Rachel, Rachel (1968) Queer Film B-
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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Category: Queer Film/TV
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Queer Film (A)
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 Sergeant (1968) Queer Film C+
The subject matter, its release during the Christmas season, and a couple of scathing reviews by the major critics sealed its fate.
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if….. (1968) Queer Film A-
Alternating between color and black‑and‑white, the film achieves a dreamlike quality that contrasts with the horrors unfolding onscreen. Yet Anderson also threads in humor and tenderness, most notably in the sweet, understated love story between Wallace and Bobby, who share kisses and occasionally a bed.
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The Lion in Winter (1968) Queer Film B+
The dialogue and the performers carry it, although it is basically a filmed play with little directorial input.
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The Damned (1969) Queer Film B-
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) Queer Film. Bring on the Queens! C-
Harrison’s performance is all affectation and condescension. Burton does better. He spends the entire movie wearing a turban, which is funny.
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Z (1969) Queer Film (F)
Few seem to have noticed that “Z” is a virulently homophobic film in which the main villain is a homosexual and convicted pedophile.
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Midnight Cowboy (1969) Queer Film (A)
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) Queer Film B-
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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The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) From Pookie to Sally. B-
Liza Minnelli’s Oscar-nominated turn as quirky, oddball and needy “Pookie” Adams is a preview of her Oscar-winning performance in “Cabaret.”
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All About Eve (1950) Queer Film A+
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) Queer Film C-
“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) Queer Film (B)
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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In a Lonely Place (1950) Queer Film A-
Bogart is superb, but it is Gloria Grahame who is the revelation – this is widely considered to be the finest performance of her career and she is sensational. As Laurel, she brings a weary, deeply nuanced vulnerability that perfectly balances Bogart’s aggressive volatility.
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A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Queer Film A+
The best play to film adaptation of all-time, with two of the greatest performances: Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois and Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski.
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Strangers on a Train (1951) Queer Film. Hitchcock. A-
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) Queer Film B+
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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Calamity Jane (1953) Queer Film (B)
The Best Queer Song in the History of Cinema: Day’s spectacular delivery of the Sammy Fain-Paul Francis Webster masterpiece “Secret Love.”
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I Vitelloni (1953) Queer Film A-
The film blends neorealist observation with a nostalgic tone, supported by a lush Nino Rota score. Like Fellini’s later autobiographical work, it captures a vivid sense of time and place.
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Johnny Guitar (1954) Queer Film B
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) Queer Film A+
Wood, Dean and Mineo form a nuclear family under the shadow of Griffith Park Observatory in Nicholas Ray’s masterpiece “Rebel Without a Cause.
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The Big Combo (1955) Queer Film B-
“The Big Combo” features a gay couple (played by Earl Holliman and Lee Van Cleef) whose chosen profession also adds to their fascination and their sexiness.
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Les Diaboliques (1955) Queer Film A-
By late 1956, it had become the highest-grossing French film released in the United States. It is also one of the most successful queer films of all time since, although queer coded, something is clearly going on between Christina and Nicole!
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Written on the Wind (1956) Queer Film A-
.”Written on the Wind”: The film’s central tenet is that Kyle (Robert Stack) and his ruthless sister Marylee (Dorothy Malone) lust after the same man.
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The Bad Seed (1956) Queer Film B+
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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Tea and Sympathy (1956) Queer Film A-
“Tea and Sympathy” has aged well. What could not be said under the Hayes code lends it beauty and delicacy, especially in Deborah’s sublime performance.
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Funny Face (1957) Queer Film A+
“Funny Face“, the 1957 musical romantic comedy directed by Stanley Donen, boasts Audrey Hepburn’s most charming screen performance.
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The Strange One (1957) Queer Film B+
Gazzara is electrifying in the lead, exuding a raw, unsettling sensuality. It remains one of the great curiosities of his career that only in his very next film, Anatomy of a Murder (1959), did he manage to recapture this level of charisma.
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Touch of Evil (1958) Queer Film (A)
Yes, that is Mercedes McCambridge as an unnamed lesbian gang leader getting her kicks while watching Janet Leigh getting roughed up in “A Touch of Evil.”
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