The Boys in the Band [WS]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

"The Boys in the Band is not a musical" read the film's original advertisements. The film is set in the apartment of Michael (Kenneth Nelson), a homosexual who holds a birthday party for his friend Harold (Leonard Frey). As Michael and his gay buddies prepare for Harold's arrival, Michael's old college chum Alan (Peter White) makes a surprise appearance. Alan is straight, so Michael tells the revellers to watch their step. Alan's uptight reaction to gay Emory (Cliff Gorman) foments a confrontation. The embittered Michael tries to prove that Alan is a latent homosexual by staging a perverse game in which all the partygoers are required to declare their affections for the persons that they love the most. As it turns out, the person most injured by this game is Michael himself, who is incapable of loving anyone. As the first major-studio production to deal frankly with homosexuality, every member of the show's original Broadway cast appears in the film, including Laurence Luckinbill as an out-of-the-closet husband and father. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Features:
  • cc
  • 3 brand-new featurettes:
  • Act One - The Play
  • Act Two - The Film
  • Act Three - 40 Years of "Boys in the Band"
  • Feature-length audio commentary by William Friedkin

AWARDS

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated New Star of the Year - Male - 1970 (Kenneth Nelson)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Kenneth Nelson - Michael
       Frederick Combs - Donald
       Leonard Frey - Harold
       Cliff Gorman - Emory
       Reuben Greene - Bernard
       Robert La Tourneaux - Cowboy
       Laurence Luckinbill - Hank
       Keith Prentice - Larry
       Peter White - Alan
       Murray Melvin - Alphonse

• Director:

  William Friedkin

• Producer:

  Mart Crowley, Dominick Dunne, Robert Jiras

• Screenwriter:

  Mart Crowley

• Play Author:

  Mart Crowley

• Cinematographer:

  Arthur Ornitz

• Editor:

  Jerry Greenberg, Carl Lerner

• Production Designer:

  John Robert Lloyd

• Executive Producer:

  Dominick Dunne, Robert Jiras

• Set Designer:

  William C. Gerrity, John Robert Lloyd

• Costume Designer:

  Shirley Russell

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Jack C. Jacobsen

• Makeup:

  Bob O'Bradovich

REVIEW:

• This adaptation of Mart Crowley's stage play about a group of gay friends gathering for a birthday party seems quite dated now, but its wickedly clever dialogue and near-perfect pacing make it extremely entertaining. Although the literal translation from the stage results in somewhat static visuals, the ensemble cast is marvelous, particularly Cliff Gorman as the campy Emory and Leonard Frey as the snide Harold. One can forgive the film's concluding slide into self-loathing bathos as a product of its time, mainly because the rest of it is so witty and appealing, although claims that this is the gay Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are not exaggerated. It's not a "feel-good" movie by any stretch, but it is perversely hilarious and quite a lot of shrewish fun. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi