LGBT ROUND-UP

Far From Heaven

Here's our annual round-up of gay/LGBT films in honor of the Gay Pride celebration in New York City. Its a really mixed bag this year, with everything from the William Wyler classic The Children's Hour to a silly documentary about two self-hating gay men who live with a woman, Three of Hearts. Then we've got Tom Hanks in his Oscar-winning turn in Philadelphia; Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, and Julianne Moore in Far From Heaven; and a couple of ersatz "gay" movies such as the telefilm Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn, Coffee Date, and the highly interesting -- and somewhat ambiguous -- Family Way.

Over the decades gay portrayals and how society sees homosexuality has greatly changed, although sometimes it may seem that the more things change, the more they stay the same. In any case, positive portraits of LGBT individuals are always welcome, but that doesn't always add up to a successful movie.

Anyway, here are a few films to ponder.

COFFEE DATE

COFFEE DATE (2006). Writer/director: Stuart Wade. Note: This review reveals certain plot points.

Todd (Jonathan Bray) is anxiously awaiting a date at a coffee shop where he runs into Kelly (Wilson Cruz), who is also awaiting a date. It turns out that they are each waiting for the other, which is awkward because Kelly is a man and Todd is straight. Apparently Todd's brother, Barry (Jonathan Silverman), has played a mean trick on him, but Todd gets even with him by bringing Kelly home and taking him into his bedroom as a joke. Barry spreads the word to their mother, Mrs. Muller (Sally Kirkland), and before long everyone seems to know that Todd is gay, even though he keeps protesting that he isn't. As they continue to go out together as friends, Kelly begins to fall for Todd even as Todd wonders if he might be gay after all, leading to rather ridiculous developments. Coffee Date is one of those mediocre independent "gay" movies that was LGBT cable channel LOGO's bread and butter in the early days (and maybe still is). It actually starts out well, with likable characters and attractive actors, but it becomes increasingly stupid as it proceeds. Todd can't figure out if he's gay or not unless he goes to bed with Kelly -- what, at 35 he can't just tell if he's attracted to men or not?! -- but decides that he's really straight after all. Todd's flamingly gay associate Clayton (Jason Stuart) suggests that a "stiff dick knows no conscience," especially when there's alcohol involved, and it doesn't mean anything, but Todd suggests that he and Kelly get it on when he's sober, and he doesn't just lie there to be serviced -- it's a full-on bedroom sex scene (even if it's played mostly in the dark). What seems especially weird in these modern days of alleged "sexual fluidity" is that no one ever suggests that Todd might be bisexual, which would explain his (supposed) interest in women and his attraction to Kelly, and certainly makes more sense than his being "straight." [For another thing, maybe Kelly just isn't Todd's type.] For a movie that possibly was supposed to smash stereotyping on both sides, it does just the opposite, and virtually every gay character with a speaking role is swishy; even Kelly is a self-described queen and some of his lines suggest a degree of self-hatred. Like The Boys in the Band decades before, it's almost as if Coffee Date is assuring conflicted men in the audience that only campy guys are gay and everyone else is safe. What makes it more confusing is that Todd, without being a raging queen, pretty much comes off as gay from his first appearance. Both of the lead actors are good, although one suspects they may have played gay a bit too much; Sally Kirkland, even if her character is stupid, nearly steals the movie as Todd's mother. Jonathan Silverman is given a thankless role and can do very little with it. Even a silly comedy shouldn't have this many gay cliches. In fact with its narrow view of gay life, gay men, and LGBT realities, Coffee Date almost comes off as homophobic. 

Verdict: Some amusing moments of one man's dilemma, but it goes in all the wrong directions. **.

ALEXANDER: THE OTHER SIDE OF DAWN

Leigh McCloskey

ALEXANDER: THE OTHER SIDE OF DAWN (1977 telefilm). Director: John Erman.

Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway, a telefilm aired in 1976, was a ratings success, so it was decided to come out with a sequel. Alexander Duncan (Leigh McCloskey), who was introduced in the first film as young prostitute Dawn's (Eve Plumb) boyfriend, is thrown out by his family (who can't afford to feed him) and winds up in L.A., where he, too, sells his body. Then he meets a closeted football player, Chuck Selby (Alan Feinstein), and begins to bond with him. But are they only just using one another? ... Alexander is a dishonest, superficial, ersatz "gay" movie where the lead character has sex with men but is supposedly straight. The scenes with him getting into cars with men, and his exact relationship with Chuck, are glossed over, and the "happy" ending doesn't seem to resolve Alexander's conflicts over his sexuality. Made for television in the seventies, it would have been a surprise that so much of the gay content made it to broadcast were it not for the fact that the far superior and much gayer That Certain Summer aired five years earlier. In this Alexander attends a rap session in a gay center, and goes to gay bars with Chuck (ever dreaming of sweet if drippy Dawn). Eric Holliman portrays a sympathetic gay counselor, and there are nice vignettes from Larry Rosenberg and Jonathan Banks [Wiseguy], among others, as young men at the center. Holliman's character says that he believes in people making their own choices, although nowadays it is not being gay that is considered a choice, but accepting oneself. McCloskey was actually twenty-two when he played this seventeen-year-old character, and while at times he seems a little too sophisticated, he gives a good performance. Holliman [The Power] is fine, as is Feinstein, although Chuck's dallying with a seventeen-year-old and getting him to go off and buy drugs for him, is problematic. Jean Hagen [No Questions Asked] scores as a landlady who's seen better days and has a picture of herself as "Miss Newcomer" of the Year on her wall, and Asher Brauner is also notable as a friend of Alexander's who gets him into hustling wealthy women, such as  Juliet Mills (these scenes have little veracity, frankly). Lonnie Chapman and Diana Douglas are effective as Alexander's parents. Miss Frances Faye plays herself and is apparently female, although in the film she comes off like a drag queen.

Verdict: The sequel, "Alexander Moves to New York and Comes Out," never materialized. **.

THE HUMBLING

Greta Gerwig and Al Pacino

THE HUMBLING (2014). Director: Barry Levinson.

Simon Axler (Al Pacino) is an actor who suffers a nervous breakdown, leaves the institution where he was ensconced, and returns home to find himself playing host to the daughter of some family friends. Pegeen (Greta Gerwig) has always had a crush on Simon, or so she says, and the two embark upon an affair, which is not only complicated by the age difference but by Pegeen's decided preference for females. Right off the bat let me say that Pacino gives a terrific performance, Oscar-worthy in fact, but The Humbling, although never tedious, is not a very good picture. Based on a novel by Philip Roth, its attitude towards LGBT characters, including Pegeen and others, is dated at the least and insensitive at the worst. [The notion that she dresses in a more feminine manner as she moves from women to a man is as offensive as it is ludicrous, and her sexuality is never really dealt with in any honest fashion, although it's clear she's upset that her female lover had a sex change.] Gerwig, Charles Grodin (Simon's agent), Dianne Wiest (Pegeen's mother), Dylan Baker (Simon's shrink), Billy Porter (a transgender man who was once Pegeen's female lover), and Kyra Sedgwick (another patient who wants Simon to kill her husband) are all excellent, and there are some good scenes and amusing moments, but this should have been so much more than a "hot lesbian" dirty joke; it never quite gets past that foolish notion [despite the fact it may only be meant to illustrate the insanity of Simon's life]. With a writer, director, and star all over seventy, one might not expect modern-day attitudes, but being old is no excuse for being old-fashioned. As with Scent of a Woman, Pacino sometimes does superlative work in movies that aren't worth his attention, although one can understand why he took this great part. This is another Pacino movie, after Gigli, where a woman who is basically a lesbian sleeps with a man for no good reason except perhaps to titillate some "Old Straight Guys" who love the notion of deflowering or "turning" a lesbian. Well, at least this isn't Cruising!

NOTE: The studio obviously had little faith in the film. It was on DVD within what seemed like two weeks and was streaming on Amazon the same weekend it opened in theaters!

Verdict: Some old men really are old poops -- but Pacino is outstanding. **1/2.

CLARK GABLE: TORMENTED STAR

CLARK GABLE Tormented Star. David Bret. Carroll and Graf; 2007.

It shouldn't be any secret today that many of Hollywood's most famous stars were privately homosexual, and while this may bother some people, a biographer has the right and obligation to be honest about his subject's sexuality. It's the 21st century, after all, and homophobic reactions are dated, to say the least. But there is a big difference between books like Andre Soare's bio of Ramon Navarro and James Robert Parish's tome on Katharine Hepburn and books like this one. Clark Gable may well have been bisexual (as Bret claims) or even a Don Juan homosexual with one sham marriage after another, but as this bio has no source notes or interviews with those in the know, it won't convince anybody of anything. According to Bret virtually everyone in Hollywood is bisexual. While this should be a juicy read, its rag tag collection of unsubstantiated gossip eventually becomes annoying and even tedious. A good book may yet be written about Gable and Hollywood hypocrisy over homosexuality, but this isn't it. There are some good passages, but the whole project has a sensational-at-any-cost feel and is a far cry from serious journalism. Too bad.

Verdict: Don't bother. *1/2.