Stonewall

I have a great deal of admiration for this engaging effort to explain the roots of the modern gay rights movement, produced on a shoe-string by a director with an admirable sense of style, pacing, and resourcefulness. Though filtered through a distinctly British class-consciousness, it does a highly respectable job of catching the main trends in gay America from my not-quite-misspent youth.

Furthermore, it is candidly presented as a subjective, fictional account, mooting complaints like "the bus is too old," "no New York apartment is that big" and "the Stonewall bar never looked that clean."

Nonetheless, one small detail and one large item are egregiously wrong. The detail is the rather elementary fact that the Stonewall was never licensed; it was a "private" mob-run club. It was raided not because all cops are homophobes but because, in the absence of official licensing, gay bars were, in every sense, illegal. The scenes where Stonewall employees display great care about the liquor laws are ridiculous, since the bar operated outside the law.

The larger item is the failure to capture the sense of exhilaration that swept throught the country in 1969. This was the year men walked on the moon, the year of Woodstock, the year an X-rated gay-themed film ("Midnight Cowboy") won the "Best Picture" Oscar, and (biggest miracle of all to us New Yorkers) the year the Mets, long "lovable losers," won the World Series. Anything was possible, and gay people joined the party with enthusiasm.

I love this movie! The mixture of fact & fiction works very well. The music of the girl group The Shangri-Las immersed into the storyline is also an asset. These characters are so appealing & they feel like friends, so you just can't wait to see what happens next. The acting of Guillermo Diaz as La Miranda is so natural & relaxed it makes him so likable. Sexy Fred Weller as Maddy Dean is adorable. His character's faults make him all the more appealing. I get choked up every time I see him sing & play the guitar, with the others on the bus coming back from their rally, not exactly defeated, but far from being winners either. Mizz Moxie & Helen Wheels add just the right touch of campy, comic relief. Duane Boutte as Bostonia is excellent & insightful. His interaction with his homophobic homosexual lover, the Italian/American Vinny & owner of The Stonewall Inn, is passionate & sparks fly between them when they are confronting each other concerning their relationship issues circa 1969. The only character I'm not too crazy about is Brandan Corbalis as Ethan. I found him pretentious & condescending. Aside from his nice butt in the shower (if in fact that was his butt) there's nothing appealing about him really. The riot scene is fast & somewhat clumsy, yet it's electrifying & very exciting to view. All gay people should watch this film & get a feel for what happened on that hot summer night in '69. It gives you a sense of your history & what others before you endured. (The premature death of icon Judy Garland adds a bittersweet footnote to the precedings).

The major value of the film Stonewall is to remind all of us just what gay people dealt with before a big rebellion took place in the last week of June in 1969. The film is based on a novel by historian Martin Duberman and the director Nigel Finch died before his testament of the Stonewall Rebellion could be seen and appreciated.

A couple of love stories are involved here. Country boy Frederick Weller arrives from Kansas and he's hoping that New York City will be more accepting of him. Or at least he'll find a community of sorts. That part of the story hasn't ever changed. He's caught between young closeted gay lawyer Brendan Corbalis and professional drag queen Guillermo Diaz.

The second love story is between the owner of the Stonewall Inn and a drag queen played by Bruce MacVittie and Duane Boutte. MacVittie has lived all his life with all the insane rules placed on same sex contact by society and its criminal code against sodomy. Boutte is ready to rebel, but MacVittie counsels go slow it's the way of things in this world. Still he's having just about enough of it.

Weller is a rebellious sort, he gets caught in a bar raid the first night he's in New York. Apparently the concept of freedom in America doesn't extend to those who love of the same sex. He finds the Mattachine Society with their button down ways and it ain't for him. But in a way they do fire his revolutionary ardor.

The Mattachine Society comes in for quite a beating in Stonewall. They were a radical concept in their idea when the mere idea of protesting these laws was radical. In a scene laced with humor and irony Weller is with a group with accompanying press who challenges the law against serving liquor to known homosexuals. Yes there indeed was such a law. The only place that enforces the ordinance is a gay bar because they're afraid of police entrapment.

Of course the end of the film is the riot at the Stonewall Inn which sparked a movement. The unbelievable but true twist on events is the cops including the NYPD's crack tactical police unit equipped for riots retreating into a newly emptied Stonewall Inn for their own safety is truly a sight to behold.

This is a fine film which captures the spirit of that night when it wasn't button down businessmen and lawyers, but rebels in high heels who changed America and the world.

The night they raided the NYC underground bar Stonewall was the night gay pride exploded into the mainstream. This film tells the story of that night through a group of characters who each shine with their own unique story. There's La Miranda and Matty Dean, the central fictional figures of this film, and their struggle to find love, respect and honour in 1969 against numerous odds. But there are many other important stories told in this beautiful film. Dazzling, bright, strong and rousing are just four words but they settle easily into any sentence describing Stonewall - the movie. Its one of the most colourful and well designed films I've seen - so lush and grand in its set design and the musical numbers blaze. This delicious film is an aching, sweet transport into another time and place and provides a jaunty historical summation of the pride and intensity the name Stonewall still retains in the twentieth century history of the gay experience. Its a love story, a political tale, a drag odyssey and a wonderful expression of the powerful bonds that dark times promote and cement. Most of all, its a film to share with people you care about and want to grow through life with - so march to see it now.

this is one of the great low-budget "queer cinema" triumphs of the 90s'....

contrary to the above commenter, i do think the details are right... and yes, the cops were homophobic.. they used arcane, outdated laws to close gay bars.. have u read the book "stonewall"? they make it very clear that lots of bars - gay and str8 - were "illegal".. only the gay ones were shut down..

i was very impressed by the right-on details in the production design..