Clark, Shirley

1967

Interview with black male prostitute, Jason Holliday.

Kuchar, George

1966

Ford, John

1965

Set in China in the summer of 1935, Seven Women renders invisible the qualifications of missionaries for the work they ought to do. The all-women mission is threatened from within as well as from outside. Everything appears calm as missionary head Agatha Andrews, in her high-necked dress with keys clinking at her side, methodically performs her duties. But (n)e(u)rotic tension is brewing and Ms. Andrews soon turns out to be a closeted dyke suffering from the repression she advocates. One of the women, Florrie, a jolly soul, is pregnant but fears she is too old to give birth without problems. The arrival of Dr. Cartwright is a fantastic coupe de theatre. Donkeys and workers accompany a perfectly cross-dressed Anne Bancroft in cowboy drag. Dr. Cartwright is extravagant, cynical, and profane. The youngest girl at the mission, who happens to be the object of Ms. Andrews's latent sexual desire, becomes the doctor's best mate. In the film's second half the mission is attacked by Mongolian robbers, who renowned director John Ford, in his last film, depicts in a shockingly racist manner. The women manage to cope with extremely dangerous situations. Dr. Cartwright inspires them to great bravery but in the end she is forced to surrender to a feminine role.

Masumura, Yasuzo

1964

Last year, jaws were dropping in Minneapolis, New York, and Los Angeles during rare screenings of this Cinemascope camp masterpiece from Japan. Based on a late-1920s novel by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, it's jam-packed with blackmail, lesbianism, blood oaths, faked miscarriages, impotence, wanton desire, and suicide pacts. MANJI is as shocking today as when it was first shown in Japan in the mid-1960s. The film opens as Sonoko (Kyoko Kishida, WOMAN IN THE DUNES) confesses the details of the four-sided love affair, which has caused scandal throughout Japan. Having grown bored with her pampered life as the wife of an impotent lawyer, Sonoko enrolls in art school to pass the time. There she scandalizes the school with her lusty paintings of fellow art student Mitsuko. An affair erupts between Sonoko and Mitsuko, fueling jealousy among their male lovers. While Mitsuko has impeccable taste in women, her choice in men leaves much to be desired. Mitsuko's fiancée Watanuki responds to the affair in a psychotic manner, while Sonoko's husband grows attracted to Mitsuko as well. All of this attention brings out the worst in Mitsuko who tests the dedication of all her admirers. A surprisingly explicit erotic potboiler!

Furie, J

1964

An implied homoerotic tension between Pete (Dudley Sutton) and Reggie (Colin Campbell) is the primary theme of this British drama. Gradually this tension becomes identified as the probable reason for Reggie's lack of sexual interest in his new wife, Dot (Rita Tushingham). Director Furie presents a very subdued treatment of the issue until the last half hour of the film when Dot accuses Pete and Reggie of being “queer.” Denying her charge, they agree that they are just good friends. After a few melodramatic twists, Pete and Reggie decide to sail off to America together and are about to get on a ship when, stopping in a waterfront bar, Reggie realizes that Pete really is gay. Reggie abandons Pete and walks off alone. In contrast to the drugs, girls, and rock ‘n’ roll ambience that American biker pics are associated with, The Leather Boys is rather staid in its drama. The 'sensational' biker backdrop is distinctly British, and really the film is a serious drama focusing on the lives of its young working-class protagonists (who happen to be very interested in motorcycles).

Harrison, Ray

1963

A real blast of the Italian gigolo syndrome, a young hustler and the aging heiress, there’s more to this than three coins in the fountain! The second production from the Los Angeles–based Gay Girls Riding Club. Like their other films, The Roman Springs on Mrs. Stone was shot on Sundays, and was shown at the Los Angeles gay bar, The Brownstone.

Strick, Joseph

1963

In a nameless revolution-torn country, war goes on, but for brothel boss Shelley Winters it's business as usual. Variety dubbed Winter’s character "a lesbian letch" for her on-screen dry kissing with bookkeeper Lee Grant; Peter Falk and Leonard Nimoy bring a surprising degree of muscularity to their roles as the bordello's fantasy-fueled customers. Hardly Genet's ferocious, cynical sexual-political stageplay, but Hollywood at its weirdest and most intriguing.

Lumet, Sidney

1962

Dearden, Basil

1961

When Victim was made in 1961, 90 percent of all blackmail cases in the English courts were homosexual in origin. In this film Dirk Bogarde plays an upper-middle-class barrister who instead of giving in to the blackmailer’s demands, cooperates with the police to track them down, risking his marriage and his career. Victim marked a major turning point for the subject of homosexuality on the screen and changed the career of Dirk Bogarde forever. Bogarde had, until that time, played a matinee idol type in dozens of lightweight films. With Victim he took a chance that audiences would accept him in the role of a courageous homosexual and won out over conventional wisdom. Victim provided a major challenge to the censorship code in the United States, which stated that the word “homosexual” could not be uttered onscreen. In defiance of the code, Victim became the first film to do so in the context of pleading tolerance for the victims of blackmail by a gang of vicious homophobes. In the guise of a conventional thriller, Victim scored points for the legalization of homosexuality in England and preceded the repeal of that country’s sodomy statutes by only six months. Although tame by today’s standards, it was considered truly shocking in 1961. According to Dirk Bogarde, “While we were filming, we were treated as though we were attacking the Bible and the film’s lawyers said they wanted to wash their hands after reading the script . . . yet it was the first film in which a man said “I love you” to another man. I wrote that scene in. I said to them, `either we make a film about queers or we don’t.’”

Richardson, Tony

1961

Rita Tushingham won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her sensitive portrayal of Jo, a young girl forced to make a life of her own. Deserted by an irresponsible mother and pregnant by a black sailor, Jo sets up housekeeping with a young homosexual (Murray Melvin) she picks up at a carnival. In its intial American release, the film was supplemented by a study guide, reprinted in Life magazine, on the “causes and cures” of homosexuality.