For my last Staff Picks for Pride Month, I wanted to highlight gay classics. What is a gay classic? Well, it is a film with gay themes and gay characters that is a classic in and out of the gay community. I think that's pretty much it in a nutshell. So, for Pride Month, let's reflect on these recommended gay classics that will make you proud...and horny.
Parting Glances
This is an underrated gem that I need today's children to know about. This 1986 film by Bill Sherwood follows a couple living in New York named Michael and Robert. John Bolger plays Robert and Richard Ganoung is Michael. Robert is going to take a job that will whisk him away to Africa for two years, leaving Michael to try and have a life without him.
This is a great look at life changes that every couple has gone through at some point or another. With Robert gone, Michael has to rely on his community and his wacky group of friends which includes a young Steve Buscemi. There is no nudity, but I'm not mad about Bolger's cum gutters in the shower. Are you?
The Boys in the Band
I really liked the 2020 remake of The Boys in the Band, but all praise goes to the 1970 adaptation of the hit play. William Friedkin directed this film about a gay birthday party that winds up getting very tense. Leonard Frey plays Harold, an iconic and complicated character in theater herstory, whose having a birthday. His friend, played by Kenneth Nelson, throws him a party with their closest group of gay men. While the party is going on, Michael's straight college roommate shows up. Oh, so does a sexy hustler named Cowboy. A couple fights, old feelings flare up, and frustrations abound in this genuinely good drama. Oh, and there is booty from Frederick Combs.
I have to mention that in the remake (directed by the great Joe Mantello), that shower scene gifts us with a little bit of peen from Matt Bomer when he exits the shower. Leave it to Bomer to give you a boner!
There is also a beautifully shot scene that features nudity from actors Alpha Miknas and Mark Thomas Young during a flashback scene that shows the two young lads swimming naked with their dicks out. I'd remember that fondly, too:
Stranger by the Lake
If you like watching hot men have sex on the beach, then Stranger on the Lake is the movie for you. It isn't hard to see why this film is a gay classic, but seeing why will make you hard. This French film takes us to a strip of beach that is used for cruising. A beach bum meets a hot swimmer played by Christophe Paou and a jealous lover. Uh oh! Tempers flare and a murder happens, one that Pierre Deladonchamps' character witnesses.
If you haven't seen Stranger by the Lake, you may not have known that that was the plot. It's a psycho-sexual thriller! Fans of Mr. Man may have just thought it was a sexy porn based on how sexy all of these naked men are in the movie. I mean, there's a cum shot in the film! I don't blame you if you had no idea about the murder part.
That's why this film is so good. It's a genuinely good plot. It is shot gorgeously. It is tense with great characters and plot. AND it is incredibly sexy, showing French naked men going at it in the sand. My favorite!
Boys in the Sand
Speaking of sand, we have to talk about Wakefield Poole's gay classic. This film put gay porn into the mainstream during the height of 70s porn. Using popular gay actors working in the Golden Age of Porn, Boys in the Sand quickly became a favorite for audiences who love male nudity.
This film takes place at Fire Island - move over, Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang! - and is broken up into three segments that show sex by the beach, sex by the pool, and sex indoors. Artfully shot and filled with hotties, Boys in the Sand has so much sex that it's hard to choose a favorite scene. I love watching Casey Donovan do just about anything with his dick out. And Peter Fisk? J'adore!
The Crying Game
Let's take a different route with this classic. The 1992 film The Crying Game was so genuinely good that it was nominated for awards around the world which is saying a lot for a film that is ultimately - spoiler - about a long, gay love affair. This film thrust many different queer ideas into the public. Granted, it was used as a plot twist, but this was the early 90s.
The plot follows an IRA volunteer who kidnapped a British soldier. The two actually get on, but the kidnapping goes wrong and it causes Fergus to run away to London and try to honor the British soldier by tracking down the soldier's lover Dil. Dil is played by Jaye Davidson who eventually reveals to Fergus what she's packin'.
Happy Together
Wong Kar-Wai is one of the greatest filmmakers working in Asia, so his 1997 gay love film was very appreciated. This is the director who brought the world In the Mood for Love and Chung-King Express. He had really explored straight love affairs already, so his take on two gay men in love was just brilliant. Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Leslie Cheung are lovers who move out of Hong Kong and to Argentina where they believe they will have more freedom. Unfortunately, being foreign in a new country is more stressful than either of them could have guessed.
Happy Together goes through a lot of ups and downs as the men struggle with their relationship and their personal happiness. You'll be very happy to see them naked. In fact, you'll love Fappy Together.
Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee's film Brokeback Mountain was THE film of 2006. I'm still mad that it didn't win Best Picture at the Oscars (Crash did...Crash!) despite Lee taking home the Oscar for Best Director. This film did a wonderfully tender job of putting a long-lasting gay love affair into the public eye at a time when Hollywood wasn't being super gay friendly (that's putting it nicely). Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal played the two cowboys who carry on a decades-long affair despite trying to move on with their lives. They just couldn't quit each other!
At the risk of aging myself, I was a teen when this film was released and I can tell you that it felt amazing to see this film in a theater and have an audience be moved to tears over the love of two hot cowboys. It also felt amazing to see those hot cowboys strip naked! Sure, they used body doubles to run into the water, but I still saw balls.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Older gays have Rocky Horror, but young Gen X and Millennials had Hedwig and the Angry Inch. This wildly creative 2001 musical by and starring John Cameron Mitchell is about a young Berliner named Hedwig who falls in love with an American G.I. while in communist Berlin. The American promises his new lover a new life in America if he has sex reassignment surgery to become a female. Hedwig does this in the name of love, but the surgery goes wrong and his American lover deserts him.
Hedwig gets through his pain through song and has a rock career in which someone tries to steal his music. The music is great - as are the asses!
