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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Category: Apple TV+
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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Rear Window (1954) Hitchcock A+
Stewart, Kelly, and Ritter are all magnificent. Kelly, looking radiant, gets to deliver one of the Big Screen’s all-time sexy lines.
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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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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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Vertigo (1958) Hitchcock A+
“Vertigo” is anchored by the unforgettable performances of Stewart and Novak, Hitchcock’s masterful direction and Bernard Herrmann’s haunting score.
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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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Auntie Mame (1958) Queer Film B-
Director Morton DaCosta directs “Auntie Mame” as if he were still in the theatre. He did better on his penultimate visit to Hollywood (“The Music Man”).
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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) Queer Film B+
Richard Brooks’ respectable adaptation of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” opens with Paul Newman mourning the suicide of his best friend (read Lover), Skipper.
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Suddenly Last Summer (1959) Queer Film C+
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) Queer Film A+
“Some Like It Hot” was only the second mainstream Hollywood movie not to be submitted to the Hays Office. Worth seeing just for Lemmon’s performance alone.
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Pillow Talk (1959) Queer Film (B)
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) Queer Film (B)
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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Compulsion (1959) Queer Film B-
“Compulsion.” Leopold and Loeb were lovers, and both Richard Murphy’s screenplay and Richard Fleischer’s direction lend the movie a queer subtext, evident in both dialogue and body language.
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North by Northwest (1959) Queer Film. Hitchcock. A+
Eva Marie Saint gives Grace Kelly in “Rear Window” a run for her money as Hitchcock’s most elegant leading lady and the chemistry between the two leads is more palpable than in any Hollywood picture before or since.
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Spartacus (1960) Queer Film (B)
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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Psycho (1960) Queer Film. Hitchcock. A+
Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates made him immortal while, at the same, time, ending his career in Hollywood. A masterpiece.
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Victim (1961) Queer Film B+
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) Queer Film B+
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) Queer Film (C)
Not having the courage of his convictions, what started out as bravery ended in cowardice and it’s a shame.
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Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Queer Film (A)
Lawrence’s intense relationships with men, particularly Sherif Ali (Omar Sheriff), are emotionally charged. The characters’ gazes linger on each other in numerous scenes, creating a sense of tension and intimacy.
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Advice and Consent (1962) Queer Film A-
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) Queer Film A+
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) Queer Film C+
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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