Our Staff Picks column is a new addition that takes you back to a time when video stores reigned supreme and the "Staff Picks" section was the place to find out what films were worthy of one's time. Of course, our version has a decidedly nude angle, as we suss out which films from a certain genre with great nudity. This week: homoerotic movies!
What makes a film homoerotic? That is a great question. I tend to think everything is gay, so I really had to adjust my lens for this list. Essentially a movie with homoerotic undertones either uses symbolism to refer to gay themes or has a "friendship" that feels much more like a partnership. You know, like lovers. The key is that nothing is ever actively labeled as gay. Thus we are all left basking in the gay vibes of these homoerotic films.
Spartacus
This 1960 film is really famous for being homoerotic. Kirk Douglas is our shirtless and sweaty star with Tony Curtis as a young Antoninus and John Gavin as Julis Caesar. All of the guys are hot in their ancient Greek attire: barely-there togas and sweaty, shirtless chests. But there is one scene in the film in particular that has had audiences reeling ever since its release.
The great Laurence Olivier himself had a saucy scene with Tony Curtis. In this very famous scene, Tony gives Laurence a bath. Laurence then asks Tony about his personal preferences: oysters or snails? Olivier's character essentially alludes to bisexuality and claims that he has a taste for both and he would like to know how his servant feels. Olivier, do behave!
300
Speaking of ancient Greeks, let's talk about 300. This action film seemed really macho, but the entire cast is pretty much oiled-up and muscular men who can't keep their hands off of each other. This 2006 film by Zack Snyder tells the story of King Leonidas leading his army of 300 Spartans against an invading Persian army.
Gerard Butler shows his ass, but otherwise, this film is a visual feast of buff men wrestling and fighting each other and grunting and - oh my! I'm getting hot and bothered just thinking about it.
Tango and Cash
This 1989 buddy comedy seems masculine, much like all of the movies on this list, but it definitely does not feel straight. Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone are practically the poster boys for male friends who seem "too" close. They totally have an odd couple bromance going on in this movie and that only amplifies when they take a shower together. I hope one of these hotties drops some soap!
Fight Club
David Fincher's Fight Club was practically the Joker of the late 90s. Everyone loved watching the film and feeling smart and edgy watching an insomniac with anger problems (Ed Norton) befriend a soap salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) who takes Edward to a secret fight club where men can unleash their anger.
What would Tyler Durden do? He would show off his STUNNING abs. He looks tight, toned, and sexy even when he is getting punched in the face. How is this a "gay" movie? It's been talked about a lot by scholars and critics, but let's look at the basics: these are hot men who are getting physical with each other in a clandestine bar. They are meeting in private to unleash who they really are inside, often physically. Oh, and you can't talk about The Fight Club. Hmmmm! Sounds sort of familiar? These men are often repressed, so they express themselves through violence.
There is a big spoiler alert in this film that would bring this whole hypothesis home. Let me just hint at it by telling you that the book's author is gay, but he was not out when he wrote this book. With that in mind, it is not a stretch to think that he was working something out on the page in regards to wrestling (or fighting) with his sexuality.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2
Here is another film that has been heavily talked about when it comes to homoeroticism. It's "the gay" Nightmare on Elm Street. In fact, it has been proven that it was written as a coming-out allegory. We can get to that more in-depth in a moment. Mark Patton, a gay actor in real life, plays a young man struggling with his sexuality. He and his hot best friend work out together, hang a "no chicks" sign on the bedroom door, and even go to a leather bar together. Um...hello?
Freddy Krueger winds up possessing Mark and Mark spends a majority of the movie fighting this possession. He even has a bad reaction to kissing his "girlfriend". At one point, he even confesses his struggles to his best friend who suggestively responds by asking "and you want to sleep with me?" It's basically right in front of our faces!
I had written once before about the "gay undertones" in this movie and a helpful Mr. Man user replied: "undertones? Honey, those are TONES." I think about that a lot because yet. Ultimately, even screenwriter David Chaskin acknowledges that the gay subtext was intentional and not at all imagined.
