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22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • August 4-10, 2016
August up on the Castro Theatre screen by David Lamble
High Sierra (1941) This Raoul Walsh-directed, John Hustonwritten Bogart vehicle thrust the B-actor into one of Hollywood’s greatest iconic runs. Bogart brought a unique mix of individual bravura and idealism to a series of screen roles never duplicated. (both 8/20) Dial M for Murder (1954) Originally shot by Alfred Hitchcock in an early version of 3-D, the regularprint version holds our interest for its lurid plot: a husband (Ray Milland) hires a professional killer to dispose of his wife (Grace Kelly). Wait Until Dark (1967) Audrey Hepburn gives a brave performance as a young blind woman terrorized in her Manhattan flat by a nasty trio of thugs. Alan Arkin is a sadistic villain who may do wicked deeds for the pure thrill of it all. (both 8/21) Female on the Beach (1955) Joan Crawford heads the cast of this murder tale involving a beach bum and an uptight widow. Wicked Woman (1953) Russell Rouse helms this tale of a waitress who sets out to knock off her bartender’s wife. (both 8/24) Harold and Maude (1971) Bud Cort, 20, and Ruth Gordon, 80, become the oddest couple of the American sound era. Comes complete with fake suicides. Remember, it’s OK to laugh. Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)
John Cassavetes departs from his usual macho-boys tales with this funny romance between a seemingly mismatched couple, Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel. (both 8/25) Repo Man (1984) Alex Cox’s sleazy world of guys who take back cars on behalf of the banks has lost none of its cruel charm and punk sensibility. The movie belongs to its odd-couple leads: the crewcut Emilio Estevez and the rumpled Harry Dean Stanton. Pulp Fiction (1994) Quentin Tarantino is on top of his game in this darkly funny shoot-em-up that gave Samuel L. Jackson a platform from which to shine. Uma Thurman is the sexy damsel brought back from the dead by a drug-addled dealer with attitude (Eric Stoltz). This is the flick that comes to mind if you ever have to talk some lunatic out of a killing spree. (both 8/26) Superman: The Movie (1978) Campy revival of the man-of-steel franchise, with Gene Hackman as villain Lex Luthor, and Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent and the big guy. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) Robert Wise’s large-scale adaptation of the cult TV show made universal stars of William Shatner (Admiral Kirk) and Leonard Nimoy (Captain Spock). (both 8/27) The Wizard of Oz (1939) What child of queerdom hasn’t experienced Dorothy’s wild ride from Kanas to Oz and back? I first saw it on my family’s 12-in. B&W Motorola, so I missed the great moment when Dorothy (Judy Garland) arrives in the colorful land of Oz. Gone With the Wind (1939) A four-hour translation of Margaret Mitchell’s bestseller about a woman (Vivien Leigh) who fights to save her family’s plantation and the lost world it represents. (both 8/28) Kiss Me Deadly (1955) This hard-hitting noir features a violent private dick, Mickey Spillane’s signature anti-hero Mike Hammer, given a coarse turn by Ralph Meeker directed by Robert Aldrich. The film represents nuclear annihilation with a suitcase that, when opened, emits a blinding white light. Five (1951) Radio guru Arch Oboler’s own dark view of the nuclear holocaust, in a film he shot in his Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home. A bit talky, like one of Oboler’s Lights Out radio scripts. (both 8/31)t
released last year and problematic, but a more significant film, which netted Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander Oscar nominations. While he chooses most of the obvious candidates (Children’s Hour, Boys in the Band, Midnight Cowboy, Cabaret, La Cage Aux Folles, My Beautiful Laundrette, Maurice, Torch Song
Trilogy, Philadelphia, My Own Private Idaho), there are some glaring omissions of important titles, such as Tea and Sympathy, Sunday Bloody Sunday Sunday, Wedding Banquet, Longtime Companion Companion, and especially Desert Heart, arguably the most successful lesbian film. While there are lesbian and transsexual movie entries, 90% of the coverage in Out is gay. For the average reader seeking a broad survey of popular LGBT movies, this flawed book will suffice for now, and will trigger memories of these groundbreaking movies. It might also draw the reader’s attention to films they might not have considered, such as Suddenly Last Summer, Lilting, The Naked Civil Servant, Victim, Parting Glances, and Get Real. Davies avoids academic jargon. Perhaps his book will encourage Murray to update his indispensable resource, spark a rereading of Russo’s still-relevant book, or embolden another critic to compile a more indepth history of LGBT cinema.t
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ugust is a fantastic month for Castro Theatre regulars who come for the organist, the popcorn and a full month of great old flicks on the movie palace’s 40-foot screen. The only bad news: the theatre is dark Mondays and Tuesdays throughout the month. Cabaret (1972) This multi-Oscar classic will have you doing your own private sing-along in your seat. Based on British gay author Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, this Bob Fosse-directed blockbuster provided sweet moments for Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli. Victor Victoria (1982) Blake Edwards directs his wife Julie Andrews in her most ambitious role as a genderbending nightclub singer. With lovely turns from James Garner, Alex Karras and Robert Preston. (both 8/4) Sing Along Mary Poppins (1964) The bouncing ball gives as many as 1,450 Castro patrons a chance to raise their voices with an all-star Disney cast. (8/5, 7) Under Age (1941) Edward Dmytryk directs a rare example of a socially conscious film noir. The 59-min. feature presents the plight of young women preyed upon by pimps. I Wake Up Screaming (1941) A Broadway promoter is suspected of murdering a young woman whose career he has been supporting. The Monster and the Girl (1941) This 65-min. noir focuses on the sordid world of WWII-era prostitution, a subject verboten in the official Hollywood production codes. (all 8/10) A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Shot when the sight of Brando in a tight-fitting T-shirt could turn heads and buckle knees, the strongest of Tennessee Williams’ taboo-shattering dramas holds our attention despite some cruel cuts forced by production codes. Oscars for Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden. Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) Williams’ brutal conflict between a young woman (Elizabeth Taylor) and her cruel aunt (Katharine Hepburn). Monty Clift pops up as a brain surgeon who is supposed to lobotomize the woman on instructions from the aunt. (both 8/11) The Goonies (1985) The kids are definitely not alright in this
Reagan-era spoof directed by Richard Donner and written by Chris Columbus. With Josh Brolin and Corey Feldman. The Lost Boys (1987) Santa Cruz-shot teen adventure flirts with vampires and the cute kids of that moment, Coreys Haim and Feldman. (both 8/12) The Godfather (1972) Al Pacino takes over the reins of his New York crime family in the first part of Francis Ford Coppola’s trilogy based on Mario Puzo’s pulpy bestseller. Oscars for Best Picture, Actor (Brando) and Screenplay (Coppola & Puzo). An Italian-American origin-myth epic. The Freshman (1990) This parody comedy from director Andrew Bergman finds Brando sending up his biggest triumph as Don Corleone, complemented by the freshfaced Matthew Broderick as a cocky film student. (both 8/14) 99 River Street (1953) Phil Carlson spins the hard-hitting tale of an ex-boxer thought to have killed his ex-wife. The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) Earl McEvoy directs this noir about a terrible disease that stalks the big city. (both 8/17) Cruising (1980) William Friedkin directed this fascinating mess of a film. Its detractors called it an open invitation to murder gay
men in the S/M bars of Lower Manhattan. Rising star Al Pacino played a cop who goes undercover to catch a gay-slayer. The NYC opening produced a huge backlash from gay protesters; the demos spread to the West Coast and destroyed the film’s commercial prospects. My conversations with Friedkin convinced me of his sincerity as a filmmaker, but I suspect he never quite got the real issues the film raised in our community. It will be interesting to gauge the reaction of a new generation. Kamikaze 89 (1982) In his final film-acting turn Rainer Werner Fassbinder plays a hard-drinking cop in this melodrama that draws on the energy of the early-80s German punk scene. (both 8/18) Halloween (1978) John Carpenter’s cheapie chill-fest has survived numerous bad sequels. Jamie Lee Curtis debuts as a sister fending off her criminally lunatic brother’s blood lust. It Follows (2014) David Robert Mitchell updates the classic horror film in a young woman’s encounter with a supernatural force. (both 8/19) Casablanca (1942) Humphrey Bogart double bill kicks off with his turn as a go-his-own-way cafe owner with a personal code not even Hollywood Nazis could crack.
Defining gay cinema by Brian Bromberger
Out at the Movies: A History of Gay Cinema, Updated and Expanded Edition by Steven Paul Davies; Kamera Books, $27.95 t is hardly an original observation to note that LGBT cinema has mirrored the community’s journey from persecution to liberation to acceptance, shifting through the years from being fringe to independent to mainstream. Steven Paul Davies, a gay English film critic and broadcaster at BBC Radio London, wanting to analyze this metamorphosis, has updated and expanded his 2008 popular history of gay cinema, “celebrating films which have defined the genre, “ including recent movies such as Carol, released just last year. The films are arranged decadeby-decade, with an introduction to each period covering major themes and brief mentions of movies made during that time. It is followed by detailed reviews of what Davies feels are the most important films, as well as capsule biographies of key gay actors, writers, and directors, with snippets of memorable dialogue as well as glossy color photos. The final
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chapter is an appendix of the Gay Oscars, presumably gay-themed films that have won or been nominated for Academy Awards, that seems incomplete. It is not meant to be encyclopedic in the way Ray Murray’s Images in the Dark was in 1994, a classic reference guide of over 3,000 movies, long out of print. Nor can Out touch Vito Russo’s Celluloid Closet for depth or searing insight into homosexuality in the movies. Still, one of the pluses of the book is the foreword by Simon Callow, the openly gay English actor, writer, and director perhaps best known for his portrayal of the gay friend Gareth who dies in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Like Davies, Callow sees Brokeback Mountain as the great LGBT breakthrough because it had two big well-known actors making love to each other, whose careers were actually advanced by appearing in it. Callow notes that when he began his career 40 years ago, such a development would have been inconceivable. He also evaluates Gareth as being a new kind of gay character in films, not a stereotype: masculine, occasionally offensive, generous, and
passionate. The most important moment in FWaaF comes when Hugh Grant remarks that amidst their group of friends in relationships, the most ideal “marriage” was Gareth and Matthew, who delivers a moving oration at the funeral. Callow comments that since it is now feasible for straight actors to play gay and not be penalized, it has become harder for gay actors to get parts for which they are qualified. In four pages, Callow provides more illumination than Davies does in 220 pages. Frustratingly, Davies highlights only about a dozen films per decade, about 65 total, and some of his choices are idiosyncratic. For example, in the 2010s chapter, he selects 2015’s I Am Michael, a deeply flawed film starring James Franco as Michael Glatze, a gay journalist and activist who, after a transformative religious experience, renounces his homosexuality and “gay lifestyle.” But he does not choose The Danish Girl, about the transsexual artist Lili Elbe in 1920s Copenhagen, also
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