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PAGE SEV/EN
October, 1976
GAYS AT THE MDWIE5
As a topic in motion pictures, homosexuality ranks some-
children, ujhile most
movies
ujas
ujhere belou; sharks and possessed
about love deal with the affairs of heterosexuals. So it
a pleasure to see Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s "FOX AND HIS
FRIENDS" recently at Chapel Hill's Alternative Cinema. This
caustic and entertaining tragi-comedy used a homosexual affair
as the basis for a Marxist-oriented warning, a demonstration
of how the upper class always manages to screw the lower,
figuratively speaking. In the movie, Fox, a working-class
gay, is swindled out of his lottery winnings by his cultured
upper-class lover, who then abandons Fox. While some gays
find this plot a downer and others object to the political
elements, it is refreshing to see a movie that does not show
gays as noble sufferers, but as human beings motivated by
lust and greed, frequently just as stupid and rotten as
straights. The somewhat predictable plot is given a fresh,
witty impetus by the inclusion of gay elements, not unlike the
way some tired old adventure movie plots and TV/ sitcoms can
be improved by re-telling with black characters--that one
twist adds new meaning to the plot. Fassbinder fans take notes
the Alternative Cinema will present his acclaimed film about
lesbians "THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA WON KANT" on November 12-13
in Greenlaw Auditorium.
Of course, movies are more sexually explicit today than
they once were. "FOX" showed nudity and men in bed togetherj
in contrast, a gay subplot is handled more subtly in a 1962
film, Otto Preminger’s politically topical "ADVISE AND CONSENT,"
scheduled for November 11 at the Alternative Cinema.
Still, the years have not exactly brought a plethora of
pictures about gay men. There was Alan Bates as the bisexual
professor "BUTLEY." There was Peter Finch carrying on with
Murray Head carrying on with Glenda Oackson in John Schlesinger’s
"SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY." There was "A VERY NATURAL THING," a
cheapo attempt to combine explicitness and respectability.
Then came "DOG DAY AFTERNOON," a box-office smash that
made gay respectable in Hollywood. At any rate, something has
inspired the studios to make two new movies about gays. Both
are being released this fallj both have theatrical origins.
Richard Lester's "THE RITZ" is based on the hit Broadway
comedy by Terrence McNally. In "THE RITZ" Back Weston hides
from the Mafia in a Manhattan baths. Hilarious complications
ensue, among them Rita Moreno as a no-talent would-be
Bette Midler.
George Schlatter's "NORMAN ... IS THAT YOU?" is based
on a flop Broadway comedy. It tells of a man who discovers
that his son is living with a roommate who is more than just
a roommate. For the movies an interracial aspect has been
added to the plot. Redd Foxx and Pearl Bailey play parents^
(continued on page 8)