The Boys in the Band (1970) Film Review A

DIRECTOR: William Friedkin

BOTTOM LINE: As we saw in the 2020 remake, Mart Crowley’s play “The Boys in the Band” has stood the test of time beautifully. The tragic epilogue is that the five real-life gay actors were all unemployable in major roles after the film’s release, and all died of AIDS-related illnesses within seven years of one another in the late eighties and early nineties.

GAY CHARACTERS

*Michael (Kenneth Nelson)

*Harold (Leonard Frey)

*Emory (Cliff Gorman)

*Donald (Frederick Colms)

*Hank (Laurence Luckinbill)

*Larry (Keith Prentice)

*Cowboy Tex (Robert La Tourneaux)

*Bernard (Reuben Greene)

*Alan McCarthy (Peter White)

GAY ACTORS/WRITERS/DIRECTOR

WRITER: Mart Crowley

ACTOR: Kenneth Nelson (RIP 1993 AIDS-related illness)

ACTOR: Leonard Frey (RIP 1988 AIDS-related illness)

ACTOR: FREDERICK COLMS (RIP 1992 AIDS-related illness)

ACTOR: Robert La Tourneaux (RIP 1986 AIDS-related illness)

ACTOR: Keith Prentice (R.I.P. 1992 AIDS-related illness)

STREAMING: Amazon Prime and Apple TV+

https://thebrownees.net/sixty-five-queer-films-made-under-the-hays-code-1934-1967

https://thebrownees.net/sixty-five-queer-films-made-under-the-hays-code-1934-1967-table-summary

https://thebrownees.net/fifty-two-post-hays-code-queer-films-released-in-the-decade-1967-1976

https://thebrownees.net/fififty-two-post-hays-code-queer-films-released-in-the-decade-1967-1976-table-summary