Torch Song Trilogy
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Movie Reviews of Torch Song Trilogy
Movie Review: FAAABULOUS! (With 1 Minor Flaw)
Summary: 5 Stars
I watched this movie at least 20 times on VHS. It was the very first gay-themed movie I'd seen and could not have been presented to me at a more important time in my life. I was 20 (I'm 32 now) and only a few weeks before I'd come out to my mother as Gay. Dealing with my mother's fears and still unable to tell my five older brothers or my father, I joined a Gay student group at my university. I was terrified because though I knew what was going on in my life, I had not yet met or knew anyone who was Gay. My first night with the student organization we got together at a young lesbian couple's home and watched "Harold And Maude" (a classic!) and "Torch Song Trilogy." The next day while describing Torch Song to my mother I burst into uncontrollable sobs. This was the first time my mother had seen me cry in years and she knew she had to watch this movie with me. I rented it and we watched it and my mother and I cried together - she knew what I was going through in a way I could never explain to her. This movie is an absolute MUST SEE. BTW, the minor flaw is that there is a very annoying buzzing during the initial monologue with Arnold and also during the conversation and monologue with Ed and Arnold in Arnold's dressing room. Otherwise the rest of the movie is a gem. Also, contrary to what another reviewer stated, I did NOT find a single scene edited from the DVD version that was in the original VHS version - the DVD copy is identical to the orginal down to the second - 121 minutes.Movie Review: A true accounting of human emotion
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this movie because it effectively portrays a wide scope of emotion. Pay attention to Arnold's many facial expressions and the words he chooses to speak. You will see a person "acting" genuinely. Humans are the only animal who fake emotions. We are so afraid that someone might actually "read" us. What we're doing, however, is closing ourselves off from the delights of experiencing life in its fullest; accepting all of its happinesses and sufferings. This movie is a good example of how people act when they're not faking it. These moments are best seen in Arnold's infrequent direct narration to the camera.Furthermore, I see a gay man struggling with society's rejection of who he is while endeavoring to embrace his own self anyhow. This is a lesson for society to learn. Why do we feel the need to make gays feel unacceptable in our society? Don't we comprehend how painful it is to be disenfranchised?
There is so much more, too, like the fight with his mother, wherein she reveals to him that she had been waiting, for years, for him to trust her with the knowledge of his lifestyle. He had always thought her to be unable to cope with his "differences," never giving her a chance to be an active part of his life. As a result, he goes through painful experiences without her support.
If you don't buy it at least watch it. If you have any genuineness about you, I promise you will like it.
Movie Review: Welcome to DVD Arnold. I've been waiting for you.
Summary: 5 Stars
I was delighted to find that at long last, "Torch Song Trilogy" was finally on DVD. If you are not familiar with this film, it is a must see. A delightful, funny, gentle and moving film. For those not familiar, to put it in the context of time, it was one of the first movies with a positive image of gay characters.I go way back with Torch Song. In the 1970's I saw, "International Stud" in the Village (I believe it was a theatre on Bleecker St.) I also remember seeing it as an entire triology off off Broadway when it was presented by the Glines (I seem to remember that the ticket cost $5 with a coupon, or was it 2-for $10 with coupon?)
Harvey Fierstien is to be applauded. We take for granted the more positive image we see of gays today (although apparently, we have progressed from the film images of where we kill ourselves, to the television images of where we are only acceptable if we are making straight people happy and so that they can marry each other, while we ourselves are not allowed to get married).
Torch Song represents hope, love, and pride.
A big plus on the DVD is the not to be missed commentary by Harvey.
Thank you Harvey for writing this. Thank you for being a pioneer. Gez ... where is this review going? Somewhere in the background a drag queen is beginning to sing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic!"
Movie Review: One of the best of the 80s
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't tell you how much I love Torch Song Trilogy. I can honestly say I love this more than Brokeback Mountain. Now before anyone starts ragging on me, I'll tell you why. Trilogy shows that gay people are just as vulnerable to hurt, joy, and humanity as straight people. Fierstein's character isn't afraid to take on the world even when it is hostile and violent toward him. He displays strength and compassion and never loses his sense of humor, no matter how despairing and bleak it gets. Now don't get me wrong, I love BBM but Arnold Beckoff has strength and resilience in a way that Ennis Del Mar could only dream of. Mountain was a wonderful film but like all major gay love stories it always has to end tragically with the death of one of the characters. Trilogy showed that while Arnold experienced the loss of a loved one, he also fought and gained an old flame who finally came to his senses. It would be nice for mainstream gay themed films to have characters that are unafraid to take on the world and fight for that respect. Instead we get gay characters who are the subjects of ill humor or tragedies that make people think twice about falling in love. I can also add that this is one of the better films of the overblown 1980s (I also believe the 80s was probably one of the worst decades for movies).Movie Review: And the Torch carries on...
Summary: 5 Stars
The only thing that saddens me about this movie, aside from the heartbreaking climax of a brutal attack that you must simply see to savor, along with the fact that this priceless artifact never made it to the "Big Screen" was poor advertising.
If this movie had been properly advertised, I would have been PERFECT for it's time, making movies like "Making Love," "Parting Glances", and "'Broke Back Mountain"
Harvey Fierstein wrote, directed, and produced this Broadway adaption of his fine work from the stage, and brought to the big screen, SEAMLESSLY, although Harvey of course, in his adorable self-deprecating humour, denies it all, making his quiet private demeanor a stark contrast to his "Diva" like status as a performer.
It's just no use to even try to explain this movie, for I personally, PERSONALLY believe one must be a young gay male in this country to have been raised from the 50's to the early 70's, when homosexuality was a "sickness" that must be cured.
Shudder...
Don't EVEN get me started on that subject.
Later, I may go and edit this review, as I have many times, but alas, I have other things to do in my nonstop, hectic life. Dog to walk, couch pillows to rotate...you know how it is.