:
Alvin Baltrop,
Alvin Baltrop,
Barton Benes,
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Joseph F. Lovett,
Joseph F. Lovett
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: Wolfe Video
: Documentary, Political & Social Issues, Gay & Lesbian, Documentary
: 71 min.
: English
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In 1969, the Stonewall riots in New York City sounded the opening bell of the Gay Pride movement in America, and for many gay men it offered an opportunity to come out of the closet and live their lives in the open for the first time. As the gay community sought to define itself, it's not surprising that sex, once furtive and approached with no small amount of fear and shame, suddenly became openly and publicly celebrated and sought after, and in a handful of American cities, the gay scene became the center of a wildly celebratory orgy that lasted until 1981, when the discovery of AIDS led many men to reexamine their sexual habits. Filmmaker Joseph Lovett, himself a gay activist who produced one of the first major investigative stories on AIDS to be broadcast on American television, interviewed a number of men who survived the '70s for his documentary Gay Sex in the '70s, which offers a sometimes witty and sometimes rueful look back at the discos, bathhouses, underground clubs, and gay-friendly resorts which dominated the social and sexual scene of the day, as well as the stories of the men who sought to declare their new identities through sex. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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by talltale
June 11, 2006 - 3:03 PM PDT
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1 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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Of interest mostly to gay audiences (even then, I suspect, only to those over 50 and a few of the younger crowd who might wonder what gay life was like pre-AIDS) and of course to the nitwit "religious right" who revel in seeing how "disgusting" we can be, GAY SEX IN THE 70s is about exactly what its title proclaims. It covers a bit of the pre-Stonewall repression, the explosion of sexuality in the late 60s that continued through the 70s, ending with the resulting wipe-out of so many of the folks we knew and loved.
If I seem to link all this (repression, explosion, AIDS), well, so does the movie--though not in any overly judgmental manner, allowing instead its dozen narrators to tell stories and show pictures, many of which are rather grainy and often repetitive, but still worth the listen and watch: sad, sometimes funny, sexy and lively (until of course, it turns deadly). This short film should become part of world history--even if it is a history of a minority, in a specific country (mostly New York City), at a particular time. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.31)
26 Votes
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