THE CELLULOID CLOSET (1995)
This fascinating multi Emmy-nominated documentary spans
the history of Hollywood’s portrayal of gays and lesbians on screen from the
silent era through till the mid-1990s. Based on Vito Russo’s book, it shows how
in the early days, homosexual characters were initially suggested (or
suggestive) in their mannerisms or
presented as flamboyant caricatures especially before the Hays Code came into
force. After this ultra-restrictive censorship was adopted, film-makers were
forced to encode gay subtext or even remove gay plot themes altogether in
mainstream cinema.
The film includes archive footage from many films as
well as interview clips not just with esteemed gay writers and directors such
as Harvey Fierstein, Armistaud Maupin and Gore Vidal but also heterosexual
actors including Harry Hamlin, (star of MAKING LOVE), Tony Curtis, Tom Hanks
and Susan Sarandon who discuss their experiences of the risks and reactions to
being involved in ground-breaking films before the more relaxed attitudes of
today.
Vidal talks interestingly about the negotiations
between himself and William Wyler about enlivening BEN-HUR by introducing a
homosexual past history for Messala and Ben-Hur. Amusingly, this was openly
broached with Stephen Boyd but seems to have been kept from Charlton Heston at
the time for fear of repelling him – but no matter as the one-sided dynamic was
still clear enough to audiences. Other films were not so lucky in having
creators able to introduce or keep this element even when inherent in the
original source material. THE LOST WEEKEND’s protagonist in the novel was an
alcoholic tortured by his homosexuality. In the movie, Ray Milland’s writer had
the drink problem but now the cause was writer’s block. Similarly, the film of
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF suffered from extreme censoring to disguise Brick’s inner
torment over his relationship with another man.
Hollywood began to embrace or at least recognise the
existence and reflection of gay characters from the early ‘60s in films like
VICTIM with its sensational portrayal by a big star, Dirk Bogarde, of a man
blatantly admitting to his homesexual yearnings. However, these roles were hampered
by a constant coluring of gay figures as confused, tortured and unhappy often
with fatal consequences. This still betrayed an air of ‘disapproval’ especially
if they died by tragic means, as though this was a price that had to be
extracted in return for acknowledgement. Sympathetic versions of this could be
seen in Sal Mineo in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE for example or Montgomery Clift in SUDDENLY
LAST SUMMER.
Possibly the first Hollywood mainstream film to feature
positive gay characters who don’t have to die at the end but simply deal with
life’s ups and downs like heterosexuals was William Friedkin’s THE BOYS IN THE
BAND (1970) written by Mart Crowley based on his stage play.
However, before Tinseltown could congratulate itself,
as we moved into the 1970s the new liberality brought an even more offensive
angle which was to portray the homosexual as threatening, a villain whose
sexuality was perceived as part of their ‘perversion’. The absurd transvestite
shot dead by James Caan in FREEBIE AND THE BEAN (1974) and the two menacing gay
hitch-hikers in VANISHING POINT from 1971 are shown, as well as brief
undiscussed clips of later movies like the cross-dressing serial killer ‘Buffalo
Bill’ in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and Sharon Stone’s bisexual killer novelist in
BASIC INSTINCT. Even William Friedkin wasn’t immune to damaging the inclusive
goodwill of his earlier work by exploiting unenlightened heterosexual fears of
the gay scene in the extremely poorly- conceived Al Pacino undercover cop
thriller CRUISING.
It does seem that in the last twenty years, gay
characters and issues have become absorbed much more into the mainstream on
screen. It seems to me that as long as we continue to reflect the diversity of
sexual orientation and don’t tokenise or issue-drive homosexual inclusion,
everyone will come to fit more easily into the sum total of a rich and truthful
mirror of the world we live in.
THE CELLULOID CLOSET is expertly-made,
thought-provoking and underscored with a lush orchestral score.
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