The Boys In The Band
Paramount (1970)
Comedy, Drama, Queer Themes/Interest
In Collection
#478
7*
Seen ItYes
(8/4/2016 Home)
097368878549
IMDB   7.6
118 mins USA / English
DVD  Region 1   US - R
Kenneth Nelson Michael
Peter White Alan
Leonard Frey Harold
Cliff Gorman Emory
Frederick Combs Donald
Laurence Luckinbill Hank
Keith Prentice Larry
Robert La Tourneaux Cowboy
Reuben Greene Bernard
Maud Adams Photo Model
Elaine Kaufman Extra / pedestrian
Peter White Alan McCarthy
Robert La Tourneaux Cowboy Tex
Elaine Kaufman Pedestrian
Director/Choreographer
William Friedkin
Producer Dominick Dunne
Mart Crowley
Writer/Composer Mart Crowley
Cinematography Arthur J. Ornitz


A witty, perceptive and devastating look at the personal agendas and suppressed revelations swirling among a group of gay men in Manhattan. Harold is celebrating a birthday, and his friend Michael has drafted some other friends to help commemorate the event. As the evening progresses, the alcohol flows, the knives come out, and Michael's demand that the group participate in a devious telephone game, unleashing dormant and unspoken emotions.
Edition Details
Release Date 2008
No. of Discs/Tapes 1

Notes
The play, on which the film is based, was first performed in 1967, a year before the Stonewall riots -- The film, released in 1970, is performed by the same actors as those that appeared in the play -- I personally was not yet out and still married (as are some characters in the film) -- the time was at the cusp of the beginning of the gay liberation movement, and is said to have been the first play, then film, to portray with frankness homesexual men -- They are, however, stereotypes portrayed mostly as sad and unhappy people -- In my personal social interactions just a few years later these characters had pretty much vanished -- Richard says that when he saw this film as an out student at Stanford, he and his friends just could not understand the charactization and assume it was a NYC thing-- It is interesting to note that I did not view this film until 46 years after its release, and found the protagonists so irritating that I considered not watching the film further -- It is, however, a period piece and an essential film of modern gay cultural history.