Some of My Best Friends Are...

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Audience Member Dark and depressing, but still offers a glimpse of life in New York in 1971. I doubt this is how things developed in other cities and countries. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member The scratched and discoloured print we saw certainly makes the point abundantly clear: this is a rare screening of a mostly forgotten film from 1971 and with good reasons - viewed nowadays, the self-loathing and repressive nature of the clientele who visited a gay bar in Manhattan one Christmas Eve night makes the film feels not only dated but positively prehistoric. Whilst not unsympathetic, the many stories retold here are mostly on the tragic and melodramatic side. However, as a cinematic representation of how the gay scene was 45 years ago, it is a fascinating glimpse of a world where prejudices exist and certain liberties and rights that many of us now take for granted were missing. The film is no doubt flawed: from the over-sentimental and earworm music that throws subtly out the window, to the fact that too many characters and story threads inelegantly fight for space and trampling over each another; the film is hacked and assembled with hardly any finesse. Some of the acting is fine but it is amateurish and uneven, with a fair amount of wood and ham littered around. As a social-cultural statement of a movie made on a pittance, it paints a bleak and unforgiving picture that might be difficult for a modern audience to stomach but it is nevertheless a product of its time, not to mention a brave attempt to put the spotlight on these marginalized people for the big screen and deserves its place in LGBT Cinema. 1971 grade: 3.5 stars. 2016 grade: 2.5. On average: 3. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Behold: Candy Darling looks over at Rue McLanahan, hanging off of three men and says, "SOMEbody has to be a lady around here." Later, McLanahan tells one of them, "I abhor men in a vertical position." Fannie Flagg belts a truly horrendous Frankie and Johnny. Gil Gerard wanders around lovelorn. Gary (Andy from WKRP) Sandy turns to the man next to him at the urinal and asks, "Would you like to see a menu?" Later, tripping, he assaults poor Candy (who turns in a surprisingly strong performance) and ditches his John. The film is set over a single night in a gay bar soon after Stonewall, when signs still informed patrons that it was illegal for two men to dance. If it weren't for the talky first and sobby last acts, which seem to be solely populated by heinously-dated gay stereotypes who say things like, "We live, we love and we die here," and "For the first time, I don't want to be alone," this film would be a cult staple. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Some of My Best Friends Are...

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