The Boys in the Band
Encyclopedia
The Boys in the Band is a 1970 American drama film
directed by William Friedkin
. The screenplay by Mart Crowley
is based on his Off Broadway play of the same title
, Crowley penned a sequel to the play years later entitled The Men From The Boys
. It is among the first major American motion pictures to revolve around gay characters and is often cited as a milestone in the history of "queer cinema".
The ensemble cast
, all of whom also played the roles in the play's initial stage run in New York City
, includes Kenneth Nelson
as Michael, Peter White
as Alan, Leonard Frey
as Harold, Cliff Gorman
as Emory, Frederick Combs
as Donald, Laurence Luckinbill
as Hank, Keith Prentice
as Larry, Robert La Tourneaux
as Cowboy, and Reuben Greene
as Bernard. Model/actress Maud Adams
has a brief cameo appearance as a fashion model in a photo shoot segment in the opening montage of scenes.
apartment in New York City
in the late 1960s. Michael (Kenneth Nelson
), a Roman Catholic and recovering alcoholic
, is preparing to host a birthday party for his friend Harold. Another of his friends, Donald (Frederick Combs
), a self-described underachiever who has moved from the city, arrives and helps Michael prepare. Alan (Peter White
), Michael's (presumably straight) old college roommate from Georgetown
, calls with an urgent need to see Michael. Michael reluctantly agrees and invites him to his home.
One by one, the guests arrive. Emory (Cliff Gorman
) is a stereotypical flamboyant interior decorator
; Hank (Laurence Luckinbill
), a soon-to-be-divorce
d schoolteacher, and Larry (Keith Prentice
), a fashion photographer, are a couple, albeit one with monogamy
issues; and Bernard (Reuben Greene
) is an amiable black bookstore clerk. Alan calls again to inform Michael he isn't coming after all, and the party continues in a festive manner. However, Alan does appear unexpectedly and throws the gathering into turmoil.
"Cowboy" (Robert La Tourneaux
) - a male hustler and Emory's "gift" to Harold - arrives. As tensions mount, Alan assault
s Emory and in the ensuing chaos Harold finally makes his grand appearance. Michael begins drinking again. As the guests become more and more intoxicated, the party moves indoors from the patio due to a sudden downpour. Michael, who believes Alan is a closeted
homosexual, begins a game in which the objective is for each guest to call the one person whom he truly believes he has loved. With each call, past scars and present anxieties are revealed. Michael's plan to "out
" Alan with the game appears to backfire when Alan calls his wife, not the male college friend Justin Stewart whom Michael had presumed to be Alan's lover. As the party ends and the guests depart, Michael collapses into Donald's arms, sobbing. When he pulls himself together, it appears his life will remain very much the same.
in Greenwich Village. Studio shots were at the Chelsea Studios
in New York City
. According to commentary by Friedkin on the 2008 DVD release, Michael's apartment was inspired by the real life Upper East Side apartment of actress Tammy Grimes
. (Grimes was a personal friend of Mart Crowley.) Most of the patio
scenes were filmed at Grimes' home; the actual apartment interior would not allow for filming, given its size and other technical factors, and so a replica of Grimes' apartment was built on the Chelsea Studios sound stage
, and that is where the interior scenes were filmed.
" performed by Harpers Bizarre
during the opening credits, "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By
" by Marvin Gaye
and Tammi Terrell
, "Funky Broadway" by Wilson Pickett
, "(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave
" by Martha and the Vandellas
, and an instrumental version of Burt Bacharach
's "The Look of Love
".
based on 15 reviews.
Critical reaction was, for the most part, cautiously favorable. Variety
said it "drags" but thought it had "perverse interest." Time
described it as a "humane, moving picture." The Los Angeles Times praised it as "unquestionably a milestone," but refused to run its ads. Among the major critics, Pauline Kael
, who disliked Friedkin, was alone in finding absolutely nothing redeeming about it.
Vincent Canby
of the New York Times observed, "Except for an inevitable monotony that comes from the use of so many close-ups in a confined space, Friedkin's direction is clean and direct, and, under the circumstances, effective. All of the performances are good, and that of Leonard Frey, as Harold, is much better than good. He's excellent without disturbing the ensemble . . . Crowley has a good, minor talent for comedy-of-insult, and for creating enough interest, by way of small character revelations, to maintain minimum suspense. There is something basically unpleasant, however, about a play that seems to have been created in an inspiration of love-hate and that finally does nothing more than exploit its (I assume) sincerely conceived stereotype
s."
In a San Francisco Chronicle
review of a 1999 revival of the film, Edward Guthmann recalled, "By the time Boys was released in 1970 ... it had already earned among gays the stain of Uncle Tom
ism." He called it "a genuine period piece
but one that still has the power to sting. In one sense it's aged surprisingly little — the language and physical gestures of camp are largely the same — but in the attitudes of its characters, and their self-lacerating vision of themselves, it belongs to another time. And that's a good thing."
.
The DVD
, overseen by Friedkin, was released by Paramount Home Entertainment
on November 11, 2008. Additional material includes an audio commentary
; interviews with director Friedkin, playwright/screenwriter Crowley, executive producer Dominick Dunne
, Pulitzer Prize
-winning writer Tony Kushner
, and two of the surviving cast members, Peter White and Laurence Luckinbill; and a retrospective look at both the off Broadway 1968 play and 1970 film.
was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor
. The Producers Guild of America
Laurel Awards honored Gorman
and Frey
as Stars of Tomorrow.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
. The screenplay by Mart Crowley
Mart Crowley
Mart Crowley is an American playwright.Crowley was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. After graduating from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1957, Crowley headed west to Hollywood, where he worked for a number of television production companies before meeting Natalie Wood on...
is based on his Off Broadway play of the same title
The Boys in the Band (play)
The Boys in the Band is a play by Mart Crowley. The off-Broadway production, directed by Robert Moore, opened on April 14, 1968 at Theater Four, where it ran for 1,001 performances, an extremely healthy run for both an off-Broadway production, and one not geared to a mainstream audience...
, Crowley penned a sequel to the play years later entitled The Men From The Boys
The Men From The Boys
The Men From The Boys is a play by Mart Crowley. It was a sequel to the off-Broadway production The Boys in the Band.-Plot:The Men From The Boys takes place in a New York City apartment where friends are in for more than they expected after a memorial for one of their friends.-External reviews:*...
. It is among the first major American motion pictures to revolve around gay characters and is often cited as a milestone in the history of "queer cinema".
The ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
, all of whom also played the roles in the play's initial stage run in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, includes Kenneth Nelson
Kenneth Nelson
Kenneth Nelson was an American actor.Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Nelson appeared in several television series in the late 1940s, Captain Video and His Video Rangers and The Aldrich Family among them...
as Michael, Peter White
Peter White (actor)
Peter White is an American actor.White was born in New York City, New York and studied acting at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. In 1968, White received critical acclaim for his role as Alan McCarthy in off-Broadway's The Boys in the Band. White, and the rest of the original cast, appeared...
as Alan, Leonard Frey
Leonard Frey
- Biography :Frey was born in Brooklyn, New York. After college, where he studied art with designs on being a painter, he studied acting at New York City's prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse under famed acting coach Sanford Meisner, and pursued a career in theater instead...
as Harold, Cliff Gorman
Cliff Gorman
Cliff Gorman was an American stage and screen actor. He won an Obie award in 1968 for the stage presentation of The Boys in the Band, and went on to reprise his role in the 1970 film version....
as Emory, Frederick Combs
Frederick Combs
Frederick Combs was an American film, theater and television actor, playwright and director.Combs is best known for originating the role of Donald in the play The Boys in the Band and then later in the 1970 film of the same name.He performed extensively in theater including Franco Zeffirelli's...
as Donald, Laurence Luckinbill
Laurence Luckinbill
Laurence George Luckinbill is an American actor.-Life and career:Luckinbill was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the son of Agnes and Laurence Benedict Luckinbill. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1956 and The Catholic University of America in 1958.He starred in the 1976 Broadway play...
as Hank, Keith Prentice
Keith Prentice
Keith Prentice was a Dayton, Ohio-born American TV, film and stage actor, whose most famous role was the part of Larry in both the original stage and film versions of The Boys in the Band. Prentice also appeared on the classic TV soap Dark Shadows during the series final months in 1971...
as Larry, Robert La Tourneaux
Robert La Tourneaux
Robert La Tourneaux was an American actor best known for his role of Cowboy, the good-natured but dim hustler hired as a birthday present for a gay man, in the original Off-Broadway production and 1970 film version of The Boys in the Band.-Biography:La Tourneaux made his Broadway theatre debut in...
as Cowboy, and Reuben Greene
Reuben Greene
Reuben Greene is an American film, theater and television actor. Greene, born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, landed the role of Dr...
as Bernard. Model/actress Maud Adams
Maud Adams
Maud Solveig Christina Wikström , known professionally as Maud Adams, is a Swedish actress, known for her roles as two different Bond girls: in The Man with the Golden Gun , and as the title character in Octopussy .-Early life:Adams was born Maud Solveig Christina Wikström in Luleå, Sweden, the...
has a brief cameo appearance as a fashion model in a photo shoot segment in the opening montage of scenes.
Plot
The film is set in an Upper East SideUpper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
apartment in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the late 1960s. Michael (Kenneth Nelson
Kenneth Nelson
Kenneth Nelson was an American actor.Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Nelson appeared in several television series in the late 1940s, Captain Video and His Video Rangers and The Aldrich Family among them...
), a Roman Catholic and recovering alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, is preparing to host a birthday party for his friend Harold. Another of his friends, Donald (Frederick Combs
Frederick Combs
Frederick Combs was an American film, theater and television actor, playwright and director.Combs is best known for originating the role of Donald in the play The Boys in the Band and then later in the 1970 film of the same name.He performed extensively in theater including Franco Zeffirelli's...
), a self-described underachiever who has moved from the city, arrives and helps Michael prepare. Alan (Peter White
Peter White (actor)
Peter White is an American actor.White was born in New York City, New York and studied acting at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. In 1968, White received critical acclaim for his role as Alan McCarthy in off-Broadway's The Boys in the Band. White, and the rest of the original cast, appeared...
), Michael's (presumably straight) old college roommate from Georgetown
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, calls with an urgent need to see Michael. Michael reluctantly agrees and invites him to his home.
One by one, the guests arrive. Emory (Cliff Gorman
Cliff Gorman
Cliff Gorman was an American stage and screen actor. He won an Obie award in 1968 for the stage presentation of The Boys in the Band, and went on to reprise his role in the 1970 film version....
) is a stereotypical flamboyant interior decorator
Interior design
Interior design describes a group of various yet related projects that involve turning an interior space into an effective setting for the range of human activities are to take place there. An interior designer is someone who conducts such projects...
; Hank (Laurence Luckinbill
Laurence Luckinbill
Laurence George Luckinbill is an American actor.-Life and career:Luckinbill was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the son of Agnes and Laurence Benedict Luckinbill. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1956 and The Catholic University of America in 1958.He starred in the 1976 Broadway play...
), a soon-to-be-divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d schoolteacher, and Larry (Keith Prentice
Keith Prentice
Keith Prentice was a Dayton, Ohio-born American TV, film and stage actor, whose most famous role was the part of Larry in both the original stage and film versions of The Boys in the Band. Prentice also appeared on the classic TV soap Dark Shadows during the series final months in 1971...
), a fashion photographer, are a couple, albeit one with monogamy
Monogamy
Monogamy /Gr. μονός+γάμος - one+marriage/ a form of marriage in which an individual has only one spouse at any one time. In current usage monogamy often refers to having one sexual partner irrespective of marriage or reproduction...
issues; and Bernard (Reuben Greene
Reuben Greene
Reuben Greene is an American film, theater and television actor. Greene, born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, landed the role of Dr...
) is an amiable black bookstore clerk. Alan calls again to inform Michael he isn't coming after all, and the party continues in a festive manner. However, Alan does appear unexpectedly and throws the gathering into turmoil.
"Cowboy" (Robert La Tourneaux
Robert La Tourneaux
Robert La Tourneaux was an American actor best known for his role of Cowboy, the good-natured but dim hustler hired as a birthday present for a gay man, in the original Off-Broadway production and 1970 film version of The Boys in the Band.-Biography:La Tourneaux made his Broadway theatre debut in...
) - a male hustler and Emory's "gift" to Harold - arrives. As tensions mount, Alan assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
s Emory and in the ensuing chaos Harold finally makes his grand appearance. Michael begins drinking again. As the guests become more and more intoxicated, the party moves indoors from the patio due to a sudden downpour. Michael, who believes Alan is a closeted
The Closet
The Closet may refer to:* The Closet , Chinese film* The Closet , French film* The closet, referring to undisclosed homosexuality- See also :* Closet* Closet * In the closet...
homosexual, begins a game in which the objective is for each guest to call the one person whom he truly believes he has loved. With each call, past scars and present anxieties are revealed. Michael's plan to "out
Outing
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...
" Alan with the game appears to backfire when Alan calls his wife, not the male college friend Justin Stewart whom Michael had presumed to be Alan's lover. As the party ends and the guests depart, Michael collapses into Donald's arms, sobbing. When he pulls himself together, it appears his life will remain very much the same.
Cast
- Kenneth NelsonKenneth NelsonKenneth Nelson was an American actor.Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Nelson appeared in several television series in the late 1940s, Captain Video and His Video Rangers and The Aldrich Family among them...
as Michael - Leonard FreyLeonard Frey- Biography :Frey was born in Brooklyn, New York. After college, where he studied art with designs on being a painter, he studied acting at New York City's prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse under famed acting coach Sanford Meisner, and pursued a career in theater instead...
as Harold - Cliff GormanCliff GormanCliff Gorman was an American stage and screen actor. He won an Obie award in 1968 for the stage presentation of The Boys in the Band, and went on to reprise his role in the 1970 film version....
as Emory - Laurence LuckinbillLaurence LuckinbillLaurence George Luckinbill is an American actor.-Life and career:Luckinbill was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the son of Agnes and Laurence Benedict Luckinbill. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1956 and The Catholic University of America in 1958.He starred in the 1976 Broadway play...
as Hank - Frederick CombsFrederick CombsFrederick Combs was an American film, theater and television actor, playwright and director.Combs is best known for originating the role of Donald in the play The Boys in the Band and then later in the 1970 film of the same name.He performed extensively in theater including Franco Zeffirelli's...
as Donald - Keith PrenticeKeith PrenticeKeith Prentice was a Dayton, Ohio-born American TV, film and stage actor, whose most famous role was the part of Larry in both the original stage and film versions of The Boys in the Band. Prentice also appeared on the classic TV soap Dark Shadows during the series final months in 1971...
as Larry - Robert La TourneauxRobert La TourneauxRobert La Tourneaux was an American actor best known for his role of Cowboy, the good-natured but dim hustler hired as a birthday present for a gay man, in the original Off-Broadway production and 1970 film version of The Boys in the Band.-Biography:La Tourneaux made his Broadway theatre debut in...
as Cowboy Tex - Reuben GreeneReuben GreeneReuben Greene is an American film, theater and television actor. Greene, born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, landed the role of Dr...
as Bernard - Peter WhitePeter White (actor)Peter White is an American actor.White was born in New York City, New York and studied acting at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. In 1968, White received critical acclaim for his role as Alan McCarthy in off-Broadway's The Boys in the Band. White, and the rest of the original cast, appeared...
as Alan McCarthy - Maud AdamsMaud AdamsMaud Solveig Christina Wikström , known professionally as Maud Adams, is a Swedish actress, known for her roles as two different Bond girls: in The Man with the Golden Gun , and as the title character in Octopussy .-Early life:Adams was born Maud Solveig Christina Wikström in Luleå, Sweden, the...
(uncredited) as Photo model - Elaine KaufmanElaine KaufmanElaine Edna Kaufman was a restaurateur whose Manhattan restaurant Elaine's attracted a following among prominent actors, writers, and other celebrities.-Life and career:...
(uncredited) as Extra/pedestrian
Production
The bar scene in the opening was filmed at JuliusJulius (New York City)
Julius is a tavern in the New York City Greenwich Village neighborhood. It is often called the oldest continuously operating gay bar in New York; however, its management was actively unwilling to operate as such and harassed gay customers until 1966...
in Greenwich Village. Studio shots were at the Chelsea Studios
Chelsea Studios
Chelsea Studios is a television studio and sound stage at 221 West 26th Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.-History:The building was originally an armory that was home to Ninth Mounted Calvary which moved to 14th Street in 1914....
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. According to commentary by Friedkin on the 2008 DVD release, Michael's apartment was inspired by the real life Upper East Side apartment of actress Tammy Grimes
Tammy Grimes
-Early life:Grimes was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Eola Willard , a naturalist and spiritualist, and Nicholas Luther Grimes, an innkeeper, country-club manager, and farmer. She attended high school at the then-all girls school, Beaver Country Day School, in Chestnut Hill,...
. (Grimes was a personal friend of Mart Crowley.) Most of the patio
Patio
A patio is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a residence and is typically paved. It may refer to a roofless inner courtyard of the sort found in Spanish-style dwellings or a paved area between a residence and a garden....
scenes were filmed at Grimes' home; the actual apartment interior would not allow for filming, given its size and other technical factors, and so a replica of Grimes' apartment was built on the Chelsea Studios sound stage
Sound stage
In common usage, a sound stage is a soundproof, hangar-like structure, building, or room, used for the production of theatrical filmmaking and television production, usually located on a secure movie studio property.-Overview:...
, and that is where the interior scenes were filmed.
Soundtrack
Songs featured in the film include "Anything GoesAnything Goes (song)
"Anything Goes" is a popular song written by Cole Porter for his musical Anything Goes . Many of the lyrics feature humorous references to various figures of scandal and gossip in Depression Era high society...
" performed by Harpers Bizarre
Harpers Bizarre
Harpers Bizarre was an American pop-rock band of the 1960s, best known for their Broadway/Sunshine Pop sound and their remake of Simon & Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song ."- Career :...
during the opening credits, "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By
Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By
"Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By" is a duet released in 1969 on the Tamla label by renowned singers Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.The first release off the duo's third album, Easy, it has been hugely debated whether or not an ailing Terrell, who was dying from a brain tumor, was on the track or...
" by Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
and Tammi Terrell
Tammi Terrell
Thomasina Winifred Montgomery, known as Tammi Terrell was an American singer-songwriter most notable for her association with Motown and her duets with Marvin Gaye. As a teenager she recorded for the Scepter–Wand, Try Me and Checker record labels. She signed with Motown in April 1965 and enjoyed...
, "Funky Broadway" by Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett was an American R&B/Soul singer and songwriter.A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100...
, "(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave
(Love is Like a) Heat Wave
" Heat Wave" is a 1963 hit single penned by the Holland–Dozier–Holland songwriting team and made popular by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. It was originally released in July 1963, on the Motown subsidiary label Gordy, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Hot...
" by Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963–1967...
, and an instrumental version of Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
's "The Look of Love
The Look of Love (1967 song)
"The Look of Love" is a popular song composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and sung by Dusty Springfield, which appeared in the 1967 spoof James Bond film Casino Royale.-Songwriters:...
".
Critical reception
The film has a pure 100% rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
based on 15 reviews.
Critical reaction was, for the most part, cautiously favorable. Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
said it "drags" but thought it had "perverse interest." Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
described it as a "humane, moving picture." The Los Angeles Times praised it as "unquestionably a milestone," but refused to run its ads. Among the major critics, Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
, who disliked Friedkin, was alone in finding absolutely nothing redeeming about it.
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of the New York Times observed, "Except for an inevitable monotony that comes from the use of so many close-ups in a confined space, Friedkin's direction is clean and direct, and, under the circumstances, effective. All of the performances are good, and that of Leonard Frey, as Harold, is much better than good. He's excellent without disturbing the ensemble . . . Crowley has a good, minor talent for comedy-of-insult, and for creating enough interest, by way of small character revelations, to maintain minimum suspense. There is something basically unpleasant, however, about a play that seems to have been created in an inspiration of love-hate and that finally does nothing more than exploit its (I assume) sincerely conceived stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s."
In a San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
review of a 1999 revival of the film, Edward Guthmann recalled, "By the time Boys was released in 1970 ... it had already earned among gays the stain of Uncle Tom
Uncle Tom
Uncle Tom is a derogatory term for a person who perceives themselves to be of low status, and is excessively subservient to perceived authority figures; particularly a black person who behaves in a subservient manner to white people....
ism." He called it "a genuine period piece
Period piece
-Setting:In the performing arts, a period piece is a work set in a particular era. This informal term covers all countries, all periods and all genres...
but one that still has the power to sting. In one sense it's aged surprisingly little — the language and physical gestures of camp are largely the same — but in the attitudes of its characters, and their self-lacerating vision of themselves, it belongs to another time. And that's a good thing."
Home media
The Boys in the Band was released on VHS by Fox Home Entertainment on December 6, 1980. It was later released on laserdiscLaserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
.
The DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, overseen by Friedkin, was released by Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment is the division of Paramount Pictures dealing with home video founded in late 1975.-History:...
on November 11, 2008. Additional material includes an audio commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
; interviews with director Friedkin, playwright/screenwriter Crowley, executive producer Dominick Dunne
Dominick Dunne
Dominick John Dunne was an American writer and investigative journalist, whose subjects frequently hinged on the ways in which high society interacts with the judicial system...
, Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
-winning writer Tony Kushner
Tony Kushner
Anthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...
, and two of the surviving cast members, Peter White and Laurence Luckinbill; and a retrospective look at both the off Broadway 1968 play and 1970 film.
Awards and nominations
NelsonKenneth Nelson
Kenneth Nelson was an American actor.Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Nelson appeared in several television series in the late 1940s, Captain Video and His Video Rangers and The Aldrich Family among them...
was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor
Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor
The Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor originated in 1948. Between 1954 and 1965, multiple winners were announced. The category was discontinued following the 1983 ceremonies.-Winners:*1948: Richard Widmark*1950: Richard Todd, Gene Nelson...
. The Producers Guild of America
Producers Guild of America
Producers Guild of America is a trade organization representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 4,700 members of the producing establishment worldwide...
Laurel Awards honored Gorman
Cliff Gorman
Cliff Gorman was an American stage and screen actor. He won an Obie award in 1968 for the stage presentation of The Boys in the Band, and went on to reprise his role in the 1970 film version....
and Frey
Leonard Frey
- Biography :Frey was born in Brooklyn, New York. After college, where he studied art with designs on being a painter, he studied acting at New York City's prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse under famed acting coach Sanford Meisner, and pursued a career in theater instead...
as Stars of Tomorrow.