In an appreciation of Alan Rickman’s role in Die Hard, a cinema page I follow on Facebook relayed a factoid about the movie I hadn’t known. The basis for that movie was a novel that was a sequel to the novel that the Frank Sinatra movie, The Detective was based on. I’ve written before about how the oppressive static a gay kid growing up in the 60s/70s and later was one part vitriolic hate and the other part a kind of rancid pity. The Detective fits neatly into that other part. And the pity in that one is exceptionally rancid.
Released in the late 1960s The Detective was billed as a more “adult” crime drama, which after Preminger’s Advise and Consent in ’62 released the topic/plot device of homosexuality from its taboo status in movies as long as it still was…you know…taboo…The Detective tells a story of big city corruption, murder and suicide all tied together by…you guessed it, homosexuality.
It starts with a grisly murder of a man whose head was crushed and his dick cut off. New York City police detective Joe Leland, played by Frank Sinatra, figures it must have been the victim’s “roommate” because of course that’s what homosexuals do to each other. They track the roommate down and grill him and because he’s a bit of a nutcase (aren’t they all?) pressure him into confessing. He is executed for the crime.
Later a suicide across town gets the detective’s attention because the dead man’s wife thinks there was something more to it. The dead man, Colin MacIver (played by William Windom in flashbacks), is deeply involved in some sort of real estate corruption and the Powers That Be want the detective to back off the case.
It turns out MacIver really did commit suicide after all because he was…guess what…a closeted homosexual, and what is more he had in fact brutally murdered the victim at the beginning of the movie, not the roommate the detective sent to die the chair.
They play the tape recorded confession MacIver recorded for his therapist and in flashbacks, while William Windom, the actor playing Colin MacIver voices over, we see him first getting assaulted by some street thugs who call him a faggot, which inexplicably drives him to pickup a guy for sex at the docks.
William Windom played commodore Decker in the Star Trek episode The Doomsday Machine and you saw there what a first rate actor he was, and you really see it in the flashback scenes in The Detective where he plays the tormented homosexual who thinks “just one more time” will get it out of his system. As gobsmackingly awful as this movie is, I have to say Windom is stunning in those few scenes at the end of it. He makes you believe it:
The thought of turning, turning involuntarily into one of them frightened me and made me sick with anger. I went down there. I had heard about the waterfront. People giggle and make jokes about it. I had had only two experiences before, once in college and once in the Army. I thought I had gotten it out of my life, but I hadn’t.
I looked at them. Is this what I was like? Oh God, twisted faces, outcasts, lives lived in shadows always prey to a million dangers.
People don’t realize what we go through. I was raised in a family that would not even admit that there was such a thing as a homosexual in this world. And here I was and I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t stop.
I thought if I could have just one night I could get it out of my system. Just one more time.
That part about “People don’t realize what we go through” was supposed to make the movie more progressive in its attitude, but it’s really a barge load of rancid pity. I suppose in 1968 people thought we were lucky to get even that.
So…yeah…to say I’m surprised at the link between The Detective and Die Hard would be an understatement. The article says Sinatra was offered the detective role again for Die Hard but declined saying he was too old for it. So they rewrote the story to break the link with the previous novel and I think it’s better for it. Sinatra just would not have played it the way Bruce Willis did.
As a side note, I have a Mark and Josh cartoon I’ve been dawdling over for years to post eventually during an academy awards ceremony, that riffs on that bit of horrible self hating gay dialogue, with Mark holding a can of spray paint, chewing the scenery, telling his boyfriend tearfully that “the thought of turning involuntarily into one of them frightened me and made me sick with anger” and “I thought if I could get it out of my system. Just one more time.” And he sobs into his hands and Josh says “Let me guess…you’ve been tagging Exodus billboards again” and Mark shrugs and says “Just a little” The last panel is an Exodus “I questioned homosexuality” billboard but now it’s all psychedelic and it says “I questioned reality…turn on tune in drop acid.”
I try to make lemonade out of the homophobic lemons life gives me however I can…
I’ve been watching clips of both Close and Young Hearts on various video social media. It’s given me a disjointed picture of both of them, but the plot summaries I’ve seen have helped me stitch them together. Close is tragic. The homophobia the kids in it experience from their peers drives them apart and the end of it is heartbreaking. Close is basically, near as I can tell, a story about prejudice. Young Hearts is a love story.
I have a fragmented view of this film, from watching the clips of it people have been posting from overseas. So I have almost zero knowledge of the dialog in the clips because the language is Dutch and when there are subtitles those are either in German or French…maybe I’ve seen one or two in English. But I can make out a bit of what’s being said from context, and the fragmentary and miniscule German I know when there are subtitles. And by guessing at the Dutch.
The first part of it is Elias becoming very fond of his new neighbor Alexander, and then falling in love with him. When he’s alone with Alexander he’s happy to acknowledge his love, but when it’s among classmates and family it gets complicated. Especially as he has a girlfriend he gradually becomes more distant to.
There a scene with Elias in the car with mom and his older brother in the front seat, and dad next to him in the back seat, and he comes out to them and it’s a very emotional scene. The kid is crying and telling them he tried to change but he couldn’t, and his mom stopping the car, getting out and coming back to him to tell him he doesn’t have to change, he is loved.
But in the clips I see I don’t get the reactions of dad and the older brother.
I suspect there was some static there because there is another scene that takes place at a costume party, Elias is wearing the costume of a knight and Alexander is dressed as the Joker. Elias tearfully breaks up with Alexander, telling him he isn’t gay like him (Alexander is played as being completely comfortable with his orientation, and not taking any static from his classmates), and that none of this would have happened if he had just stayed in Belgium. They have a fight, and it seems to be over.
But the synopsis I have read say they reconcile as Elias learns to accept himself with the support of his family, and eventually his girlfriend. So I kept looking around for clips of that. There is one where Elias is tossing pebbles at Alexander’s window in the middle of the night and he comes and Elias tries to get back with him but Alexander isn’t having any of it and pushes him away. So that one wasn’t it.
Last night someone posted the reconciliation scene to three Facebook reels. I’m doom scrolling (I guess it’s called now) and I hit this one I hadn’t seen before and it’s the moment the two kids put it behind them and get back together and no kidding it brought me to tears.
Elias is at some big outdoor party with lights and music…his dad is singing on stage…and he’s apparently looking around for Alexander and doesn’t find him and sits down on the grass distraught. Alexander was supposed to be there. Maybe he left because he didn’t want to run into Elias. But then Elias’ older brother comes over and tells him (I think), that Alexander is inside the main tent and he should go find him. Elias gives his older brother a joyful hug…I’m assuming it’s because now he knows his brother is good with it and still loves him. His brother pushes him off with a smile, telling him to go now and find Alexander.
So he goes through this crowd in the main tent looking for Alexander. And here the filmmakers pull out all the stops.
The scene goes into slightly slow motion, a beautiful evocative music soundtrack music comes in (it reminds me very much of passages in the music to In A Heartbeat, but the composers are different), and we see Elias stop suddenly and by the look on his face you know he’s spotted Alexander. I knew Exactly how that felt once upon a time, and that young actor made me relive it all over again. Butterflies like I haven’t had in decades. Then we see from his point of view Alexander, in the crowd, turn slightly, and see Elias. More butterflies.
Where do they get these young actors who are that damn good?? That one scene, just a minute or two maybe, is pure cinematic gold. I hope they and the filmmakers win every award they enter the film in. Not that I would expect the Motion Picture Academy to do anything for this film.
So the two of them reconcile, and then dad stops singing, steps off the stage and comes over to Elias and embraces him. And all the other grown up couples smile, and so does Elias’ girlfriend who accepts him now too. And the two of them, Elias and Alexander stand side by side, happy together again, and Elias puts his head on Alexander’s shoulder…and fade to black.
Supposedly it will be released for US audiences on March 15. Heh…the day after Valentine’s Day. But this is exactly the sort of thing the New American Order doesn’t want anyone to see, so I’m not sure it’ll actually get a USA release.
I’ve been watching clips of this movie on various websites. It’s a stunning exploration of how deep friendship can be between boys, and the ways homophobic social pressure shatters lives. Leo and Remi are in love. It’s never made clear if either of them are actually gay, although I’m told it’s strongly suggested that Remi is and was to a degree self aware. But straight guys fall in love with other guys too in a deeply felt soul brother kind of way, and these two are very young. For a time they grow up in a place where closeness between boys was simply accepted as a part of growing up. That changes when the two move into a new school year.
Their closeness attracts the attention, and static, of classmates, which Leo cannot handle. He withdraws from Remi and it tears them both up with tragic consequences. I’ve seen it said on some forums that Leo capitulated to the homophobia of his classmates, and I think that’s completely unfair. These are kids. If you’ve never felt that pressure…and it comes at you from all directions, that contempt and loathing…consider yourself lucky. It’s too much for a lot of grown adults. It’s way too much for someone that age.
I’m not sure I’m going to watch this when it becomes available because it might be too much for me, even at my ancient age, or especially given what happened to me throughout my own life. I grew up in a period of time and a part of American culture when boys were expected to form close bonds and have a best friend. I had my best friends. We had sleepovers. We were close. What happened in my case was mom had to move several times so she could be close to the bus lines that got her to work. The separations tore me apart. It wasn’t until later in my teenage years that I began to realize it might have been different for me than it was with my friends. Maybe. I’ll never know for sure.
But back then the homophobic static wasn’t there nearly to the degree it is now, because nobody talked about That in front of kids. I didn’t start feeling it until middle school and by then I was keeping an emotional distance from the world around me. I had the additional burden/advantage of growing up around family that absolutely despised my dad and his side of the family, and would take it out on me because I was his son. So I grew up knowing that there would be people in my life who would hate me for something I couldn’t help being. I got use to it, which helped when my sexual orientation became undeniable.
The point is I know how all this feels and how it would have felt to the characters in this movie and I’m not sure I want to relive it again, especially given what happens.
That said, I’m glad that stories like this are finally being told. They need to be told. It’s a crime against humanity to attack closeness between friends, treat it with contempt, gay or straight. This movie is amazing, the young actors in it are pitch perfect in their roles. There is another one along the same themes, but which deals more specifically about gay love and romance, called “Young Hearts” that I’ll probably watch because so I’m told it has a more uplifting ending.
Both of these were made overseas. Close (2022) is a co-production between Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Young Hearts (2024) is a Belgian-Dutch co-production. Of course you knew neither one of these could have been made here in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The Little Cartoon That Was A Rorschach Test For Homophobia
This sweet little cartoon about a gay boy’s first crush was finally released to the public July 2017 and became an instant worldwide hit. It was shortlisted for the academy awards best animated short but of course it wasn’t even nominated because John Wayne was still rolling in his grave about Brokeback Mountain.
What struck me…as it always does…about the comments, how they were all divided between the oh cute oh how sweet oh how darling comments from (gratefully) so many heterosexual viewers who were in this day and age finally getting it how gay kids have crushes and fall in love too, just like everyone else…and then also the comments about why are you forcing sex onto kids. There was no sex at all in the cartoon…not even so much as a kiss. But the negative comments were all about sex.
And there it is. Or as Vito Russo once wrote:
It is an old stereotype, that homosexuality has to do only with sex while heterosexuality is multifaceted and embraces love and romance.
The cartoon short was about a gay kid’s first crush. And it was like a Rorschach test for homophobia.
Republicans would have you believe that drag queens are some new phenomenon, a radical escalation in the culture wars thanks to an overly permissive society. (Thanks, Obama!) This is obviously nonsense, and a social media post reminded me that back in 1995, the camp classic To Wong Fu, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar was released with little to no backlash, certainly no bomb threats targeting theaters showing the film.
I still haven’t watched that and I really should because it’s moved into a little slice of gay history. But as I’ve written previously, my interest in drag is limited. The guys I find most convincing at it, are always guys I would rather appreciate out of costume than in it. But the point being made here is a good one and can’t be made too often in this climate of hate mongering. Nobody really cared that much about drag…gay drag especially existed in its own little nitch. Drag has a long history in the movies and on stage. A Twitter feed I just started following is “All-male college musicals” (“Paying tribute to the oh-so-lovely but very manly drag performers in the womanless, gay college musicals of a century ago.”). It’s so far been a treasure trove of drag history from the 1940s…
This was a real thing back in the day…
Dig the slogan on the souvenir program, “All our girls are men yet every one’s a lady.” I wouldn’t say the drag performers back then had it going on like some of them do now, but clearly everyone was having fun. Now it’s become a culture war flashpoint, to the degree armed fascist protesters are showing up at drag shows now, sometimes facing armed counter protestors. You fear for what it’s all building up to, and then you realize that blood has already been spilled.
Again, Wonkette…
Unlike Some Like It Hot and the less artistically relevant Sorority Boys and White Chicks, Swayze, Snipes, and Leguizamo’s characters aren’t forced into drag (either to save their lives or solve a crime). It’s the life they’ve chosen, and they are happy to live openly as themselves.
Fox News was in its infancy at the time, so there wasn’t a marathon of content complaining about the overtly pro-drag queen narrative. While temporarily stranded in rural, small town America, the drag queens — Vida, Noxeema, and Chi-Chi — bond with the local women, who are inspired by their sense of style and colorful attitude. The townspeople as a whole defend the ladies from a bigoted cop, and instead of turning them over to him, there’s a Spartacus-inspired scene where every woman claims she’s a drag queen. We need to see more of this whenever busybodies try to inspect the genitals of women playing sports or using a public restroom.
There are times I wish I had more theater in me, especially back when I was younger and cuter. Every kid should be able to believe deep down inside that they are beautiful. And also, every old man too. But at least I can still appreciate a beautiful man, and feel that life is good whenever I see one.
And Happy Holidays to You Robbie (aka Mrs Cuba), wherever you are…
My cameras could have given you a lot of love…but alas…
I have been waiting all my life—or at least since sixth grade—for an adaptation of bestselling author Mercedes Lackey’s wildly popular Valdemar fantasy novels. Now comes the news that Radar Pictures has secured the rights to the Valdemar literary universe, and they are developing an ongoing TV series.
The initial season is set to adapt Lackey’s Lambda Award-winning “Last Herald-Mage” trilogy, which features a young man named Vanyel Ashkevron who eventually becomes one of the most powerful magic-users in history. Radar’s press release describes Van as “the first openly gay heroic protagonist in the fantasy genre.”
I’m probably a bit older than the typical fan of this series…in 1989 I was in my late 30s, but just as hungry as the others for gay positive representation in fiction. Previously there was only Mary Renault’s historical fiction, and a few random one off novels I found at Deacon Maccubbin’s Lambda Rising bookstore. Here was a gay protagonist, center stage, in an already fully developed fantasy universe and I devoured each book as it came out, and then bought signed prints of the Jody Lee cover art.
I think it was around this time I began to insist on finding fiction to read with fully realized gay characters as central to the story, passing over a lot of popular favorites that I felt, just didn’t speak to me, getting irritated, and then vocal, about authors that played gay vague at us, but couldn’t actually make us visible in their works.
I got into an online argument with Richard Pini, co-author of the Elfquest series of comics, about his insistence to the readership that their elves were sexually liberated on the one hand, and on the other that same sex couplings (soulmates/lifemates were the terms used in the stories for the pair bonds) were just not possible. It had to be an opposite sex coupling because only those could produce children. (Where have I heard that before?) A shape-shifting alien “old one” turning into and mating with a wolf in order to insure the viability of her people on the planet they’d crash landed on…yeah that’s do-able. But not same sex pair bonds. Years later when we crossed paths online again he remembered and curtly said he would not discuss it anymore with Me. About then I was noticing that their spin-off series would suddenly find themselves cancelled if they strayed too closely toward affirming same sex relationships. I still check in every now and then and they’re Still doing it.
But let it be said they weren’t/aren’t the only ones. That’s how it went back in those days, and to a large degree that is how it Still Goes in pop culture media, though it is getting better. Slowly. I was tired of being invisible before I picked up books about Vanyel in the late 1980s. Now I knew I didn’t have to accept it.
God almighty I hope they do this right. It’s a good sign they went for a TV series and not a one-off movie where they’d have to compress/delete a lot of the story to make it fit.
Brought me to tears, this. Especially since the company that produced this ad, Kodak, has been such a big part of my life and they’re struggling now to hold on in this digital age (note that the filmmaker shot this in 35mm). They could have just kept silent but not only did they not do that, they went far beyond simply making a boilerplate statement of diversity: they showed us all a film about love. And now…when so many people need it so very much.
I think this may just be the best Christmas present ever. Thank you so much Kodak: from a gay guy who’s been an amateur/sometimes professional photographer since he was a teenager back in the 1960s-70s (who still loves his film cameras very much). I wish I could have grown up in the world your filmmaker shows us here…but I am glad that other gay kids will now…thanks to folks like you.
Posted to the NBC News website…which says something about how far we’ve come…
More than 100 features and short films are being shown at NewFest: New York’s LGBT Film Festival this year, and the slate includes the largest offering of international films in the festival’s history.
“More filmmakers around the world are interested in telling LGBTQ stories, and they’re doing them better than ever,” NewFest Executive Director Robert Kushner told NBC OUT.
NBC OUT…wow. Back when I was a gay teenager I would never have expected to read those words on a network TV publication.
18 countries are represented in the film fest. The article singles out 11 films to watch. This one…immediately caught my attention…
Would you risk it all for a second shot at love? That’s what “Esteros” explores. In the film, MatÃas and Jerónimo reunite more than a decade after their attraction first became apparent as teenagers. When family judgment got in the way, MatÃas was forced to move to Brazil. And while MatÃas has now returned to their hometown in Argentina, he’s brought his girlfriend along with him and complicated matters further. The men’s chemistry, however, remains. But whereas Jerónimo is a confident and out gay man, MatÃas has barely allowed himself to question his sexuality…
Yeah…there are elements to this story obviously that punch me right in the gut. But on the other hand it helps more than I can say: It means I am not alone in having this sort of experience. It’s real easy these days to be both delighted at how far we’ve come, and bitter that the point of all of it shot right past me…and so many others of my generation. This film looks like it speaks to that. I’ll be looking for it on the DVD circuit.
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