Les Garçons de la Bande

I suppose all gay men must have a reaction to BITB one way or another. It must be respected for being incredibly daring when it came out: the first play to focus exclusively on gay characters and show us as average men with basically normal lives. (As late as the 60s few plays, & far fewer films, even acknowledged gays existed; those that did used gays as symbols of abasement or decadence. 'Different from the Others'-1919 and 'Victim'-1961 were isolated exceptions.) The sexually frank dialog was also a groundbreaker. A gay friend who saw the original stage production remembers being astonished by Harold's line, 'Your lips are turning blue. You look like you've been rimming a snowman!' Crowley wins laurels for being the first playwright to present our community without apology.

That said, I admit I found the film dated when I first saw it in the 80s, when I was in my 20s. Watching it now, I have a different reaction. For one thing, I adore the brilliant dialog. What an inspiration to write a comedy of manners set in the archly mannered world of New York gays! There hasn't been a screenplay with this many epigrams per inch since 'All About Eve.'

The first act is funny and marvelous. The second act teeters into melodrama, stealing the device of all-night boozing and humiliating party games to 'strip characters bare' from 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' Michael, the host and game emcee, is such a bitch that we can't feel sympathy when Harold confronts and effectively destroys him. Kenneth Nelson's performance as Michael doesn't help: it's like an acting class exercise, all shrieking and hysterics.

While the ensemble as a whole is strong, Leonard Frey's brilliant, definitive Harold enables him to walk off with the film. The straight Cliff Gorman does fine work as the flaming, ultimately touching Emory; Keith Prentice is very good as the one well-adjusted party goer, the happy sensualist Larry; and Reuben Greene and Frederick Combs make the best of underwritten characters (Combs get lots of chances to show his rear end to great advantage, including a gratuitous nude shot).

Besides good acting, the film has other points to recommend it. The film's 'opening up' of the play is never intrusive or contrived. Friedkin's camera never seems trapped, though almost the entire picture is shot in one apartment, and he keeps the story moving swiftly along. And Crowley shows courage in leaving the question of Alan's sexuality somewhat ambiguous, despite his affirming his wife as the person he truly loves, thereby rejecting Michael as a gay man and precipitating his collapse.

The themes of love, truth, self-loathing, friendship and relationships speak to audiences gay & straight. They are dealt with in a well made film and a script crafted with wit and humor. While the 'if we could just not hate ourselves so much' viewpoint does date the movie, it has more skill and substance than 75% of the films on the market-and (I agree with other posters) 99% of the 'gay' films out there now.

Upon first viewing this film, about a year ago (having wanted to see it for some time), I thought it was not only very depressing, but also painfully dated. A group of gay men get together for a birthday, and an unexpected (presumably straight) guest shows up, igniting hostility amongst the others. The fashions, viewpoints and technical delivery all seemed a wee bit stagnant.

Having recently rewatched this film, I can say that my opinion of it has changed considerably. Though the look of the film, is indeed characteristic of the time period, and the fashions are also passe, the characters are anything but obsolete. These people and their bitter mentalities continue to exist today, both in and out of the "gay community". In some ways this movie does play like a gay version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", with it's host turning the unassuming party into a game of "get the guests" (to use a phrase from VW). The script by Mart Crowley is sharp with stinging one-liners and thoughtful observations. There are some high comic moments in this film, but the latter half of it mellows down and keeps the level low, for the most part. The clausterphobic sets also add to the proceedings.

Kenneth Nelson, as the ringleader, Michael, is vibrant and really over-the-top almost. He is met in his venomousness by Leonard Frey as Harold. While it's amusing to watch them going at each other's throats, I feel that Larry Luckinbill and Keith Prentice are the more interesting of the actors, playing a couple, each of whom is very different from the other. Cliff Gorman is wild as the flamboyant Emory...his is probably the most stereotyped character of the lot, but he plays it with a good degree of dimension and sincerity, different then some of the lispy one-dimensional gay stereotypes seen in films up to that time. The other actors are also in good form, but I felt that Peter White's Alan, is a bit of a nuisance. I guess his dead-pan expressions, and generally confused look was needed for the part.

If you're a fan of "gay film", I would seek this one out as required viewing. It ranks high in my Top Five for that genre. A very solid piece of film making, and acting especially. Hardly as dated as it may seem.

THE BOYS IN THE BAND (4 outta 5 stars) Great movie adaptation of the acclaimed stage play. A bunch of guys get together to throw a birthday party for a friend. A few underlying tensions come to the forefront and complications ensue... alcohol is consumed and tempers flare and things get said which shouldn't be said and may be unforgivable. I love these kids of movies! Even though the movie is very "stagy" (it mainly takes place on one set), the acting is so natural that you'll begin to believe you are actually eavesdropping on a rowdy party next door. Oh, did I mention that the characters are all gay? As the ads for this movie proclaim: "This is NOT a musical!" I first saw this on the late show when I was in my early teens and now, some thirty years later, I still find the movie extremely powerful and compelling. Cliff Gorman is especially good as the effeminate Emory. I think this is the only time he ever played "camp" and can't believe that he wasn't totally typecast after his performance here. Leonard Frey is also great as the enigmatic and intense Harold (the birthday boy). But Kenneth Nelson in the lead role of Michael really holds this movie together. He starts out as such a nice guy, the person the audience is supposed to identify with... but as the evening commences his personality becomes uglier and uglier, until he is no longer playing the movie's "hero".

Yes, I know, it perpetuates loathsome stereotypes. But it's also a period piece, and the final legacy of a number of talented actors lost to the AIDS epidemic -- yes, I know they made other movies, but the gay community isn't going to remember Leonard Frey primarily as Motel Kamzoil. They're going to remember him as the "pockmarked Jew fairy" with the pot garnished salads served to dear Ma-Ma. LOL

I was only three years old in 1968 when the original play came out, and I didn't see this movie for myself until the late 1980s. But it still records for me an era and a mood that should not be forgotten, if only because it reminds us of how very far we've come. People should not be shielded from the realities of the past in order to sugarcoat history.

RIP Robert LaTourneaux; Leonard Frey; Kenneth Nelson; Keith Prentice; and Frederick Combs.

Not only was this one of the first "gay" movies I ever saw, but it was, in fact, one of the first movies I ever saw - period. It had a profound influence on me, as I grew up thinking the adult life of a homosexual was going to be a dialogue-driven, melancholy soap opera set to instrumental Burt Bacharach. "The Boys in the Band" is one of my favorite films, and certainly better than most contemporary gay cinema. They don't make 'em like this anymore. This film has real visceral power and impact. I'd take this over "All Over the Boy" any day.