'Two boys snoggg was revolutnary': the greatt gay moments cema | Film | The Guardian

Contents:

• 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
• GAY DATG UNED KGDOM
• THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED
• THE BT GAY VILLAG IN THE UNED KGDOM FOR FABULO QUEER FUN! ??
• 'TWO BOYS SNOGGG WAS REVOLUTNARY': THE GREATT GAY MOMENTS CEMA

10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS

Weekend (2011)Few untri n rival the UK when to makg great and diverse gay films. This may e as a surprise om a untry where male homosexualy was illegal until as recently as 1967, and where gay marriage ntu to ffle right-wgers, swivel-eyed or otherwise.

Yet spe their often taboo nature, films wh gay characters have been around sce the silent era. We’ve narrowed down the list to films easily available on DVD, although honourable mentn mt go to the über-rare Two Gentlemen Sharg (1969), a swgg slice of the 60s that hted at terracial homosexualy.

Sign up to BFI Flare emailsGet the latt #BFIFlare news and ticket release list should really be a Top 11 – the omissn of Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), the first Brish film to feature a gay kiss, is borrle excable.

GAY DATG UNED KGDOM

Tom Shkolnik’s betifully observed The Comedian (2012), which a possibly gay, possibly bi thirtysomethg (Edward Hogg) tri to make as a standup the pal, also narrowly missed cln. A few d homosexuals n be found  Aled Hchck’s early work (check out the swishy drsmaker 1925’s The Pleasure Garn), while Ivor Novello’s films play up the flamboyant star’s androgyny, playg very odd, allegedly heterosexual men  The Lodger (1926) and The Man whout Dire (1923). But gayt of all remas Borrle, a hotbed of sexual passns set around an terracial love triangle.

The ma tr may be straight, but the mera’s love of Pl Robon’s torso – the film was directed and produced by gay men – hts at an even more taboo love story. One of the first spottgs of the GBF (Gay Bt Friend), a creature maligned and adored equal measure. Although ma at a time when homosexualy was unmentnable on screen, Hale’s gtur and waspish livery clearly the character as not the marryg kd.

Victim (1961)Dirk Bogar, an actor who never acknowledged the mours of his homosexualy durg his lifetime, took a real reer risk playg a lawyer who, followg a strg of blackmail attempts agast gay men, begs to realise his own sexualy. Ma when gay sex was illegal the UK, uld have been a reer-er, but stead saw him progrs om matee idol rol to meatier arthoe fare.

THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED

Victim was released four years after the publitn of the Wolfenn report, a paper which remend that male homosexualy no longer be regard as a crimal offence. It took another 10 years before partial crimalisatn took effect wh the Sexual Offenc act 1967, which allowed homosexual acts, private, between two men over the age of 21 – many feel Basil Dearn’s film helped liberalise attus and pave the way towards tolerance towards gay people. The Leather Boys (1964)The Brish ‘kchen sk’ dramas, foced around workg-class liv, that prevailed the late 50s and early 60s ocsnally ntaed sympathetic gay characters, such as Murray Melv’s stunt  A Taste of Honey (1961) and Cicely Courtneidge’s ageg actor  The L-shaped Room (1962).

A newlywed (Col Campbell) havg marriage problems fds pe through mararie wh a biker gang – and don’t realise that his dynamic and fatly misogynist bt iend (Dudley Sutton) is gay. The last scene, set a gay bar, featur a nga le of unlikable stereotyp, but at least Sutton across more sympathetilly than Ra Thgham, playg Campbell’s shrewish wife. Sebastiane (1976)Few films outsi gay porn feature as much male flh as Sebastiane, the feature but of Derek Jarman (-directed by Pl Hums).

Nighthawks (1978)Bra’s first signifint gay movie ma by a gay director divid dienc. Some praised for s realistic portrayal of a gay teacher unsuccsfully seekg a lovg relatnship the newly sexually liberated clubs of London.

THE BT GAY VILLAG IN THE UNED KGDOM FOR FABULO QUEER FUN! ??

Now Nighthawks n be re-evaluated as an valuable time psule of the late 1970s gay scene, the liberated perd between crimalisatn and the outbreak of AIDS. Ken Robertson is very good as the antihero, pecially the film’s bt scene, when the teacher out to his homophobic class and nonts their prejudic. What uld be more crowd-pleasg than a gay love story between a Pakistani immigrant and an ex-Natnal Front member?

Homosexualy is jt one of the topics vered  Hanif Kureishi’s amb, Osr-nomated screenplay, which also tak on racism, culture clash, and the state of Thatcher’s Bra. Kureishi would explore race and homosexualy aga the TV seri The Buddha of Suburbia (1993). The murr of a gay man triggers an avalanche of trouble for two black pirate rad DJs, one of whom starts a relatnship wh a whe, gay punk.

Betiful Thg (1996)This favoure remas one of the sweett of all gay films, tellg the story of two troubled boys – one bullied at school, the other at home – who fd love each other’s arms. Every gay teen serv a good gay teen film, and the 1990s this was . It’s a super play, but the film jt about tmps , thanks pecially to the performanc – Glen Berry retired om actg, Stt Neal played another gay role  The Bill, while the scene-stealg Lda Henry beme a fixture on Bad Girls and EastEnrs.

'TWO BOYS SNOGGG WAS REVOLUTNARY': THE GREATT GAY MOMENTS CEMA

Few gay-themed films, Brish or otherwise, have ronated wh dienc que as much as Weekend. In a rare moment of sany, wrer Bret Easton Ellis tweeted that “ might be the greatt film about gay men ever ma”.

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