The Boys in the Band

CBS Fox Video From Outcyclopedia, the free and queer encyclopedia. The Boys in the Band is the name of a 1968 play by Mart Crowley and a 1970 film directed by William Friedkin, with the screenplay written by Crowley and based on his play. The film's ensemble cast, most of whom also played the roles in the play's initial stage run of 1002 performances in New York, includes Cliff Gorman and Laurence Luckinbill. Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow. The story is about a birthday party staged by a group of gay men. Alan, an old college friend of host Michael and a heterosexual, - or so he claims, - who is unaware of Michael's gay life or that of his friends, drops in unexpectedly with disastrous results. As the party guests become gradually drunker, their mutual ribbing degenerates into increasingly cruel and nasty attacks. At one point a party game is concocted where each guest must make a telephone call to someone and tell him that he loves him. The final eruption of yelling and abuse comes to a screeching halt upon the arrival of Harold, the guest of honor, who accepts the gift of "Cowboy," a young male hustler hired for him as an act of backhanded charity, but not before reducing host Michael to tears with a few well and cruelly chosen words of his own. Boys is noteworthy for being one of the first feature fims to examine relationships among gay men. Both the film and the play, however, have been criticized for their portrayal of gay men as vicious and backbiting, incapable of loyal friendship or loving relationships. Others note that underneath the viciousness of the characters, the play and film are actually sympathetic in their portrayal of gay men and their interactions, while still others simply fall in love with the play's dialogue and especially with "bitchy queen" Emory. Director Friedkin later garnered even harsher criticism and anger from gays for his 1980 film, Cruising. Sadly, many of the cast members (other than Gorman and Luckenbill, who went on to successful film and television careers) have subsequently died of AIDS. Among them was Leonard Frey, who played birthday boy Harold and whose previous credits had included the character of Laurence Faggot in 1969's The Magic Christian. Others included Frederick Combs, who played Donald and whose career began with a role on the juvenile adventure television series, Captain Video and His Video Rangers, and Robert La Tourneaux, who played the Cowboy. In an odd case of life imitating art, La Tourneaux went on to pursue a career as an actual gay escort and also modeled nude in several gay-oriented adult magazines. External links IMDB Entry Birght Lights Film Journal Essay Entry added 22 September, 2004. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Boys in the Band". All text is available for use under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (see Copyrights for details).