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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Category: Streaming
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 third major studio film (after Otto Preminger’s The Moon Is Blue in 1953 and The Man with the Golden Arm in 1955) to be released without the Hays Office seal. Wilder assumed it didn’t stand a chance, and he was correct. The PCA rejected it. Instead, released by United Artists, outside of the studio system, it became an instant smash—and helped usher in the end of the Production Code.
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Imitation of life (1959) Queer Film A-
Imitation of Life is a queer film not because of representation but because of sensibility, structure, and performance style — the same way All About Eve, Mildred Pierce, Sunset Boulevard and The Red Shoes are queer. Douglas Sirk’s final Hollywood film is a melodrama about race, performance, motherhood, and the American dream, told through two intertwined lives: Lora Meredith (Lana Turner), a white actress chasing Broadway fame, and Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore), a Black domestic worker who becomes Lora’s housekeeper and emotional anchor.
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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 watching.
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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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Purple Noon (1960) Queer Film B+
Although it lacks the emotional depth and the great supporting cast of Minghella’s film, this version has a unique style thanks to director Rene Clement.
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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 A-
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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Billy Budd (1962) Queer Film (C)
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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David and Lisa (1962) Eleanor Perry (C)
In fact, many of Theodore Isaac Rubin’s beliefs have now fallen out of favor. Despite the film’s sensitive moments, it often seems dangerously simplistic and naive.
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Walk on the Wild Side (1962) Queer Film. C-
Stanwyck and Capucine have a few good scenes together. However, Harvey is wan, and Fonda does not have enough to do. The movie is no fun.
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The L-Shaped Room (1963) Queer Film (B)
Leslie Caron’s greatest performance. The Lavender Switch: In the book Johnny is queer and Mavis is straight. In the movie it’s vice versa.
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The Haunting (1963) Queer Film (A)
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 Servant (1963) Queer Film (A)
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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Scorpio Rising (1964) Queer Film (B)
There is no conventional gay romance or coming-out narrative, but the camera’s desire is unmistakably directed toward men. The biker becomes an erotic object.
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The Leather Boys (1964) Queer Film (B)
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 Best Man (1964) Gore Vidal A+
“The Best Man” boasts three outstanding performances: Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson and pre-code star Lee Tracy who returns to the screen.
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My Fair Lady (1964) Queer Film. Cukor’s Late-Career Triumph A+
The couple are phonetics professor Henry Higgins and Colonel Hugh Pickering. The two actors are perfect together, practically finishing one another’s sentences
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