The Boys in the Band (1970)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Looking at "The Boys in the Band" today is a depressing experience and not because it's about a group of self-loathing homosexuals being very nasty to each other, (you do have to put it into an historical context), but because several members of the cast have died from AIDS-related illnesses. Of course, the film does present us with every gay stereotype there is and what once appeared liberating, now might seem offensive. On the plus side, it is superbly played, (by the original NY cast), which makes the loss of so many feel all the more tragic. It also has some of the best dialogue ever written for an American play. Viewed today it is a period piece and while you may find a lot of it hateful you have to bear in mind it was groundbreaking, coming as it did at a time when homosexuality was not as freely visible on screen as it is today.

I have to agree with another reviewer on here that this film is dated in its decor, music and clothes but the characters portrayed are alive and well in 2011 and living in every big city in the world.I can think of several men that I know or have known who fit into one of the personalities represented in the film. We should not fool ourselves into thinking that the self loathing and self destructive behavior days are behind us, can we say crystal meth, G, K, X, Coke, Pot, Booze, sex addiction, internet addiction, porn addiction, infidelity.These are all serious issues facing gay men today just as they did in 1970. Yes society has changed but gay men are still the number one target of the right wing. Much of the country outside major cities condemns gays and discriminates against us everyday. How many gay suicides have been in the national news lately? This powerful film is a must see for every gay man, it is a valuable lesson of our history and also a window into our present, there is still a lot of self hate out there and a lot more work for us to do to make things better.

Back when Mart Crowley was going to college he must have been seriously influenced by Eugene O'Neill because it's only O'Neill who could consistently take plot less situations and create such interesting and fascinating characters to entertain an audience. The fact that Mart Crowley never came close to doing anything else as good as The Boys In The Band is no reflection on him, even O'Neill didn't always create a literary masterpiece.If Eugene O'Neill were a gay man, The Iceman Cometh might have been written from a gay point of view. Because that's what I think The Boys In The Band is, a gay Iceman Cometh written from the BSY (Before Stonewall Years). The play ran 1001 performances off-Broadway during 1968-1970. Of course by that time the Stonewall Rebellion had taken place and the lot in life assigned to the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered Community was no longer the only and lonely way to go. In a sense a year after Stonewall, the film version of The Boys In The Band was already outdated.But what Mart Crowley has done is forever given us an indelible impression of what gay life was like from the male perspective before Stonewall. And the film was nicely transferred to the cinema with the entire off Broadway cast in the eight roles.A quick look at Mart Crowley's biography and you'll readily see that he's written himself in as the host, Michael played by Kenneth Nelson, is throwing a a birthday party for Leonard Frey who is the last of the characters to make an entrance. At the same time an old college friend played by Peter White calls Nelson and is sounding very troubled and wants to come over. Nelson has never come out to him, in fact coming out to anyone was a radical concept in 1968. When White does show up at the birthday party and sees a cross section of gay male Americana in 1968, it's quite the shock for him. He didn't know that Nelson was and hung out with such folks as Cliff Gorman, Keith Prentice, Laurence Luckinbill, Reuben Greene, Frederick Combs, and Robert LaTourneaux. It blows his mind and such things still blow the mind of many sheltered straights even in this day and age.What Crowley was trying to convey was the anger he felt as a gay man being forced to live as he did. All that was missing here was a reenactment of a bar raid and it was in fact mentioned during the course of the film. The anger and the powerful self hate that is still a factor in our lives, reinforced by society that exploded in the Stonewall Rebellion soon to come.What I think a straight audience might find most amazing is that of all the characters, the gay cowboy hustler that Cliff Gorman buys for Leonard Frey seems the most well adjusted, despite the fact the others just dump all over him intellectually. Oh, they all admire his physical beauty, but poor Robert LaTourneaux is just not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But of all of them LaTourneaux is almost blissful in his ignorance, not even aware that he's the butt of their one liners. He'll give Frey a little pleasure that night and be off the next night with another trick or two. Of course reality will crash in on him when he gets older and younger and cuter boys emerge. They always will and do.Keith Prentice and Laurence Luckinbill if they ever get the ground rules of their relationship down will also find some happiness. Remember in 1968 same sex marriage was not even something contemplated so society itself is not setting any legal parameters. But they do have each other at least for now.Kenneth Nelson and Leonard Frey seem like the heads and tails of a bitter coin. Cliff Gorman as Emory got the best critical reviews for his very effeminate Emory. It's possible that Emory was transgendered, you'd certainly have to ask Mart Crowley what he had in mind when creating the character. In his own way though and even given that he might be transgendered, Emory next to LaTourneaux seems the most comfortable with himself.The Boys In The Band is a great portrait cross section of gay male Americana right before Stonewall. As such it's not to be missed, especially by a gay audience, but I think even an audience that is made up of discerning straight folks will get quite an education from The Boys In The Band.

A birthday party among gay friends turns into a harrowing emotional experience. Writer Mart Crowley was obviously influenced by Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf - a deeper, funnier, and more disturbing play and film.The jokes in The Boys In The Band mostly fall flat, because it's so obvious they were written. The drama is much more effective. Hank and Larry have a realistically complex relationship, and their turn at the game of "telephone" is the film's most moving scene. And the prototypically acid-witted Harold could easily have been a caricature, but somehow Leonard Frey makes every bon mot and theatrical gesture come from a genuine place.Speaking of theatre, I rarely forgot that this film was based on a play, but that didn't prevent it from being engaging. Director William Friedkin is in large part responsible for this. His judicious decisions throughout - from well-chosen reaction shots to a good sense of dramatic timing - facilitate the viewer's emotional involvement.The Boys In The Band has been controversial among the gay community for portraying gay men as psychological disasters. I think this criticism is invalid. First, only one character (Michael) is a true mess. The problems of the others are more ordinary in nature. Second, it happens to be true that being gay is damaging, because from birth, we are taught that homosexuality is wrong. Even if no one says that in so many words, homophobia is impossible to avoid. It's been deemed acceptable behaviour for so long that it's become subtextual in everyday life. This leads to the self-loathing depicted in the movie, and to its too-baldly stated message: "If only we could just not hate ourselves quite so very much."