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"The Boys in the Band" DVD Review
When I heard that this hard-to-find gay classic was making its long-overdue way to DVD, I was curious as to whether the distributor would be compiling any extras to go along with the release. And fortunately the DVD doesn't disappoint. Aside from a gorgeous widescreen transfer of the original film, the DVD also includes a commentary by director Friedkin and three newly-produced segments that trace the evolution from stage to screen and feature new interviews with Mart Crowley, Friedkin, executive producer Dominick Dunne and members of the cast, and gay playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America). The special features alone make this DVD worth checking out, even if you've caught the film in theaters or on cable. There's a host of fascinating trivia to be had (did you know that the film was shot in part in the apartment of actress Tammy Grimes? Or that Natalie Wood was instrumental in the play's making it to the stage?) and the first-hand accounts of the actors are particularly wonderful.
At one point, Laurence Luckinbill (who plays Hank, who is in the middle of a divorce from his wife when the film takes place) comments that his decision to take the role on stage (which, like all the other actors, lost him his agent) was the best he ever made, thanks in part to the way that gay men connected with his character. On a more somber note, the special features are dedicated to the members of the cast who have passed away, and when their pictures and dates of death are shown, it's deeply saddening to see that the majority of the cast was struck down in their fifties and sixties, some from complications resulting from AIDS. The film itself and the time put into the bonus features are a standing tribute to their brave and excellent performances.
At one point during the film, Michael says of the escalating drama, "It's like an accident on the highway. You can't look at it and you can't look away." And that pretty much sums up The Boys in the Band as a whole. Unapologetic, ambitious and still wonderfully vibrant, the film is more than deserving of its overdue DVD release, and of a second chance from those who found it to be an unfair look at the lives and loves of gay men. Submitted by on Mon, 2008-11-10 22:26.  The Boys In The BandSubmitted by
Cat (715 points) (143 posts) on Tue, 2008-11-11 13:35.The Boys In The Band had such a profound affect on me I don't know quite how to describe it. I was seventeen when the film first opened, living under the regime of a father who used his fists to eradicate every "tendency" he saw in me, torturing myself with questions and drawn to everything homosexual I could find. Which was very little back then and none of it - absolutely none of it - good. Until the day I snuck into a movie theater and saw this film I believed I was doomed if I followed my natural inclinations. It's not hyperbole to say what I saw thrilled me, gave me hope, absolutely glittered. The self-loathing sailed right past me. What I saw were gay men who could love, who had friends, a culture, a place in the world beyond back alleys and the gutter. Men who weren't desparate deviants. Most of all I saw the possibility of family. It gave me hope and a beginning. If you didn't grow up in the dark ages this probably sounds mawkish and over the top but back then The Boys In The Band was positively revolutionary. For this callow youth at least. I've remembered it fondly ever since.  I adore this movie.Submitted by
Hephaestion (385 points) (89 posts) on Sat, 2009-01-10 19:39.It's the Ultimate Gay Classic. And while the styles and jargon are a blast from the past, the movie is truly as relevant today as it was in 1969. In spite of the gains of the past 39 years, things REALLY haven't changed a goddamn bit! The characters are beautifully drawn and we ALL know every last one of them. The DVD's extra features are FANTASTIC. Mart Crowley's stories about writing the play, getting it produced, and making the film are fascinating!! And as one who used to WORSHIP Tammy Grimes the parts about her and filming in her apartment had me in rapture!!!!  New gay film "Dog Tags" Review?Submitted by
duckiestoy (1340 points) (296 posts) on Mon, 2008-11-17 04:56.Coming to DVD on Tues is "Dog Tags" from TLA Releasing. Synopsis:
Abandoned by his father and raised by a single mother, Nate Merritt joins the Marines to support his soon-to-be fiance. While on leave in Palm Springs, Nate meets a seemingly free spirited young gay man, who leads him on a path of discovery--and to the surprising identity of the father he never knew. It wasn't as good as "Shelter" or as bad as "Breakfast with Scot." Its limits were mostly expected for small films but liked it over all. I was a bit frustrated by those limits because I think it had strong potential. Any chance of it getting a review here?  i've just got Dog TagsSubmitted by
TerrynJames (420 points) (84 posts) on Mon, 2008-11-17 05:36.And I'm planning to watch it tonight!! (hopefuly) i'm really looking forward to it. Whats Shelter like?
James x  I agree. It charmed andSubmitted by
inanna (195 points) (46 posts) on Mon, 2008-11-17 05:45.I agree. It charmed and frustrated in equal measures. I would've loved to see the story unfold a bit more because it had all the right ingredients.
 Boys in the BandSubmitted by
djb (25 points) (5 posts) on Thu, 2009-02-12 21:49.I finally saw this movie that I have heard of for so long a few weeks ago. I bought the DVD and am sure glad that I did. Now I have seen it at least ten times since then. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and it is one of my favorites along with Brokeback Mountain; Love, Valour, and Compassion; and Broken Hearts Club.
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I do need to see this again
The last and only time I saw The Boys in the Band was about 18 years ago, when I first came out. It was devastating and almost debilitating to me, and I have deliberately avoided it since then (not that it showed up much on TV, but you know what I mean). Now that I'm older and wiser, I wonder what my reaction will be.
(Apologies for this digression in advance.) About Natalie Wood: I'm surprised she's not a bigger gay icon, considering a number of roles she played in gay cultural history. Mart Crowley appeared in a biographical documentary about Natalie back in the late 80s, and he talked about her with so much love and admiration; I'll leave her role in the development of Boys in the Band to be discovered by others, but Natalie's other gay connections include: starring opposite gay actors James Dean and Sal Mineo in the homoerotic Rebel Without a Cause; starring opposite gay actor Tab Hunter in the campfests The Burning Hills and The Girl He Left Behind (which she always referred to as The Girl With The Left Behind); starring in the film version of two of the most beloved gay-created musicals, West Side Story and Gypsy; "dating" gay actors Raymond Burr and Nick Adams; insisting that newcomer Robert Redford be cast as her bisexual husband in Inside Daisy Clover; hinting at the bisexuality of her character in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice; and being an all-around glamorous leading lady.
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Natalie Wood was a Goddess
I was lucky enough to meet her at the premiere of Mazursky's Willie & Phil, in which she had a walk-on. There were many notables at that premiere but when she and RJ (as Robert Wagner's called) walked in they parted like the Red Sea. They glowed in the dark.
The party was at the Bistro Gardens and I had the luck of being able to sit and chat with her for a spell about this that and the other. They don't make 'em like that anymore. And in a way they never did. There was just her.
The Boys in the Band is a "blast from the past" that I'm sure many After Eltonistas will find strangely contemporary. Many things have changed but gay family dynamics haven't. That's what was so hard to face at the time. The play premiered in 1968. Stonewall was 1969. After Stonewall many felt we were "beyond all that." But of course we weren't. We're out now in ways the Boys never were. But don't tell me that any number of us aren't just as messed up.
Very much worth seeing!
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