The Boys in the Band [Blu-ray]

Director: William Friedkin William Friedkin

Overview

"The Boys in the Band is not a musical" read the film's original advertisements. The film is set in the apartment of Michael (Kenneth Nelson), a homosexual who holds a birthday party for his friend Harold (Leonard Frey). As Michael and his gay buddies prepare for Harold's arrival, Michael's old college chum Alan (Peter White) makes a surprise appearance. Alan is straight, so Michael tells the revellers to watch their step. Alan's uptight reaction to gay Emory (Cliff Gorman) foments a confrontation. The embittered Michael tries to prove that Alan is a latent homosexual by staging a perverse game in which all the partygoers are required to declare their affections for the persons that they love the most. As it turns out, the person most injured by this game is Michael himself, who is incapable of loving anyone. As the first major-studio production to deal frankly with homosexuality, every member of the show's original Broadway cast appears in the film, including Laurence Luckinbill as an out-of-the-closet husband and father.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/16/2015
UPC:	0738329176525
Original Release:	1970
Rating:	R
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:59:00

Special Features

Audio commentary by director William Friedkin; ACT One: The Play - featurette; ACT Two: The Film - featurette; ACT Three: 40 years of 'Boys in the Band' - featurette

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Kenneth Nelson	Michael
Cliff Gorman	Emory
Leonard Frey	Harold
Frederick Combs	Donald
Reuben Greene	Bernard
Robert La Tourneaux	Cowboy
Laurence Luckinbill	Hank
Keith Prentice	Larry
Peter White	Alan McCarthy
Murray Melvin	Alphonse
Frederick Combes	Actor

Technical Credits

Mart Crowley

Mart Crowley	Producer,Screenwriter
Dominick Dunne	Executive Producer,Producer
William Friedkin	Director
Robert Jiras	Executive Producer,Producer
Jack C. Jacobsen	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

This adaptation of Mart Crowley's stage play about a group of gay friends gathering for a birthday party seems quite dated now, but its wickedly clever dialogue and near-perfect pacing make it extremely entertaining. Although the literal translation from the stage results in somewhat static visuals, the ensemble cast is marvelous, particularly Cliff Gorman as the campy Emory and Leonard Frey as the snide Harold. One can forgive the film's concluding slide into self-loathing bathos as a product of its time, mainly because the rest of it is so witty and appealing, although claims that this is the gay Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are not exaggerated. It's not a "feel-good" movie by any stretch, but it is perversely hilarious and quite a lot of shrewish fun.

All Movie Guide - Robert Firsching