Mart Crowley's off-Broadway hit, The Boys in the Band, became for many during the 1970s, the first play with all gay characters that defined a culture they didn't know. Many vocal gay writers, such as Edward Albee, hated the self-loathing evident in script. Making the Boys, a documentary on the play and the subsequent film, tries to analyze its place in the gay liberation movement which is considered having began with the Stonewall Riots in June 1969. Crowley's play had opened off-Broadway in April 1968.
Crowley had worked for film star Natalie Wood in Hollywood. He had written an earlier play which flopped. He became Miss Wood's assistant and he had many contacts within the Hollywood community. He set out to write a play filled with characters he could understand. In later years Crowley became a writer and producer of Robert Wagner's Hart to Hart.
The play, The Boys in the Band, consists of nine gay men getting together at the apartment of one of the character, Michael, to celebrate the birthday of another, Harold. All types of gay characters are represented. Emory, the most flamboyant and "out" characters brings Harold a street hustler as a birthday present. The characters drink, play truth games, and eventually strip off their social masks to reveal themselves, an often painful process.
In 1970, the play was filmed with the original cast and was well-received. As other more sympathetic portrayals of gay characters became part of the gay movement, Crowley's play was often seen in a negative light.
Tragically the history of the actors who were part of the play/film often reflected the life of those around them. They fell ill to same plague that killed off a large number of American gays. Only two of the original cast members were alive in 2011; all the others, including previous producers and directors and artists, had died of AIDS.
The documentary becomes a powerful historical document of one of the important gay works of the 20th century.
Making the Boys (2011) ****
Crowley had worked for film star Natalie Wood in Hollywood. He had written an earlier play which flopped. He became Miss Wood's assistant and he had many contacts within the Hollywood community. He set out to write a play filled with characters he could understand. In later years Crowley became a writer and producer of Robert Wagner's Hart to Hart.
The play, The Boys in the Band, consists of nine gay men getting together at the apartment of one of the character, Michael, to celebrate the birthday of another, Harold. All types of gay characters are represented. Emory, the most flamboyant and "out" characters brings Harold a street hustler as a birthday present. The characters drink, play truth games, and eventually strip off their social masks to reveal themselves, an often painful process.
In 1970, the play was filmed with the original cast and was well-received. As other more sympathetic portrayals of gay characters became part of the gay movement, Crowley's play was often seen in a negative light.
Tragically the history of the actors who were part of the play/film often reflected the life of those around them. They fell ill to same plague that killed off a large number of American gays. Only two of the original cast members were alive in 2011; all the others, including previous producers and directors and artists, had died of AIDS.
The documentary becomes a powerful historical document of one of the important gay works of the 20th century.
Making the Boys (2011) ****
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