The Boys in the Band
by William Friedkin
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Cliff Gorman, Frederick Combs, Kenneth Nelson, Leonard Frey, Peter WhiteDirector: William Friedkin
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
Cinematographer: Arthur J. Ornitz
Editor: Carl Lerner
Editor: Gerald B. Greenberg
Producer: Dominick Dunne
Producer: Kenneth Utt
Producer: Mart Crowley
Writer: Mart Crowley
Producer: Robert Jiras
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-11-11
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of The Boys in the Band
Movie Review: A painful, immature world--portrayed brilliantly
Summary: 5 Stars
I've seen this movie twice, and neither time did it disappoint. It's an amazing realistic depictions of a painful, harsh, cruel world--the world of a group of pre-Stonewall (and thus pre-AIDS) gay men in New York City. They are hurt, damaged, raging, hyper-sexualized, insecure, and to varying degrees out of the closet. They despise the straight world--yet often struggle to emulate it. They despise themselves--yet so easily and comfortably torture each other verbally and emotionally--in the most vicious of ways. They are brilliant and witty--yet adolescent in their genius. They are competitive and nasty--yet also desperate for each other's love. They wield thick and powerful facades--yet have an amazing capacity for dropping their guards and being honest.
It's not an easy movie to watch--because of the overt expressions of internalized homophobia and cruelty--but, damn, this movie is brilliant. And what's most amazing about it to me is that although the movie is dated in some ways (I think it originally came out in 1968), it's shocking how little has changed. How many gay men still have radical internalized homophobia, still have terror coming out of the closet, still marry women and have kids because they can't handle the rejection of their family and friends and disturbed society, still act out sexually in the worst of ways despite the risks and the horror, still abuse external substances to deal with their internal pain, still wish they were straight, still try to dissociate through religion, still play the camp game to defend against their self-hatred, and still despise and torment other gay men even worse, half the time, than do straight people.
Our world, both gay and straight, still has a lot of growing up to do, and that fact that so much has stayed the same in over forty years should be one hell of a wake-up call.
Summary of The Boys in the Band
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Run time: 119 minutes Rating: RA sensitive yet humorous adaptation of the stage play, this 1970 film directed by William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) is one of the first films to openly address gay issues in a matter-of-fact style that largely avoids stereotyping. Shot on one set and featuring a birthday party as the festive setting, a group of friends assemble to celebrate, reminisce, and discuss their lives and the travails of being gay, even as one friend insists he's straight. The night turns from a light celebration to a sometimes-vindictive ordeal of revelation and betrayal, as each man in turn must confess his true feelings. Performed by the original cast of the stage production, the film may feel dated to some, but it still manages to be truthful and entertaining as it explores a subject that to this day is not often addressed. --Robert Lane
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