The Boys in the band

Mart Crowley’s landmark (it was the first Hollywood film to feature an entire cast of gay characters) time capsule of the sixties gay scene has dated well, offering an unflinching glimpse at the lives of a group of gay men as they grapple with relationships, aging and internalized homophobia. Adapted by Crowley from his own play (featuring the original stage cast) and directed by William Friedkin, ‘The Boys in the band’ confines its drama to a single, claustrophobic night where a group of friends gather to celebrate the birthday of the wry, razor tongued Harold (Leonard Frey). The party takes a turn for the worse when Michael,(Kenneth Nelson) the party’s host, has an unexpected visitor, an old heterosexual college friend who is struggling with his own sexuality. The booze soaked party soon turns into a night of psychosexual torture, vicious games and brutal confession. Friedkin came under fire at the time (as he would again with 1980’s ‘Cruising’) from various gay activist who deemed the film homophobic and an affront to the affirmation politics that were very much part of the gay scene at the time, singling out lines such as “show me a happy homosexual and I’ll show you a gay corpse”. Cast includes Frederick Combs, Cliff Gorman, Reuben Greene, Laurence Luckinbill, Keith Prentice, Robert La Tourneaux and Peter White.