55 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967)
Hitchcock had a preference for casting gay actors in gay parts: Judith Anderson, Farley Granger, John Dall, or Anthony Perkins.
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Category: Queer Film/TV
55 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967) (Part 1)
From James Whale’s “The Bride of Frankenstein’s” (1935) number one to Nicholas Ray’s “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955), we have 25 LGBTQ+ films.
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55 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967) (Part 2)
From number 26, Douglas Sirk’s “Written on the Wind” (1956) to John Huston’s “Reflections in a Golden Eye” (1967), we have 30 LGBTQ+ films.
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55 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967) (Part 3)
55 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967) (Part 3). Table Summary.
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Queer Cinema Comes Out: 30 Queer Films from 1967-1976
With the death of Hays code in 1967, Queer Cinema was ready to come out of the closet. 1967-1976 can be seen as Queer Cinema’s Stonewall.
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The White Lotus (2021) – Limited Series Review
The action then unfolds in flashback…. Olivia and Paula instantly become the series’ Greek Chorus; the best-friend-duo from hell.
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Mrs. America (2020) – Mini Series Review
Blanchett then slowly hangs up the phone and returns, defeated, to the kitchen. In un hommage à Akerman, the camera frames her in medium shot.
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The Staircase (2022) Limited Series Review
The result: compulsive viewing for seven out of the eight episodes. Colin Firth is spellbinding. Toni Collette is equally superb.
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Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022) Review
Evan Peters, Josh Braaten (young Jeffrey), Niecy Nash as nest-door-neighbor Glenda and a magnificent Richard Jenkins as Dahmer’s Father, all give stellar performances.
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Pauline Kael, Was It Really What She Said?
The greatest movie critic of her generation. Pauline wrote the most incisive and respectful response. It was a gorgeous review of “Blade Runner”…
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Flee (2021) Film Review
I left “Flee” with that “floating-on-air feeling” that you get after seeing something special. After seeing a masterpiece.
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Parallel Mothers (2021) Film Review
Now, ” Live Flesh” has dropped to the number two position. “Parallel Mothers” is the new movie at the top of my treasured Almodóvar catalog.
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Causeway (2022) Film Review
And Henry gives a tour de force performance that matches his spine-tingling monologue in “If Beale Street Could Talk”. Like Lawrence he is one of the all-time greats.
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The Power of the Dog (2021) Film Review
“The Power of the Dog” is one of the best films of 2021. Campion directs with an expert hand assisted by Ari Wegner’s cinematography and Jonny Greenwood’s memorable score.
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Bodies, Bodies, Bodies (2022) Film Review
Beautifully Queer friendly, the relationship between Bee (Maria Bakalova) and Sophiie (Amanda Stenberg) is the emotional center of the movie.
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Great Freedom (2021) Film Review
Meise directs what must be some of the most beautiful and heartfelt scenes ever captured on film between two men in love.
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Passing (2021) Film Review
You cannot take your eyes off Ruth Negga’s Claire, a Black woman who can pass for White in New York in 1929.
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Dance of the Forty-One (2020) Film Review
Ignacio de la Torre was the son in law of Mexico’s president for life and dictator Porfirio Díaz’s. But he was leading a double life with his lover Evaristo.
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Girl Picture (2022) Film Review
Aamu Milonoff is exceptionally good, giving a beautifully grounded yet magical performance. The kind that makes you sit up and take notice.
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The Inspection (2022) Film Review
The revelation is Pope. Those big, beautiful, expressive eyes speak volumes and question volumes. A gay man, you can feel his star presence.
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Tick, tick…Boom! (2021) Film Review
Although we know the eventual outcome, there is no great tragedy awaiting us at the end of the movie. In fact, it is a celebration of life.
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Tár (2022) Film Review
However, no one seems to have stopped and thought about the age difference between these two maestros. By my calculations, Lenny would have been teaching Lydia when she was five years old!
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Eurovision Song Contest (2020) Film Review
“Husavik” stands apart with its soaring melody and heartfelt lyrics. The stunning vocal is by Molly Sanden, who sings like her life depended on it.
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Bones and All (2022) Film Review
Eventually it becomes impossible to feel anything for our unhappy couple, not least because Guadagnino keeps shifting the moral and ethical ground rules.
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The Whale (2022) Film Review
As Charlie, an overweight teacher, Brendan Fraser gives a very sweet and appealing performance in director Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale”.
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Shiva Baby (2021) Film Review
Finally, a toast, amid all this great food, to four extraordinarily talented actresses: Sennott, Draper, Gordon, and Argon.
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Licorice Pizza (2021) Film Review
“Licorice Pizza” and the gay stereotype. Here is a mincing queen with movements so exaggerated he could have Tourette’s syndrome.
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The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Film Review
Director James Whale’s masterpiece is as close to Susan Sontag’s definition of high camp as the movies can deliver.
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Top Hat (1935) Film Review
The Best of the Astaire-Rogers movies. Cinematography: David Abel. Production Design: Carroll Clark/Van Nest Polglase. Songs: Irving Berlin.
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Sylvia Scarlet (1935) Film Review
Both gay and trans, Sylvia/Sylvester set the bar impossibly high for years to come. One of the great financial disasters of the 1930s, it resulted in Hepburn being labelled box office poison.
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The Women (1939) Film Review
Every character in the movie, and every animal featured, was female. Great work by Crawford, Russell, Shearer and Mary Boland.
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The Wizard of Oz (1939) Film Review
She captured everyone’s heart, gay or straight. There is something vulnerable yet confident about her. And then there is that incredible voice!
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Rebecca (1940) Film Review
“Rebecca”, marked the arrival in Hollywood of the man who was, or would eventually become, the greatest director in the history of cinema.
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The Maltese Falcon (1941) Film Review
The performances are there to savor with the great Mary Astor doing a superb turn as Bridget O’ Shaughnessy and the gay triumvirate bringing up the rear!
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The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941) Film Review
Monty Wooley delights as the impossibly pompous Sheridan Whiteside in William Keighley’s wonderful adaptation of the Kauffman/Hart play.
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Double Indemnity (1944) Film Review
“Double Indemnity” is the best of the three great film noirs of 1944, the others being “Laura” and “The Woman in the Window”. The three leads are superb as is Wilder’s direction.
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Laura (1944) Film Review
“Laura” is one of the classic film noirs. Gene Tierney is born and Clifton Webb becomes a star in his fifties. Haunting Raksin score.
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The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) Film Review
Albert Lewin directed his masterpiece, a superb adaptation of Oscar Wild’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” with a beautiful Hurd Hatfield.
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Gilda (1946) Film Review
Feast your eyes on Vidor’s stylish direction, Rudolph Mate lush black-and-white cinematography the Jean Louis gowns and, of course, Rita Hayworth as Gilda.
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Red River (1948) Film Review
1948 was the year of Montgomery Clift. In addition to Hawkes “Red River” there was Fred Zinnemann’s “The Search” and William Wyler’s “The Heiress”.
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Rope (1948) Film Review
The story, which is based on the Leopold and Loeb case is irresistible. Granger and Dall are perfection and Jimmy Stewart is also amazing.
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Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) Film Review
In “Kind Hearts and Coronets”: Alec Guinness has fun playing all eight (or nine) of the unfortunate D’Ascoynes, including Lady Agatha D’Ascoyne. The photograph shows Dennis Price with Joan Greenwood who plays that little minx Sibella.
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Adam’s Rib (1949) Film Review
Marvelous acting by Judy Holliday, Jean Hagen, Hope Emerson, Tom Ewell and, as Amanda’s “gay best friend”, David Wayne.
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All About Eve (1950) Film Review
Bette Davis in her greatest role with some of the best lines ever written. Both Addison and Eve are gay and he blackmails her.
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Caged (1950) Film Review
“Hype the New Fish”. Innocent Eleanor Parker spends time in a women’s prison. With Hope Emerson and Agnes Moorehead.
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Young Man with a Horn (1950) Film Review
Lauren Bacall is Kirk Douglas’ young man with a horn’s society wife who is also a closeted lesbian. Bacall is very good in a risque role.
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A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Film Review
The best play to film adaptation of all-time with two of the greatest performances: Vivien Leigh as Blanch DuBois and Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski.
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Strangers on a Train (1951) Film Review
Hitchcock reverses himself here, having gay actor Farley Granger play the straight character and straight actor Robert Walker play the gay character.
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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Film Review
It’s Howard Hawks again, this time adapting the Jule Stein/Leo Robin Broadway smash “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”. With Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe.
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Johnny Guitar (1954) Film Review
A Western with two female leads is that rarest of cinematic jewels and, under Nicholas Ray’s direction, both Crawford and McCambridge play to the gallery.
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Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Film Review
Wood, Dean and Mineo form a nuclear family under the shadow of Griffith Park Observatory. Sal Mineo’s Plato is Hollywood’s first adolescent gay character.
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The Bad Seed (1956) Film Review
Nancy Kelly is ON 100% of the time straddling the twin minefields of camp and drama yet managing to accomplish both simultaneously.
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Written on the Wind (1956) Film Review
The film’s central tenet is that Kyle (Oscar Nominee Robert Stack) and his ruthless sister Marylee (Oscar winner Dorothy Malone) lust after the same man.
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Tea and Sympathy (1956) Film Review
One of Deborah Kerr’s most sympathetic performances. Both she she and John Kerr (no relation) originated their roles on the Broadway stage.
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Funny Face (1957) Film Review
“Funny Face“, the 1957 musical romantic comedy directed by Stanley Donen, boasts Audrey Hepburn’s most charming screen performance.
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A Touch of Evil (1958) Film Review
Yes, that is Mercedes McCambridge as the unnamed lesbian gang leader getting her kicks while watching Janet Leigh getting roughed up in Welles’ other masterwork.
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Auntie Mame (1958) Film Review
Gay director Morton DaCosta (his real name) directs like he is still in the theatre – he did better in his second and final visit to Hollywood with “The Music Man”.
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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) Film Review
Richard Brooks respectable adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play opens with Brick (Paul Newman) pining and drinking in his bedroom for the memory of his best friend (read lover) Skipper.
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Suddenly Last Summer (1959) Film Review
The movie is risible, its few pleasures come from Hepburn’s regal (but very nasty) mother who will do anything to protect her son’s memory.
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Some Like it Hot (1959) Film Review
“Some Like It Hot“ was only the second (following Otto Preminger’s “The Moon is Blue” in 1953) mainstream Hollywood movie NOT to be submitted to the Hays Office.
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Pillow Talk (1959) Film Review
Hudson’s characters has a gay alter ego named “Rex” and supporting actors Tony Randall and Nick Allen are constantly brushing off the gay ceiling.
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Ben Hur (1959) Film Review
If you believe Gore Vidal it was all because of a lover’s spat. Wyler and Boyd were in on the ruse, and Boyd played his scenes that way, but Heston was not.
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The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) Film Review
A beautiful adaptation of the William Inge play directed by Delbert Mann from a great script by Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch..
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Psycho (1960) Film Review
Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates made him immortal while, at the same, time, ending his career in Hollywood. A masterpiece.
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Spartacus (1960) Film Review
The Kirk Douglas/Stanley Kubrick epic has not aged well but the supporting cast,, particularly Laurence Olivier and Peter Ustinov, make it worth seeing.
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Victim (1960) Film Review
They say that this film did more to sway public and political opinion on homosexuality in England than any parliamentary discussion.
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A Taste of Honey (1961) Film Review
Although he was playing a teenager, gay actor Murray Melvin was almost thirty when he made “A Taste of Honey” with Rita Tushingham.
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The Children’s Hour (1961) Film Review
Not having the courage of his convictions, what started out as bravery ended in cowardice and it’s a shame.
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Advice and Consent (1962) Film Review
Preminger always liked to be cutting edge and he was with “Advise and Consent” a beautifully written, acted and directed movie.
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Whatever Happened Baby Jane? (1962) Film Review
Both of Hollywood’s grande dames Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are in top form with Davis getting the showier role as faded child star Baby Jane Hudson.
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That Touch of Mink (1962) Film Review
In between the Rock Hudson movies “Lover Come Back” (1961) and “Send Me no Flowers” (1964), Doris Day paired up with Cary Grant.
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Billy Budd (1962) Film Review
Many, including gay composer Benjamin Britton and his famous opera, maintain that there is an undercurrent of homoeroticism between the three leads.
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The L-Shaped Room (1963) Film Review
Writer/director Bryan Forbes lovely and faithful adaptation of the Lynne Reid Banks novel boasts Leslie Caron’s greatest performance.
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The Servant (1963) Film Review
A savage indictment of the waning British class system, it’s one of the most chilling films ever made. Winner of Best Screenplay of 1964 from the NYFCC.
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The Haunting (1963) Film Review
As a chic Greenwich village lesbian named Theo, whose couture is designed by Mary Quant, Claire Bloom is a knockout in Robert Wise’s 1963 movie “The Haunting”.
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The Leather Boys (1964) Film Review
Canadian journeyman Sidney J. Furie, does a striking job with this “gay” love story set within the milieu of London’s biker subculture.
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The Loved One (1965) Film Review
Great fun was had by all adapting Evelyn Waugh’s 1948 short satirical novel about the funeral business in Los Angeles.
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Darling (1965) Film Review
“Darling” stars the impossibly beautiful Julie Christie, even if far more people saw in her as Laura in David Lean’s “Doctor Zhivago”.
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My Hustler (1965) Film Review
“My Hustler” is a hugely different film from Warhol’s previous offerings with a solid narrative and surprisingly good performances.
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Persona (1966) Film Review
Two of the world’s greatest actresses under the gaze of one of the greatest movie directors the world has ever known.
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Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) Film Review
John Huston’s favorite of all his movies. Brando does something amazing with his closeted gay character who is married to Elizabeth Taylor.
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Portrait of Jason (1967) Film Review
A true breakthrough and a film that has improved with age. Documentary filmmaker Shirley Clarke interviews gay African American hustler and aspiring cabaret performer Jason Holliday in his apartment at the Hotel Chelsea.
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The Fox (1968) Film Review
“The Fox” does interesting things with color saturation (Bill Fraker) and the Lalo Schifrin score has entered the jazz canon.
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No Way to Treat a Lady (1968) Film Review
“Dorian”, Gill’s hairdresser persona is, of course, gay with a classic sibilant-rich delivery. In the movie’s best scene, just as he is caressing the neck of his intended victim Miss Belle Poppie…
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The Detective (1968) Film Review
However, the awful script by Abby Mann – “Judgement at Nuremberg” – and the mediocre direction by Gordon Douglas put the kibosh on everything.
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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Film Review
In Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”, HAL 9000 is the psychotic gay computer abord Discovery One. HAL is in love with Dave and quickly dispatches with copilot Frank.
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The Killing of Sister George (1968) Film Review
Beryl Reid is marvelous as “George”. That’s not her name. It’s the name of the character she plays in a beloved long-running BBC series.
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Rachel, Rachel (1968) Film Review
Highly regarded at the time of its release (NYFCC awards going to Newman as Best Director and Woodward as Best Actress), it seems a bit underwhelming today.
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The Sergeant (1968) Film Review
The subject matter, its release during the Christmas season, and a couple of scathing reviews by the major critics of the time, sealed its fate.
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The Damned (1969) Film Review
Luchino Viconti’s “The Damned” centers on the Essenbecks (read Krupp family) on the night of the Reichstag fire in early 1933.
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Staircase (1969) Film Review
On the stage Dyer may have been trying to project two sides of his own personality. However, any such subtlety is lost in translation.
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Midnight Cowboy (1969) Film Review
John Schlesinger’s American debut is only X-rated movie to win Best Picture. It boasts two great performances courtesy of Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffmann.
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Goodbye Columbus (1969) Film Review
The Queer element in the film comes from Brenda’s older brother Ron. Ron has the hots for Neil (Richard Benjamin) who he keeps inviting back to his room.
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Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) Film Review
Starring a luminous Carrie Snodgress, the last movie that director Frank Perry and his screenwriter wife Eleanor made together is their best.
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Women in Love (1970) Film Review
Future gay activist Larry Kramer’s adaptation of D.H Lawrence’s 1920 novel was an enormous critical and commercial success earning four Oscar Nominations:
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There Was A Crooked Man (1970) Film Review
Hume Cronyn and John Randolph are our happy and well-adjusted gay couple. Yes, they fight and bicker all the time. However, they are clearly madly in love with each other.
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The Boys in the Band (1970) Film Review
As we saw in the 2020 remake, Mart Crowley’s play “The Boys in the Band” has stood the test of time beautifully.
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Performance (1970) Film Review
There will always be an argument as to who was the real auteur behind the camera.
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The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971) Film Review
“The Garden of the Finzi Continis” is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by gay Italian writer Giorgio Bassani who is played in the film by Helmut Berger.
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Death In Venice (1971) Film Review
Visconti’s best idea was changing Aschenbach’s profession from a writer to a composer opening up the movie to the Mahler Adagietto .
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Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) Film Review
In “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, Murray Head plays a free-spirited bisexual who is having simultaneous relationships with Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch.
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The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) Film Review
A landmark in both New Queer Cinema and the New German Cinema, Fassbinder’s examination of the dynamics of a lesbian love triangle was shot in der wunderkind’s apartment.
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Cabaret (1972) Film Review
Based on the 1966 Broadway musical “Cabaret” by Kander and Ebb which was adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s The Berlin Stories” (1945).
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Pete ‘n’ Tillie (1972) Film Review
And then there Tillie’s other best friend Jimmy, the film’s token gay guy, played by René Auberjonois, who had one of the most memorable names in cinema.
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Play It As It Lays (1972) Film Review
Unfortunately, despite a good performance by Weld, the film only comes alive when she is driving endlessly around LA’s spectacular freeways.
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Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973) Film Review
Rita Walden, played beautifully by Joanne Woodward, in what is probably her best performance is about to go through a midlife crisis.
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The Great Gatsby (1974) Film Review
Directed by Jack Clayton, from an adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola, this was the third film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age masterpiece.
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Jeanne Dielman (1975) Film Review
In “Jeanne Dielman”, a feminist masterpiece, the everyday details of a caring mother contrast with her life as a prostitute.
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The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) Film Review
It is, of course, a GROUP EXPERIENCE with those inspired zingers going back to the screen, composed by a generation of audience members over the years.
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Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Film Review
Pacino is magnificent. With Michael Corleone in The Godfather movies, “Dog Day Afternoon” is his defining role.
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Ode to Billy Joe (1976) Film Review
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) Film Review
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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The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) Film Review
“Ripley”, Minghella’s masterpiece, boasts Matt Damon’s best performance plus stunning turns by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jude Law.
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All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) Film Review
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” ends up falling between two stools and deceives its audience in the process.
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Nothing Compares (2022) Documentary Review
Sinéad Had No Second Act! Unfortunately, the movie agrees. We get Sinéad up to the moment of her self-destruction and no more.
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