it was the only outing as director by legendary cameraman Gordon Willis. He and his two leading ladies should have known better.
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