Kiss Me Guido (1997)

Frankie (Nick Scotti) is a young macho, homophobic Italian-American living with his family in the Bronx, New York. He works in a pizza parlor but, inspired by Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, he wants to be an actor. After catching his fiancee cheating on him with his brother, Frankie decides the time has come to move out and pursue his dream. He starts by checking the classifieds for roommate ads. He finds an ad from a "GWM." In classified-speak this stands for "gay white male", but Frankie and his friend Joey (Domenick Lombardozzi) interpret it as "guy with money." The GWM in question is Warren (Anthony Barrile), an actor who's recently broken up with his director boyfriend, and is five months behind in his rent. Frankie and Warren each have some initial misgivings--Frankie over Warren's being gay, Warren over Frankie's being a "Guido" or stereotypical Italian--but Warren lets Frankie move in.

Warren's ex, Dakota (Christopher Lawford), returns and offers Warren a part in his new play. Warren initially accepts but after being injured in an attempted gay bashing, has to withdraw. Frankie has the chance to take his place on stage--but only if he can play a gay man in a kissing scene. Frankie replaces him, but the kissing scene makes him nervous. At the premiere Frankie gives a good performance, although he hesitates on the kiss, leading his scene partner to hiss "Kiss me, Guido!" for an audience that includes his family. His father leaves in disgust, and his mother faints, but they come to understand and accept his decision to become an actor.

This fast moving and entertaining comedy is quite a good movie. The bitchy and witty criticisms of some of the gay characters are a treat, and manage to transcend the stereotypes because of the humor. You have to suspend your disbelief regarding Frankie's incredible naivety and ignorance of the gayness he encounters. In other words, the plot is not very realistic, but it is funny. The soundtrack includes 13 songs, but in the opening credits of my video there is a disclaimer that some of the song titles had been changed. Tony Vitale wrote the screenplay and directed. CBS brought "Kiss Me Guido" to TV in 2001 under the title "Some of My Best Friends". It was not a success and was cancelled after one season.

Licensed To Kill (1997)

Attacked by gay bashers in 1977, filmmaker Arthur Dong probes the hearts and minds of murderers convicted of killing gay men. He interviews them in prison cells and asks them directly: "Why did you do it?" The seven convicted killers are diverse in race, sexuality, sexual experiences, and abuse. Additionally, there is a range of feelings about the crimes. One person says, "I regret it." Another says, "At least this created a hate crimes law in my state." But one murderer basically says, "So what?" One man says, "Is it better to rob a convenience store for $20 and get caught or to rob a homosexual for hundreds of dollars knowing that he won't go to the police?" The most popular reason was that "God told me to". Many of the interviewees purposely targeted gay men. Some claimed to be harassed, but using the victims' credit cards contradicts that claim.

An important problem is misinterpretation or misunderstanding. In many instances gay men mistook straight men's friendliness for flirtation and paid for it with their lives. Some killers showed no remorse whatsoever while others felt completely disconnected from their crime. Most of them hate homosexuals and this they claim gives them a license to kill. These inmates include a wide range of distinct profiles: a young man who claims he justifiably killed as protection from his victim's sexual advances--a defense known as "homosexual panic"; a self-loathing, religious gay man who killed because of his own homosexual tendencies; a victim of child abuse who feared losing his manhood; an army sergeant angry over the gays in the military debate; and a self-described homeboy looking for easy prey. The film ends by covering each interviewee's sentence and the sentences are long.

The central theme of this documentary is in the title and the criminals rationalize why they believed it was OK to kill gay men. This film provides interesting insights into the motivations for sexual orientation crimes, and shows just how deep and fierce anti-gay sentiment is. Miriam Cutler composed the incidental music, and Arthur Dong wrote the script and directed.