William Friedkin, whodiedAug.
The Boys in the Bandis fun.
Until it’s not.
‘The Boys in the Band’ (1970).Everett Collection
But there’s nothing “magnificent” about them.
They just revel in their neuroses, loneliness, depression, and self-loathing.
Not that one can blame them.
‘The Boys in the Band’ (2020).Netflix
Being gay was still considered a mental disorder until 1973.
For all its maudlin self-pity,The Boys in the Bandis still pretty remarkable for how unremarkable it is.
The entire film is about a birthday party.
Al Pacino, left, and William Friedkin on the set of ‘Cruising’.Everett Collection
But more on that later.The Boys in the Bandwas unlike anything Hollywood had produced before.
“It gave them the courage not to be ashamed.”
It’s also so dehumanized.
Al Pacino in ‘Cruising’.Everett Collection
I never thought an orgy full of dudes with ’70s pornstaches in cop drag could be so…boring.
“Ever had your c–k sucked by a man?
“Paul Sorvino’s police Captain Edelson asksAl Pacino’s perplexed cop Steve Burns.
Al Pacino in ‘Cruising’.Everett Collection
“Ever been porked?
Or have a man smoke your pole?”
Edelson seems to be enjoying this line of questioning a bit too much.
Burns, meanwhile, is tasked with going undercover to find a serial killer murdering gay men.
He fits the killer’s bang out, “late 20s,” Sorvino says.
Before too long, actually almost immediately, Burns finds himself getting lost in character.
to what is definitely not disco.
In fact, I’m not sure what’s going on with the music in this film.
It’s 1979-80,Donna Summer is right there.
Toot-tooting and beep-beeping her way to the top of the charts.
Before it ever opened,Cruisingrubbed the gays the wrong way.
Leave it to the gays to use real estate as a weapon.
Harris notes thatCruisingwas the “flashpoint at which gay people learned to fight homophobic stereotypes in pop culture.”
He also claimed that despite thousands of gays protesting the film, there were thousands more who defended it.
But it’s also not that bad, at least from a perspective of 40-plus years.
Even if it meant protesting Al Pacino in a titty tank.
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