Norman… Is That You? (1976) Queer Film (C)

Ben Chambers (Redd Foxx) arrives in Los Angeles after his wife (Pearl Bailey) leaves him, only to discover that his son Norman (Michael Warren) is gay and living with his boyfriend (Dennis Dugan). Ben’s frantic, often misguided attempts to “fix” the situation drive this comedy about clashing values, parental expectations, and the era’s shifting attitudes toward sexuality.

In the original play Norman, Is That You? by Ron Clark and Sam Bobrick, Norman and his parents were Jewish. Working with Clark and Bobrick, director George Schlatter has moved the story to another demographic entirely without ever recognizing the fact that An African American family’s reaction to their son being gay can be quite different from that of a Jewish family.

In this new version there are no ethnicities. There are no religions. There is no mention of Black vs Caucasian – the boyfriend is white. There is no room in director Schlatter’s world for the complexities or subtleties of human existence. There are only two variables in Norman: gay and straight.

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. The rest of the cast coasts alongside him, and Bailey is wasted in what turns out to be a glorified cameo.

https://thebrownees.net/88-queer-films-made-under-the-hays-code-1934-1968/

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