ENTERTAINMENT

Facts and trivia in gay film companion

Gay Hollywood Film & Video Guide

by Steve Stewart Companion Pub., 297 p., $15.95

Reviewed by Joseph Morris Finally, a reference book that provides a wealth of information for the gay film buff in one volume. Stewart, who authored Positive Image: A Portrait of Gay America in 1984, has put together a readable, informative encyclopedia that documents male homosexuality in the movies across a 75-year period.

This book is not an analysis of gays in film, like the late Vito Russo's The Celluloid Closet, although Stewart got to know Russo and cites the earlier work as inspiration for this effort. It's not like the books and videos that document those fleeting moments on film where men show off their naked crotches and butts, either, although this book describes buff scenes in detail for your erotic pleasure. It's not a guide to pornographic films, which have their own catalogs and rating system. And it does not include lesbian scenes (unless they are woven into a gay male film plot), because Stewart felt inadequate to the task and suggests a woman undertake the project.

Instead, it is a description of more than 400 films that are gay-themed or that have gay characters. Once in awhile, a gay actor will play a part with gay overtones, such as Charles Laughton in the 1932 film The Sign of the Cross. But for the most part, these descriptions are of suggestive roles, and the occasional gay characters, played by actors of any sexual orientation.

Each film with a "noteworthy” gay tidbit is in the body of the book. These range from outright gay movies such as The Boys in the Band, Resident Alien, Some of My Best Friends Are ..., Torch Song Trilogy, and I'll Love You Forever . . . Tonight, to those with campy or swishy subplots.

Car Wash, Tea and Sympathy, Can't Stop the Music, Tootsie, Police Academy, and even Porky's can be found here. All of the AIDS films, TV movies and videos are included (An Early Frost, Common Threads, Longtime Companion, Silverlake Life, and so on). And then there are those very hard to categorize: Midnight Express, Once Bitten, Diamonds Are Forever, and The Producers come to mind.

Thankfully, Stewart has taken the time to catalog both the blockbuster mainstream films (such as The Crying Game and Advise

and Consent) and those that are relegated to art theaters and film festivals (Citizen Cohn, Sebastiane, Via Appia).

Each of these major listings comes with the author's rating (one to five stars), cast, rales, director, year and country of release, MPAA rating, plot description, awards, trivia when known, and quotes from the script. Frankly, this book could sell if it included just the quotes. Some samples (films listed below):

"Well, that's the pot calling the kettle beige."

"Pardon me, but your husband is showing."

"What do you think happens when we die?" "We get to have sex again."

"Your soul may belong to God, but your ass is mine."

"Eighteen. Is there any word in the English language as sexy as that?"

The back part of the book has thumbnail descriptions of additional films with ve:y minor gay content. And then there are several indexes and groupings: by type, subject matter, rating and actor's name to let you cross-reference to your heart's content. The list of films is formidable, ranging from a 1915 Charlie Chaplin-in-drag entry up though early 1993.

The biggest problem I had with this book was the author's star rating system, and his decisions of what was a major entry versus a passing mention. For example, Norman, Is That You?, a film with a gay couple as its plot, is in the back of the book. Yes, it's a silly film, but so is Porky's, which is not about gay people, yet it gets a prominent entry-and three stars! His five-star selections are an odd assortment: Tootsie, Sleeper, JFK, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Cabaret, Blazing Saddles, Psycho, Single White Female, Torch Song Trilogy, and 15 more. Using that logic, I'd add Airplane!, A Chorus Line, The Lion in Winter, Rope, and Spartacus, but he gave only three stars to these. Note that the stars reflect his overall rating of the film, not its handling of gay content.

So, if you want to read up on all the films that are part of twentieth century gay heritage, and see which ones show off nudity, this is the book to get.

As for the quotes, they were spoken by: Leonard Frey in The Boys in the Band; Glenn Ford in Gilda; Stephen Caffrey and Campbell Scott in Longtime Companion; an inmate in Short Eyes; and Robin Williams in The World According to Garp.

Lesbian mystery invites onlookers

I'll Be Leaving You Always by Sandra Scoppettone Little, Brown 251 p., $19.95 hard

Reviewed by K.T. McCann I'll Be Leaving You Always is Sandra Scoppettone's latest book featuring lesbian private eye Lauren Laurano. The story is a seamless mystery, with clues being doled out judiciously, and should satisfy almost any mystery lover. Scoppettone is a very competent writer, and depicts realistic characters, good plots and effortless style.

One delight is her protagonist, Lauren Laurano. Totally believable because she obsesses and broods about things just like real people, Lauren is aging gently, committed to her twelve-year relationship with her lover Kip, devoted to her profession, concerned about cholesterol and her friends. In other words, she has a life. It begins to come unraveled when Lauren discovers her best friend Megan Harbaugh has been mur-

dered. The story takes a personal turn as Lauren examines her blindness when it comes to her friends (one of a gay couple upstairs is discovered to have a drug problem she knew nothing about, and she finds she knew very little about Megan's life). In looking over Lauren's shoulder, we touch on topics of concern to us all: drugs, dishonesty in relationships, AIDS, the death of those we love. We wonder how well we really know our friends.

With plenty of action and danger, as well as angst that we are invited to view humorously as well as tenderly, Sandra Scoppettone has given us a role model as well as a terrific character in her heroine Lauren Laurano. This is another of Scoppettone's considerable gifts as a writer, and we are invited into Lauren and Kip's life as onlookers and friends, and it is with great reluctance that the mystery is solved and we put the book away. And it is with anticipation that we await Lauren's next adventure.

OCTOBER 1, 1993

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