A group of homosexual people try to live with dignity and self-respect while events build to the opening battle in the major gay rights movement.A group of homosexual people try to live with dignity and self-respect while events build to the opening battle in the major gay rights movement.A group of homosexual people try to live with dignity and self-respect while events build to the opening battle in the major gay rights movement.
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1969, small town boy Matty Dean arrives in New York City, he instantly befriends drag Queen La Miranda. Matty joins a group of people who are looking to make a positive change.
This was recently shown on BBC for The Pride month of June, wouldn't it be great if The BBC would show more of these wonderful dramas.
It's amazing to think that such attitudes actually existed at the time, things really have changed so much. It gives an idea of why The Pride march became so important.
This really is an interesting mixup some of it's definitely fiction, but there are definitely some actual events tied in, the showdown, the death of Judy Garland etc.
It's worth reading into the history of Stonewall, its importance, and what it means, the changes it helped to bring about.
It's still a very good watch almost two decades on, it s a vibrant looking film, which tells a truly important and interesting story. There is some violence, but it mainly comes at the end, in a show down with The Police.
'For the sheer, irresistible, god damn glamour of it all.' The dialogue is priceless from start to finish, there are some fabulous one liners throughout, most of them come from La Miranda.
The music is as big a character as Matty and La Miranda, it's terrific, it first the film so well. The Glory Glory Hallelujah scene on the bus was tremendous.
The acting is quite something, Guillermo Diaz delivers a first rate performance as La Miranda, so sincere, Frederick Weller is great as the fresh faced Matty Dean also, so well cast.
Very good film.
8/10.
This was recently shown on BBC for The Pride month of June, wouldn't it be great if The BBC would show more of these wonderful dramas.
It's amazing to think that such attitudes actually existed at the time, things really have changed so much. It gives an idea of why The Pride march became so important.
This really is an interesting mixup some of it's definitely fiction, but there are definitely some actual events tied in, the showdown, the death of Judy Garland etc.
It's worth reading into the history of Stonewall, its importance, and what it means, the changes it helped to bring about.
It's still a very good watch almost two decades on, it s a vibrant looking film, which tells a truly important and interesting story. There is some violence, but it mainly comes at the end, in a show down with The Police.
'For the sheer, irresistible, god damn glamour of it all.' The dialogue is priceless from start to finish, there are some fabulous one liners throughout, most of them come from La Miranda.
The music is as big a character as Matty and La Miranda, it's terrific, it first the film so well. The Glory Glory Hallelujah scene on the bus was tremendous.
The acting is quite something, Guillermo Diaz delivers a first rate performance as La Miranda, so sincere, Frederick Weller is great as the fresh faced Matty Dean also, so well cast.
Very good film.
8/10.
Why, I used to wonder, was Britain's leading gay-rights pressure group called "Stonewall"? Was it named after General Stonewall Jackson? Was he himself gay? (No, it wasn't, and he wasn't). The truth, of course, is that it takes its name from the Stonewall Riots, which took place in July 1969, in and around the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village. The riots were provoked by the New York Police Department's heavy-handed and discriminatory treatment of the bar's customers, and of gay men in general.
This film was originally shown on British television in 1995 as part of the BBC's Screen Two series of one-off dramas. (It had a limited cinematic release the following year). Much of the action takes place at the Stonewall Inn during the summer of 1969, although the riots are only shown at the very end. The main character is Matty Dean, a young gay man, who arrives in New York from somewhere out of town. We never learn exactly where Matty is from, but the implication is that it is a place with very conservative moral values, especially where homosexuality is concerned. Matty is hoping that the big city will prove to be more liberal, although in some respects he is to be disappointed.
As one might expect, all the main characters are part of the gay community, although one of the film's themes is that there are, or at least that there were in 1969, two separate gay communities. Most of the clientele of the Stonewall Inn are drag queens who today would probably be thought of as transsexual women, but who by the standards of 1969 (and to some extent those of 1995) were still thought of simply as effeminate gay men. The other gay community prefer to think of themselves as "homophiles". They are straight-acting, conservatively dressing men who just happen to be gay, and who are paradoxically more politically active than the drag queens. Their conservative dress and manner is essentially a political ploy to convince public opinion that they are decent, sober American citizens, who are indistinguishable from anyone else except in the matter of their sexual orientation, and who therefore deserve the same rights as all other decent, sober American citizens. It is the homophiles who are to be found going on protests and agitating for gay rights, although they are careful to keep their activities peaceful and within the law. At first the drag queens tend to avoid political action for fear of attracting unwanted attention to themselves, but in the end the brutality of the police forces them to fight back, thus sparking off the riots.
Matty's loyalties are divided between the two groups. On the one hand, he is drawn to the colourful life of the Stonewall Inn, whose customers are gay in the original sense of that word as well as its modern sense. On the other, he supports and takes part in the activism of the homophiles, although he is alienated by some of their arguments, especially when they come out in support of the theory that homosexuality is an illness, hoping that this will make the public more sympathetic to them. Matty's divided loyalties are symbolised by the fact that he has two lovers, the flamboyant drag queen La Miranda (real name Hector) and the sober homophile activist Ethan.
A sub-plot deals with Vinnie, the Italian-American owner of the Stonewall, and his relationship with another "queen", Bostonia. It is implied that Vinnie is a gangster, but despite his gangsterism and his (closeted) sexual preferences, he is a practising Catholic who feels that his homosexuality is something sinful. He therefore tries to persuade Bostonia to undergo a sex-change operation, believing that this will enable them to enter into a conventional heterosexual marriage which will be more acceptable both to his conscience and in the eyes of the world. Bostonia, however, proves unwilling to take this radical step.
"Stonewall" is slow moving at times, particularly in the first half, and not always easy to follow, but there are some good acting performances, especially from Guillermo Díaz as La Miranda/Hector and Frederick Weller as Matty. Although it deals with a basically serious subject, there are some amusing scenes, especially the one where La Miranda has to attend a military induction centre to assess fitness for service in Vietnam. The film is not well-known, but I caught it when it was shown on BBC4 as part of their policy of reviving old dramas which otherwise would be left to gather dust in the BBC's archives. As an outsider, I found it an interesting insight into the history of the gay community and of the ways in which attitudes towards them have changed, for the better, in the last fifty-odd years. 6/10.
This film was originally shown on British television in 1995 as part of the BBC's Screen Two series of one-off dramas. (It had a limited cinematic release the following year). Much of the action takes place at the Stonewall Inn during the summer of 1969, although the riots are only shown at the very end. The main character is Matty Dean, a young gay man, who arrives in New York from somewhere out of town. We never learn exactly where Matty is from, but the implication is that it is a place with very conservative moral values, especially where homosexuality is concerned. Matty is hoping that the big city will prove to be more liberal, although in some respects he is to be disappointed.
As one might expect, all the main characters are part of the gay community, although one of the film's themes is that there are, or at least that there were in 1969, two separate gay communities. Most of the clientele of the Stonewall Inn are drag queens who today would probably be thought of as transsexual women, but who by the standards of 1969 (and to some extent those of 1995) were still thought of simply as effeminate gay men. The other gay community prefer to think of themselves as "homophiles". They are straight-acting, conservatively dressing men who just happen to be gay, and who are paradoxically more politically active than the drag queens. Their conservative dress and manner is essentially a political ploy to convince public opinion that they are decent, sober American citizens, who are indistinguishable from anyone else except in the matter of their sexual orientation, and who therefore deserve the same rights as all other decent, sober American citizens. It is the homophiles who are to be found going on protests and agitating for gay rights, although they are careful to keep their activities peaceful and within the law. At first the drag queens tend to avoid political action for fear of attracting unwanted attention to themselves, but in the end the brutality of the police forces them to fight back, thus sparking off the riots.
Matty's loyalties are divided between the two groups. On the one hand, he is drawn to the colourful life of the Stonewall Inn, whose customers are gay in the original sense of that word as well as its modern sense. On the other, he supports and takes part in the activism of the homophiles, although he is alienated by some of their arguments, especially when they come out in support of the theory that homosexuality is an illness, hoping that this will make the public more sympathetic to them. Matty's divided loyalties are symbolised by the fact that he has two lovers, the flamboyant drag queen La Miranda (real name Hector) and the sober homophile activist Ethan.
A sub-plot deals with Vinnie, the Italian-American owner of the Stonewall, and his relationship with another "queen", Bostonia. It is implied that Vinnie is a gangster, but despite his gangsterism and his (closeted) sexual preferences, he is a practising Catholic who feels that his homosexuality is something sinful. He therefore tries to persuade Bostonia to undergo a sex-change operation, believing that this will enable them to enter into a conventional heterosexual marriage which will be more acceptable both to his conscience and in the eyes of the world. Bostonia, however, proves unwilling to take this radical step.
"Stonewall" is slow moving at times, particularly in the first half, and not always easy to follow, but there are some good acting performances, especially from Guillermo Díaz as La Miranda/Hector and Frederick Weller as Matty. Although it deals with a basically serious subject, there are some amusing scenes, especially the one where La Miranda has to attend a military induction centre to assess fitness for service in Vietnam. The film is not well-known, but I caught it when it was shown on BBC4 as part of their policy of reviving old dramas which otherwise would be left to gather dust in the BBC's archives. As an outsider, I found it an interesting insight into the history of the gay community and of the ways in which attitudes towards them have changed, for the better, in the last fifty-odd years. 6/10.
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- ConnectionsEdited from Stonewall (1995)
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