The Cockettes

Although I lived in San Francisco from 1961 to 1966 and saw a few great "Drag Shows" there was nothing to compare to the Cockettes. I'm not sure I would have gone to see this show at the Palace, although some friends might have talked me into it.. and saying that I would never have gone back to see them again. I rated this movie for the nostalgia. Living just off of the Height-Ashbury-Filmore district we often went down to Height St. To watch the beginning of the Flower-children movement and we were always entertained. Great small food places opened up and you could go Cajun , East Indies, Jamaican, Russian, Jewish, etc and the armosphere was great. The best Drag shows in town were at Finocchio's, the Black Cat, and the Gilded Cage. If I remember right Charles Pierce 'Torch Song Trilogy' ( who passed away in 1999, in a town named Toluca Lake Calif). He was the reighning 'Queen Of Drag', and he did a smash-up job of Betty Davis, Tahlulah Bankhead and many more , we all loved him, Bit** that she was. So, I know I have drifted, but had to inject the lagit shows in S.F.

As the New York critics said of the Cockettres, "anyone can drop acid and get up on stage and wiggle there as*, show their private parts, sing off tune and wear women's clothes, but a good Revue this does not make.

So 4 stars for reminding me of all the great times I had in good old San -Francisco-by-the-bay- don't call it Frisco, and you do not wear white after labor day. Herb Cain, Count DeMarco , the fog, trolley's , what a great time............ ciao yaaah69

This film aptly tries to place the cockettes at the burgeoning of the gay sexual revolution. Apt, since other "revolutions" were in full swing at the time. But, as the film suggests itself, most of what they did was old hat to the rest of the world, that is, New York.

Most of these guys, and few gals, were just a bunch of talentless gays that wanted to take drugs, screw and make jerks of themselves on stage (Mick Jagger are you listening?). The few "talented" ones did make a mediocre impact on the arts, but for the most part the phenomenon was forgettable.

Amazingly, the cockette phenomenon lives on as the "Midnight Rocky Horror Show" crowd.

If you want to see the (mostly) gay side of the sex, drug era as pertains to the theatrical "arts", this is an amusing excursion.

I saw the film The Cockettes after a long, seemingly endless stream of disappointing documentaries. It was such a great pleasure to finally see these filmmakers take a veritable goldmine of fascinating material and do it justice. While including enough supplemental material to keep the interest moving, this film really sticks to its guns and offers a satisfying glimpse at the rise and fall of The Cockettes.

I was also really impressed with the quality of archive footage that appears in the film. At first, I had to lean into my screen and ask myself if these were re-enactments. Really, truly stunning.

I think the best measure of this film is the sense of loss one feels when the credits roll~ a mourning that one wasn't there to experience the subject firsthand and be in on the party. But what a wonderful hour and 40 minutes!

Documentary about a late 1960s-early 1970s San Francisco theatre group called the Cockettes. They all lived together in a commune and were quite a mix...gay, straight, bi, men, women. They all wore incredible, colorful costumes (most of the guys were in drag) and put on musicals that were very mean, vicious, explicitally sexual...and hilarious!

This is a truly incredible movie about an unjustly forgotten group. The movie includes some footage of the actual stage shows they put on along with interviews of the surviving cast members. It gives a view of the 1960s in San Francisco that I've never seen. Just absorbing from the word go. A must see!

Highlight--their parody of Tricia Nixon's wedding is hysterical.

See it!!!!!

I really enjoyed this film. It's odd that I would because I have almost no interest in hippies or drag queens. But, something about their DIY (do it yourself) aesthetic really resonated with me. They wanted to be "stars," so they dressed up in crazy outfits, dropped acid, and put on "shows" consisting of whatever interested them that week. If they wanted to make a film about Trisha Nixon's wedding, they grabbed a camera, dressed up, make makeshift sets, and shot one. This film was really inspiring to me as an artist.