Fortune and Men's Eyes

'Fortune and Men's Eyes' is a film which I recommend as interesting viewing for anyone who wishes to watch an early story of important gay cinema.

It's author, the late playwright Jonhn Herbert, is an icon of gay writing.

This is a story based on John Herbert's own unfortunate true experience as an inmate as a teenager in a penal institution in Canada, wrongly imprisoned after being the victim of gay bashing. It is a play that later became a film.

I recommend that you watch this film despite the fact that it is old, to say the least.

I own Fortune And Men's Eyes and I must say it is a terrific movie.After renting it several times I decided to buy it,and I'm very happy that I did.Smitty(Wendell Burton)is sentenced to six months in prison for smoking pot.While he is in prison he learns what it takes to stay alive.Michael Greer plays Queenie,a drag queen that shares the same cell with Smitty,along with two other homosexuals,Rocky and Mona.I have seen Michael Greer in two other movies,The Gay Decievers(which I also own)and The Rose.It was great to see him without a wig for a change!I think Michael is a great actor.Doing the math from the year he was born,1943,he must be in his fifties now.Rocky is actually the bad guy in the film.He tries to force Smitty into being his lover,and eventually Smitty has to fight back to protect himself.The movie based on homosexuality in prison.Made in 1971,four years before I was born,it is a great classic,maybe not so well known but for sure a great movie.If you have'nt seen it do see it,take my word for it,you will not be disappointed!

Cold, grainy picture made in Canada follows naïve drug-user (Wendell Burton, excellent here as he was in "The Sterile Cuckoo") through rigors of prison life. Adapted from John Herbert's autobiographical play, originally performed in Los Angeles with Sal Mineo as producer, the movie is a curiosity piece, what with a sadly outré drag show and the usual homosexual content handled in somewhat sensational manner. Reportedly a troubled production, it is occasionally gripping and intense, yet impossibly downbeat. Several of the key supporting players are very good, and the narrative and scenario are more solid here than in the not-dissimilar "Short Eyes". ** from ****

Fortune And Men's Eyes is another one of those works that could never have been filmed until after the Stonewall Rebellion and certainly not while the Code was in place in Hollywood. Now the fact of homosexuality in prison is simply a given, but when you think of all the great prison films in the classic Hollywood studio age like The Big House, Each Dawn I Die, or Brute Force, you'd think these men had simply turned off the sexual energy once incarcerated. If there is homosexuality it is very subtly implied.

This is more than implied it's the result of incarcerated people having no other outlet. Seems perfectly reasonable now, but back in the day, a most taboo subject.

The original play was done within the confines of a single cell that housed four different prisoners and it's their story being told. Zooey Hall rules the cell and he's got his eyes on new inmate Wendell Burton just arrived. Also in the cell are Danny Freedman who is a weak kid without anyone to protect him. As a result he's victimized by everyone and that includes the guards. Presiding over it all is Queenie, a most flamboyant gay man who's discovered that prison could be an interesting place to be if sex is used properly and withheld occasionally. Michael Greer is Queenie and Greer originated the role off Broadway.

Incarcerated people don't cease being sexual beings even when they're incarcerated is the simple message of Fortune In Men's Eyes. Of course it took gays and lesbians coming out of the closet to get that message out to the general public. It's the reasons why some states and prisons have adopted a policy of conjugal visits. If not to cease the practice of rape in prison, at least to lessen it.

This is not limited to men. Although there is certainly implied lesbianism in the MGM classic Caged about a woman's prison, can you imagine how explicit a modern remake would be? In fact I'm surprised that film hasn't been remade.

Fortune And Men's Eyes is still a film with quite a revealing message that will sear your soul. Watch it, but not if you're squeamish.

Theme of homosexuality and rape in prison was very daring for its time (1971). You could feel the pain of the lead character as he succumbs to the brutal advances of his cellmate, while longing for his girlfriend.

I saw the movie when it first came out, and I still remember the line uttered by a prisoner as he observes a gang rape- "Nobody's going to stop a man from getting his oats." It's one of my all-time favorite quotes from films.