Cruising (1980)

Straight cop Steve Burns (Al Pacino) goes undercover to solve the serial killing of gays in NYC's S & M and leather clubs in the 1970's. Body parts of gay men are showing up in the Hudson River. Burns has to learn the complex rules and signals of this subculture to find the killer. He rents an apartment in the Meatpacking District of the West Village and befriends a neighbour, Ted Bailey (Don Scardino), a young gay man. His undercover work takes a toll on his relationship with his girlfriend Nancy (Karen Allen) and leads him to question his own sexual orientation. Burns mistakingly leads the police to investigate waiter Skip Lee (Jay Acovone), who is forced to strip and masturbate in front of detectives to provide them with a semen sample. Burns is disturbed by this, and believes that the police are motivated by homophobia. Outraged, he almost quits his job. However, his boss (Paul Sorvino) convinces him to continue the investigations. Near the end of the film Burns thinks he has found the serial killer, a gay music student, who attacks him with a knife in Morningside Park. Burns brings the man into custody. Soon afterwards, the severely mutilated body of another gay victim, Ted Bailey, the neighbour of Burns, is found and the case remains unsolved. In the ambiguous finale, Nancy tries on Burns' leather cap and he wipes off his make-up and looks directly at the camera.

When first released, "Cruising" was universally reviled by gays, critics, and the viewing audience. In fact, throughout the summer of 1979 members of NYC's gay community protested the production of the film. Gays were urged to disrupt filming, and gay-owned businesses to bar the filmmakers from their premises. People attempted to interfere with shooting by pointing mirrors from rooftops to ruin lighting for scenes, blasting whistles and air horns near locations, and playing loud music. One thousand protesters marched through the East Village demanding the city withdraw support for the film. Now "Cruising" is considered one of director William Friedkin's best films. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by New York Times reporter Gerald Walker.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Al Pacino turns in a tour-de-force performance as a family man who plans a Brooklyn bank robbery to pay for his gay lover's sex-change operation. Pacino plays John "Sonny" Wortzik, and the film is based on a real-life story. The heist goes horribly wrong, placing Wortzik in a highly publicized situation that makes him a media hero. With his partner Salvatore "Sal" Naturile (John Cazale), he holds the employees of a Brooklyn bank hostage the day after his pre-operative transgendered lover was committed to a psychiatric hospital following a suicide attempt. Detective Eugene Moretti (Charles Durning) calls the bank to tell Sonny that the police have arrived. Sonny warns that he and Sal will kill the hostages if anyone tries to come into the bank. After realizing they cannot make a getaway, Sonny demands transportation: a jet to take them out of the country. His male "wife" Leon Schermer (Chris Sarandon) arrives and reveals that Sonny is robbing the bank to pay for Leon's sex change surgery and that he also has a legal wife, Angie, and children. After more attempts to have Sonny surrender, he is taken in a limousine to the airport. Sal is killed, Sonny is arrested, and the film ends with Sonny watching Sal's body being taken from the limo on a stretcher.

Based on the events of a real bank robbery that took place on August 22, 1972, this film was inspired by P.F. Kluge's article "The Boys in the Bank", which tells a similar story of the robbery of a Brooklyn bank by John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile. The title refers to the "dog days of summer". Sidney Lumet directed.

Faustrecht der Freiheit (1975)

Franz "Fox" Bieberkopf (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) is a naive working-class gay who is in a jam when his lover Klaus (Karl Scheydt) is arrested for tax fraud and the police close their carnival booth. To get money, Fox picks up Max (Karlheinz Böhm) and extorts ten marks from him to buy lottery tickets. The next day he wins a lottery for 500,000 marks. At Max's home, Fox meets his bourgeois gay friends. He spends the night with sophisticated Eugen Thiess (Peter Chatel), a man already in a gay relationship. The next morning the boyfriend finds out. Eugen then takes over his father's printing company, and hires only homosexuals. Fox and Eugen go to a gay bar and then to a restaurant, where they meet Eugen's two other friends. Eugen then gives Fox a tour of his new factory. Later, Fox goes to a gay spa and talks to Max, who suggests investing in Eugen's company. Fox takes out 100,000 marks and gives them to Eugen. They go to the factory and tell Eugen's father Wolf (Adrian Hoven).

Eugen gets evicted from his flat for moral reasons (two men living together) and suggests that Fox buy his own flat. They visit one and Fox buys it, then buys furniture from Max for 80,000 marks. They go clothes shopping at Eugen's ex-boyfriend, and again Fox pays for it all. Later, they have lunch at Eugen's parents' and Fox displays no table manners. He then signs a contract for the 100,000 mark loan. Fox and Eugen go to the gay bar, and find Klaus has been released from prison. Fox lends him 30,000 marks, and Eugen is jealous. At the flat, they have a party and the ex-boyfriend whispers to Max that he might be living there soon. They go on holiday to Marrakech, Morocco. Fox pays for it. They pick up a male prostitute (El Hedi ben Salem) but he is not allowed in their hotel because he is an Arab. The hotel assistant says they have male escorts specially for the hotel.

They return from the holiday to a bankrupt company. The workers cannot be paid. Fox suggests giving his flat to Eugen, so the bank lets him take a loan to pay his workers. Eugen goes to the opera with Max, leaving Fox alone. Fox goes to the gay bar, throws a fit, gives 500 marks to the florist and runs off. The next day at the factory Fox makes a mistake with some imprints, and Wolf tells him off. Later, they all have dinner together. Fox goes to a pub and propositions two American soldiers, but nothing happens. He drives to the gay bar, the florist hits on him, Fox slaps him, then has a minor heart attack. Back at the flat, he tells Eugen about the attack but his lover doesn't seem to care. The next day he visits a doctor, who gives him medication.

Fox breaks up with Eugen, who says he is taking the flat to make up for the bungled imprints (costing 150,000 marks). At the factory the next day, he is told that the 100,000 marks from the contract was paid back in his monthly salary, he didn't have to work. Later he goes to the flat but Eugen's ex-boyfriend is there and won't let him in. He then visits his sister Hedwig (Christiane Maybach), they have an argument and he sleeps in his car. The next day he sells his new car for only 8,000 marks. Later in the gay bar, Fox sees the American soldiers and they ask him how much he pays. He starts sobbing. Finally, he is shown lying on the floor in the underground, dead from an overdose of pills. Two young boys steal his money and watch. Max and Klaus see him, but leave when they see he is dead because they do not want to be involved.

The German title of the film means "First Right of Freedom", although the English title is "Fox and His Friends". This melodramatic film is one of director Fassbinder's most accessible: the story and performances are direct, and the look of the film is polished and inviting. Yet it is also a powerful movie, dealing with some of Fassbinder's central themes such as the search for love, and exploitation in its many forms. Peer Raben composed the original music. The script was written by Chrisian Hohoff and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who also directed.

Hamam (1997)

"Hamam" is about Francesco (Allesandro Gassman), a designer in Rome unhappily married to Marta (Francesca d'Aloja). He goes to Instanbul where he has inherited a derelict Hamam, a Turkish bath house, from his aunt Anita. Francesco's life and the Hamam become one when he renovates it. As the film’s tagline indicates, "What he inherited was a sexual awakening". Something inside him brings out his love for life in Istanbul and his desire to have gay sex with Mehmet (Mehmet Günsur), and soon they become lovers. Marta arrives in Istanbul to get a divorce from Francesco but is taken aback when she sees how much Francesco has changed. She falls in love with him again, and their divorce is no longer important to her. Francesco's unwillingness to sell the property has made him some enemies, resulting in his murder one day. Marta decides to stay in Istanbul and run the hamam, the final scene suggesting she has turned into a second Anita. This great Italian/Turkish/Spanish movie has some unexpected twists and turns, some stunning scenery, and excellent acting. It features music by Aldo De Scalzi. Ferzan Özpetek wrote the screenplay and directed. The Italian title is "Il Bagno Turco" and the English title is "Steam: The Turkish Bath".

Beefcake (1999)

"Beefcake" is a semi-documentary about the physique models in L.A. in the 1950's. It's not listed in any of my movie review books, but the video cover claims it's about the underground physique culture, a photographer ahead of his time, and the struggle for first amendment rights. The cover is deliberately misleading, calling the film a comedy and other things it is not, merely to sell the product. "Beefcake" was inspired by F. Valentine Hooven III's 1996 book "Beefcake: The Muscle Magazines of America, 1950-1970". It is fascinating to see the vintage photos and films of muscular young men in posing straps and also fully nude. Joe Dallesandro ("Little Joe never gave it away"--Lou Reed), Jim Lassiter, and other former models recount their fond memories of the era. Most were heterosexual bodybuilders who believed they were physical fitness role models for the youth of America. Fitness guru Jack Lalanne is also interviewed. One of the problems with this film is that it mixes genres. About 10% is documentary, 15% is interviews, 20% is historical re-creation, but most is fiction. The poorly focused mixture of biography, fantasy, and history doesn't work. The story is based on the rise and fall of photographer Bob Mizer (Daniel MacIvor) and his magazine "Physique Pictorial"--the first male physique periodical. He seems naive and oblivious of the fact that his photos were bought primarily by homosexual men. Basically "Beefcake" sugarcoats and reinvents Mizer. The movie is somewhat campy and kitschy, but "Gay" did not exist then, and is not mentioned in the film. Thom Fitzgerald wrote the script and directed.

The Celluloid Closet (1995)

"The Celluloid Closet" is a funny and informative look at the depiction of homosexuality in Hollywood movies, based on Vito Russo's 1981 book of the same name. Russo researched the history of how motion pictures, especially Hollywood films, had portrayed gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters. Lily Tomlin narrates this documentary of the history of gays in film, from negative to positive reflections of gay characters. It's a chronological assortment of over 100 movie clips from the turn of the century to the silents, to the effeminate caricatures of the 1930s, to the flamboyant homosexual portrayals of the 1950s and '60s, to the violently deviant homosexual of the '70s and '80s, and concluding with the clean image of recent times. "Sissies" appeared early in Hollywood as stock characters for comic relief. Harvey Fierstein says "I like the sissies", as homosexuals needed "exposure at any cost". Lily Tomlin says, "The sissy made everyone feel more manly or more womanly by filling the space in between." However, showing gays as comic figures, perverts, villains, or AIDS victims, cinema has historically destroyed gay self-esteem and promoted homophobia. Arthur Laurents says, "You must pay. You must suffer. If you're a woman who has another woman you better go hang yourself. It's a question of degree and certainly if you're gay, you have to do real penance--die!" Among the films featured are "Spartacus", "The Boys in the Band", "The Children's Hour", "Philadelphia", "Tea and Sympathy" and many others. Harvey Fierstein, Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Shirley MacLaine, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Curtis, Gore Vidal and others comment on the films.

The script was written by Rob Epstein, based on Vito Russo's book. Russo wanted his book made into a documentary film and helped out on the project until he died in 1990. Some critics of the documentary noted that it was less political than the book and ended on a more positive note. But Russo wanted the documentary to be entertaining and reflect the positive changes in films. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman directed.

Las Cosas del Querer (2000)

After the Spanish Civil War in 1940's Madrid, Juan (Angel de Andres Lopez) plays piano for Pepita (Mary Carmen Ramírez) and her on-stage partner gay singer and dancer Mario (Manuel Bandera), who also owns the nightclub. Although Mario really wants to steal Juan for himself, Juan is not interested and Mario resorts to a string of lovers as consolation. Dora (Angela Molina) auditions for a job with Mario. Juan is in love with Dora (they met previosly during an air raid) despite her unchanged habit of going out with as many men as possible. The two of them are also friends with Mario, who also goes out with as many men as possible. There is a nobleman whose attentions Mario at first entertains, loves, then leaves. The nobleman is devastated, and his mother vows revenge on Mario for breaking her son's heart. Ultimately the conservative and intolerant society forces Mario into exile. Basically "Las Cosas del Querer" is a drama about how musical performers during the Spanish post-Civil War era suffered political and sexual persecution. Music was composed by Gregorio García Segura. Dialogue was written by Fernando Colomo and Jaime Chávarri, who also directed. In Spanish with English subtitles, the English title is "The Affairs of Love" or "The Things of Love".

東宮西宮 (1996)

"Dong Gong Xi Gong" is a Chinese movie about gay writer A Lan (Si Han) who is attracted to young cop Xiao Shi (Hu Jun) in a park, gives him a kiss on the cheek and jogs off, looking seductively over his shoulder. The cop returns a few days later, this time out of uniform, wearing a leather jacket, and brings A Lan back to the empty police station where a nightlong interrogation ensues. Is the cop looking for a confession or a turn-on? He becomes fascinated with his young prisoner who goads him to behave ever more brutally. However much he tries to suppress it, the cop seems attracted to the writer. A Lan tells his life story about repression in Chinese society. In China, homosexuality isn't illegal, but homosexuals are routinely persecuted by police and arrested for "hooliganism". The film's title is Chinese slang for the notorious bathrooms located in Bejing near the Forbidden City--the East Palace and the West Palace. The two parks are favorite haunts of Beijing gays at night. Billed as the first mainland Chinese drama to deal openly with the subject of homosexuality, a subject considered taboo in Chinese cinema, it was shot in 1996, then smuggled out of China for post-production in France. It premiered at the Mar del Plata Film Festival in Argentina in November 1996 and at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival as part of the "Un Certain Regard" competition.The film angered Chinese censors and this resulted in authorities confiscating director Zhang Yuan's passport shortly after his return from Hong Kong on April 10, 1997, thereby preventing him from attending the Cannes Film Festival. Zhang Yuan wrote the screenplay with Wang Xiaobo. The English title is "East Palace, West Palace", or "Behind the Forbidden City", or "Behind the Palace Gates".

Brother to Brother (2004)

Art student Perry Williams (Anthony Mackie) is an 18-year-old man dealing with being both black and gay in contemporary NYC. He is shunned by his father for his sexual identity and wary of being viewed as a sell-out by blacks when his art gains a white audience. Perry studies at Columbia University, works at a homeless shelter and wants to be an artist. He writes his thoughts in a diary and tells them to his friend Marcus (Larry Gilliard Jr.), a sympathetic straight man who can't give Perry either the love or answers he desires. Perry reads a book on the Harlem Renaissance, the artistic, literary and intellectual movement that blazed through the 1920s and 30s, centered north of 110th Street in NYC. Entranced by a short story in the collection called "Smoke, Lilies and Jade," an open exploration of gay desire, Perry embarks on an adventure with the help of homeless poet Bruce Nugent (Roger Robinson), who was involved in the Harlem Renaissance. Perry suddenly finds himself transported back in time and cavorting with the likes of Langston Hughes (Daniel Sunjata), Wallace Thurman (Ray Ford), and Zora Neale Hurston (Aunjanue Ellis). Perry discovers the homophobia and racism he faces in the early 21st century closely parallel Bruce's in his emotional and psychological journey. Jim (Alex Burns), a white student who's curious about the gay lifestyle, remarks to Perry, "You have the sweetest black ass I have ever seen." He has a disappointing relationship with a handsome white lover. This sensitive and introspective drama's treatment of the fine line separating racism and respect make it worth watching. Original music is by Barney McAll, Marc Anthony Thompson, and Dave Warrin. Rodney Evans wrote the script and directed.

御法度 (1999)

"Gohatto" is a Japanese film about a gay samurai. It shows life in a samurai training school during the bakumatsu period, the end of the samurai era in the mid-19th century, and concentrates on homosexuality in the shudō tradition. The movie follows Sozaburo Kano (Ryuhei Matsuda) as he joins the Shinsengumi, an elite samurai feudal police force led by Kondo Isami (Yoichi Sai) that seeks to defend the shogunate against reformist forces. Kano's beauty and sword skill captivate the men around him, from the other new recruits to the top ranking officers. Suddenly people begin to die, murdered in the night. The plot is minimal, and the conflicts come out during training sessions that expose the homosexual nature of a number of the students. Stern leader Toshizo Hijikata (Takeshi Kitano) can intervene or let the samurais in question go on their own paths. His Shakespearian-inspired soliloquy at the end of the film is a high point. The ending leaves you with unanswered questions.

Like many Japanese films, "Gohatto" is deliberately slow, allowing the characters to unfold gradually before our eyes. The film’s only gay sex scene is disappointingly short and unrealistic. Swordplay is also disappointing, with fights of sparring in training using wooden swords, and combat scenes that are over in seconds. Ryuhei Matsuda is good as the effeminate, withdrawn, and complex Kano. The rest of the cast are also competent, in particular Shinji Takeda as gay Soji Okita. Ryotaro Shiba wrote the screenplay and Nagisa Oshima directed. The English title is "Taboo".

Presque Rien (2000)

This film depicts a stormy romance between two 18-year-olds and what remains of their relationship eighteen months later. Mathieu (Jérémie Elkaïm) is spending his summer vacation at the sea in Brittany before starting college in the fall to become an architect. His younger brother just died from cancer and he cannot get along with his snobbish younger sister. Then he meets Cedric (Stéphane Rideau) at the beach, who is attractive and obviously looking for a boyfriend. The boys begin a steamy affair, and this is shown realistically. Eighteen months later, Mathieu is recovering from the shock of their separation, presumably caused by incompatibility. He attempts suicide, and his psychiatrist sends him back to the small seaside town to learn how to deal with what happened. The film ends when Mathieu meets Pierre (Nils Ohlund), another former boyfriend of Cedric’s, and he feels he has found someone who understands him.

There is no clear chronological narrative as the film switches between the summer and the winter scenes, depicting and contrasting the differences in Mathieu's life at one time and the other. "Presque Rien" means "Almost Nothing", which is the UK release title. The American title is "Come Undone". Songs by Perry Blake from his album "Still Life" are featured on the soundtrack. The screenplay is by Stéphane Bouquet and Sébastien Lifshitz, who also directed. In French, with English subtitles.

Stonewall (1995)

The birth of the gay rights movement is re-created in this fictional drama based loosely on the book of the same name by Martin Duberman. In 1969, Matty Dean (Fred Weller) arrives in NYC's Greenwich Village hoping that life there will provide sexual liberation. Matty falls in love with La Miranda (Guillermo Diaz), a drag queen who introduces him to the regulars at the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar. He is shocked to learn that the NYPD regularly raids the Stonewall, harassing the clientele and closeted owner Vinnie (Bruce MacVitte). After a raid, Matty ends up in jail, where he's attracted to Ethan (Brendan Corbalis), a gay activist preaching a moderate policy of conformity and peaceful protest. They are bailed out by Bostonia (Duane Boutte), the African-American "mother" of the family of queens who hang out at the Stonewall. Bostonia is the secret lover of Vinnie. At a Mattachine meeting Matty is disgusted by the guest speaker, a psychiatrist who explains that homosexuality is a disease, and leaves. Peaceful protest becomes impossible when police storm the Stonewall yet again. As Bostonia is led out, the arresting officer says "Poor little faggot don't know whether to kill me or kiss me." Bostonia smashes him in the face, saying "I guess I made up my mind." Led by Bostonia, enraged drag queens fight back in a riot of historical significance, the beginning of the gay world's militant movement for equal rights. The soundtrack features a dozen pop songs, and Michael Kamen composed the original music. Rikki Beadle Blair wrote the screenplay, based on the memoir by Martin Duberman. Nigel Finch directed.

Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971)

"Fortune and Men's Eyes" is a Canadian movie based on John Herbert's Broadway stage play with Sal Mineo in the lead. Smitty (Wendell Burton) goes to prison for six months for marijuana use. While there he encounters the violence done by men to one another, especially to young, unprotected men like himself. He's assigned a cell with Queenie (Michael Greer), a drag queen, Rocky (Zooey Hall), a quiet but cocky con, and Mona (Danny Freedman), a young gay man who ministers to Rocky. Smitty watches in horror as gangs of inmates brutalize prisoners who lack protection, and eventually becomes prison leader. This is an earnest prison drama with some amusement provided by its treatment of prison homosexuality. Michael Greer's performance as the extremely flamboyant and effeminate "Queenie" is noteworthy. While this film has strong language and some nudity, sexual situations are handled discreetly. This film is rare, very difficult to find, so don't waste your time. The screenplay was written by John Herbert, based on his play, and Harvey Hart directed.

Edward II (1991)

"Edward II" is a biography based on Christopher Marlowe's play about Britain's only acknowledged gay monarch (1307-1327), whose preference for his male lover over his queen created conflict with his barons and eventually led to civil war. This is one of gay director Derek Jarman's last films. He keeps the language but takes the story out of its 14th-century timeframe, fills it with anachronisms, presents it with minimal sets against a black background, and turns it into a angry rant against the homophobia of the Thatcher-era England of the 1980s and early ‘90s. Though Marlowe wrote a gay subtext into his play, Jarman moves it up front: Edward is gay, he gives too much power to his gay lover, and they both have to be destroyed. The love between Edward (Steven Waddington) and Piers Gaveston (Andrew Tiernan) is passionate. The two engage in sex surrounded by other gay guys getting it on. When Gaveston is banished, Jarman brings in Annie Lennox to sing "Every Time We Say Goodbye" as Edward and Gaveston dance one last time. Edward has an ugly death that involves a red hot poker up his... Written by Ken Butler and Derek Jarman, who also directed.

Queer as Folk (1999-2000) (2000-05)

"Queer as Folk" is the name of 2 TV series, one British and one American. The title refers to two references. In some parts of Northern England, there's a saying, "there's nought so queer as folk", meaning "there's nothing as strange as people". It's also a variation on "Queer as Fuck", which the UK's Channel 4 TV Corporation had originally called it, before changing it to its more polite form.

The original English TV version (1999) chronicles the lives of three gay men living in Manchester's gay village around Canal Street. The main characters are Stuart Alan Jones (Aidan Gillen), who is very sexually active; his long-time friend Vince Tyler (Craig Kelly), who has a crush on Stuart and less luck with men; and 15-year-old Nathan Maloney (Charlie Hunnam), who is new to the gay scene but is quite confident. Some of the minor supporting characters, such as Hazel Tyler (Denise Black) and Alexander Perry (Antony Cotton), are given depth as well. Part of the success of the series is due to the way the writer deliberately leaves some things unsaid, allowing the story to continue around them. In the "second series", the tone becomes more serious, with each of the main characters having to make hard choices concerning their futures. The producers said that "Queer as Folk", although a realistic depiction of gay urban life in the 1990s, is meant as a fantasy, and Stuart, Vince, and Nathan are gay male archetypes. Writer Russel T. Davies intended to write a full second series, but decided there was not much story left to tell, and finished the series with a two-part TV special, "Queer as Folk 2", screened in 2000. This time the explicit sex scenes were mostly absent. Many fans of the series criticised the ending for the unanswered questions it left and the lack of a proper conclusion. Incidental music and the theme tune were composed by Murray Gold. Both "Queer as Folk" and "Queer as Folk 2" were written by Russell T. Davies. Sarah Harding and Charles McDougall directed.

Showtime's American version follows the lives of five gay men in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Brian Kinney (Gale Harold), Justin Taylor (Randy Harrison), Michael Novotny (Hal Sparks), Emmett Honeycutt (Peter Piage), and Ted Schmidt (Scott Lowell). A lesbian couple, Lindsay Peterson (Thea Gill) and Melanie Marcus (Michelle Clunie), and Michael's mother Debbie Novotny (Sharon Gless) are also featured. Another main character, Professor Ben Bruckner (Robert Gant), was added in the second season. The show is noted for its frank depiction of gay life, as well as its vivid sex scenes. The series is a compelling, honest look at gay life, but Lone Wolf doesn't think much of it. I have tons of it on video and only watched the first few episodes. My vague recollection is the first episode was good, but it was all down hill after that. With a collection of thousands of videos I don't waste my time on the boring or mediocre. However, many people enjoy the series. Doug Guinan and Richard Kramer wrote the scripts. Michael DeCarlo and John Fawcett directed.

Daddy and the Muscle Academy (1991)

Touko Laaksonen (1920-1991) better known as gay artist Tom of Finland is the subject of this sexy documentary. His drawings have had a profound influence on gay identity. He alone masculinized homosexuality and basically invented the gay S & M and leather scenes. Life imitating art. Unfortunately, we learn in the film that these leather fetish scenes are derived from the Nazi occupation of Finland. That's what inspired Tom of Finland: fucking Nazis!

The erotic treatment of men in Nazi uniforms form only a small part of Tom's overall work, but the typically flattering visual treatment of these characters has led some to infer sympathy for Nazism, and they have been omitted from most recent anthologies of his work. Later in his career Tom disavowed this art and tried to disassociate himself and his work from fascist or racist ideologies.

Taking inspiration from his World War II army days, 1950s American bodybuilding magazines and biker movies, Tom's drawings of uniformed and leather-clad beefcake have become a permanent fixture of 20th century iconography. Tom expanded his pantheon of rugged physical types to include the sailor, biker, policeman, prison guard, lumberjack, and the labourer. Completed shortly before his death in 1991, this definitive documentary of the man and the artist combines interviews with Tom himself, some biography, commentary from his "leather men", hundreds of original drawings, and erotic video fantasy scenes inspired by his work.

Often called ”the master of pencil”, over the course of four decades he produced 3,500 drawings, mostly featuring men with exaggerated sex traits: heavily muscled torsos, limbs, and buttocks, with gigantic cocks. Tight or partially removed clothing showed off these features, with cocks often visible as enormous bulges in tight trousers or prominently displayed for the viewer. He chose to construct the gay male body as a square-jawed, scruffy and stubbled, hyper-masculine mass of bulging muscles with narrow waist and broad shoulders. His drawings frequently feature two or more men either immediately preceding or during explicit sexual activity.

We are treated to hundreds of vivid portraits of male models, ranging from "Drummer Daddies" to fellow artists. Tom's sketches and paintings are grouped by subject matter, with emphasis on various forms of fetishism. The film includes interviews with Tom, the artist's models, associates, intimates, and his leather men acolytes. For Lone Wolf it is interesting to hear Tom's deep gruff voice, and also to learn about his "photorealism" technique. He took photographs of models, then drew from the photos. That's how photorealism is accomplished.

Although his drawings are based on photographs, none are exact reproductions of them. The photographic inspiration is used to create lifelike images with convincing postures and gestures, but he exaggerates features and presents his ideal of masculine beauty by combining realism with fantasy. This is explained in some detail and includes examples of photographs and the drawings based upon them side by side.

Most of the interview is shot in Tom's studio, with the film arranged into segments focusing on themes of his art: depiction of black men and women, technique, use of models, and leather as his muse. "I put on a special outfit," he explains, "if I need to be inspired." By interviewing Isaac Julien who talks about Tom's appreciation of black men, this film tries to be racially diverse. Although his drawings of blacks are similar to racist caricatures of the "hypersexual" black male, these traits are shared by Tom's white characters as well. In one scene Tom is on stage at a huge gay leather convention in the USA and is treated as royalty or a god with a thunderous standing ovation.

This hour long Finnish arthouse documentary is a fascinating look at one of the major icons of the gay world. The New York Daily News called him, ”The Picasso of gay male erotica”. His leather "look" has declined among gay men since the mid-1980s, but continues as a major gay theme. There is a debate over his depiction of "supermen" characters with huge cocks and muscular physiques. Is it cheap and vulgar or is there a deeper complexity which plays with and subverts those stereotypes? I think his art is first-rate, original, and sexy! You will be moved by Tom's integrity and skill in realizing his fantasies with art. Tom is interviewed in Finnish, with English subtitles. Written and directed by Ilppo Pohjola.

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