Frameline 30: 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men
Saturday's screening of "101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men" was like a clip show of gayish movies -- presenter Alonso Duralde made a few quick introductions, and the rest was a whirlwind of Elizabeth Taylor and heaving gladiators, a stream of clips that left us even gayer than we were when we walked in.
But first, can we just say: WTF, Frameline? You have only one screening for an event that is not just sold out, but had people standing in the back -- standing, in the room! That's what "standing room only" means! People want to see the damn thing, and you could've sold an assload (maybe literally) of tix to additional showings! Honestly, for pete's sake -- a filmic orgy of bitchy women, heaving pecs, and vulnerable twinks? It would pack the seats year round if you let it. And if there's one thing we love, it's a packed seat.
Maybe after the fest's died down, Frameline (or someone) can host some a redo of what was a giddily popular event. Alonso's written about film for a bunch of newspapers, and has a book for sale (a fact of which the audience was reminded with some frequency), and he sure knows his stuff. Movies were curated into fitting cubbyholes: Strong Women, Strong Women Falling Flat on Their Face, Getting Left Out, Movies That are Art-Directed as all Get-Out, Gays With Guns, and Would it Kill You to Watch a Lesbian Movie? Some excellent picks in each category -- Mommy Dearest, Paris is Burning, Girls Will Be Girls, Xanadu, Fight Club, etc -- and also some noteworthy omissions.
More after the jump, including a tiny dancing asian man in a yellow jumpsuit.
No Barbarella? Are you SERIOUS? We nearly stormed out when it was clear that Ms. de Laurentiis had been snubbed. And WHERE was Peaches Christ in all of this? No Kiss of the Spider Woman, Rocky Horror, Blazing Saddles, Stephen Stucker, It's Elementary, no Bruce LaBruce, and barely a single musical? And no Faster Pussycat Kill Kill, and not a single Troma film, and WTF, not only no Wong Foo, but no Priscilla?!?! And yet there was time for schmaltzy-puff like Beautiful Thing? Sister PLEASE.
That having been said, you can't find fault with any of the films that DID make the short list. (Below, we've listed as many as we could identify and scrawl into our notebook.) Though we must say, there wasn't much in the way of interesting juxtaposition of any of the clips. At most, it was a general grouping, a sort of "Gay Movie X sort of reminds me of Gay Movie Y," with no real comparison or point made about the two of them. With one exception: a clip from Chasing Amy was placed next to Showgirls in which both Nomi Malone and Silent Bob do the same dance move. The effect was magical, and we could've done with more of that sort of editorial jiggery-p0kery.
Oddly enough, a lot of the films were not gracefully received by the audience. There was hissing -- yes, swear to God, freaking HISSING at a clip compilation. Huh? We can understand rolling our eyes at Gods and Monsters, but Dog Day Afternoon? Victor Victoria? And no hissing at all for Cruising? Sometimes we just don't understand the gays.
Update! David Kittredge, editor of the compilation, was kind enough to email a complete list of movies to us. Enjoy!
GAY MEN ADMIRE STRONG WOMEN
Mommie Dearest
Giant
Auntie Mame
Without You I'm Nothing
Basic Instinct
A Star Is Borh
All About Eve
GAY MEN LIKE WATCHING STRONG WOMEN FALL FLAT ON THEIR FACE
Boom!
Showgirls
Moment By Moment
The Lonely Lady
Glitter
Mahogany
GAY MEN KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE LEFT OUT OF THE BIG TENT
Kinsey
Victim
Maurice
Brother To Brother
The Boys in the Band
ART-DIRECTED AS ALL GET-OUT
The Apple
Xanadu
Valley of the Dolls
Pee-wee's Big Adventure
The Gang's All Here
GAYS WITH GUNS
The Living End
Dog Day Afternoon
Female Trouble
GENDERFUCKY
Victor/Victoria
Paris Is Burning
All About My Mother
Girls Will Be Girls
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
MAN-ON-MAN ACTION
Beautiful Thing
Cruising
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Swoon
Fight Club
Making Love
Jackass: The Movie
The Living End
Bear Cub
Grief
Women In Love
WOULD IT KILL YOU TO WATCH A LESBIAN MOVIE?
Go Fish
Manji
I've Heard the Mermaids Singing
And then there's the WORDS TO LIVE BY SEQUENCE with quotes from Valley of the Dolls, Boys in the Band, Tongues Untied, Unzipped, Chasing Amy, Parting Glances, The Women, Boom!, Showgirls, Saved!, All About Eve, Some Like It Hot, The Lonely Lady, Grey Gardens, Cabaret, and then there's a whole bunch of others after it, most of which you can see on the 5 min vid.