Potent Quotables: Jack Twist on Commitment Issues

That exchange is from, of course, Brokeback Mountain, spoken by Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar and Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist. (Click on picture to enlarge.)

And if that landmark film is something you yourself can't quit, then you too may be a "Brokie".

Click here to purchase Brokeback Mountainon DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com and SFBayTimes.com.

Cinematic Crush: Jake Gyllenhaal

With his boy-next-door looks and easygoing nature, it is no wonder that Jake Gyllenhaal has topped many a list of our favorites. Moreover, he would likely be number one with us even without the help of Jack Twist.

Gyllenhaal's film debut at age eleven as Billy Crystal's son in City Slickers didn't exactly show signs of his future greatness; it was his breakthrough role in the inspirational October Sky that marked him as one to watch, and we were rewarded with his brilliantly messed up Donnie Darko for doing so. (Darko also introduced us to Jake's equally talented sister, Maggie.) He went on to nail his alienated youth roles in The Good Girl, Moonlight Mile and even Bubble Boy, plus The Day After Tomorrow, a rare foray into special effects-laden blockbusters.

But 2005 was Gyllenhaal's year. He was great as a math geek in Proof and as a hard-boiled marine in Jarhead. Then he took a trip to Brokeback Mountain. His Jack was the free-spirited optimist trapped in a world that could never understand him. Gyllenhaal's powerful, tragic performance earned him his first Academy Award nomination, a slew of other awards, and a permanent spot in the ranks of the great actors of his generation.

Recent roles in the serial killer thriller Zodiac and the upcoming terrorism drama Rendition have further proved his right to be there.

Links via Imdb.com, AfterElton.com and EW.com.

Full Frontal Theater

Ever since the nude wrestling match between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed in Women in Love, we have had the occasional opportunity to see celebrity penises out in the open for all to enjoy.

These often fleeting, forever frustrating glimpses of gratuitous male nudity range from the dramatically necessary (Geoffrey Rush in Quills, Peter Sarsgaard in Kinsey) to the outrageously hilarious (M.C. Gainey in Sideways, Ken Davitian in Borat), from the famous (Richard Gere in American Gigolo, Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game) to the infamous (Vincent Gallo in The Brown Bunny, the entire cast of Shortbus), even from the animated (Bart Simpson in The Simpsons Movie) to the prosthetic (Mark "Dirk Diggler" Wahlberg in Boogie Nights).

And it doesn't seem to matter whether you are an established name actor (Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris, Kevin Bacon in Wild Things, Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain) or a rising star (Christopher Atkins in The Blue Lagoon, Viggo Mortensen in The Indian Runner, Daniel Craig in Love is the Devil) or even an actual male (Felicity Huffman in Transamerica): they have all dropped trou for our viewing pleasure.

Knowing full well that "art house" stands for "soft core", we have sat through many a pretentious pic from foreign lands (A Room With a View, Total Eclipse, Y tu Mamá También, The Dreamers) to get a peek at "the full monty" (which reminds me: The Full Monty).

Where else but in "the cinema" can we get our fill of the private parts of Ewan McGregor (The Pillow Book, Velvet Goldmine) and Harvey Keitel (Bad Lieutenant, The Piano) on ample (or maybe, not so ample ...) display?

Well, thanks to the wonders of the internet, fuzzy screen shots of all of the above and more (minus the disapproving glare of Saint Joan) are just an unrestricted 'Google' away ... or is that 'Ogle'?

OutFest Picks 25 Life-Changing Films

In honor of their 25th anniversary, OutFest has selected 25 GLBT movies that "changed our lives" in the past 25 years.

Ranging from mainstream hits to independent favorites, foreign films to documentaries, they are (in chronological order):

• Making Love (1982)
• The Hunger (1983)
• The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
• My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
• Desert Hearts (1985)
• Parting Glances (1986)
• I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987)
• Law of Desire (1987)
• Maurice (1987)
• Longtime Companion (1990)
• Paris is Burning (1990)
• Tongues Untied (1990)
• My Own Private Idaho (1991)
• Poison (1991)
• The Crying Game (1992)
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
• Go Fish (1994)
• The Celluloid Closet (1995)
• The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love (1995)
• Beautiful Thing (1996)
• Ma Vie en Rose (1997)
• High Art (1998)
• Boys Don't Cry (1999)
• Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
• Brokeback Mountain (2005)

What is always fun about lists like these is to do a breakdown of the numbers, which provides an interesting way to look comprehensively at the films represented. Thus, OutFest's list includes:

• 9 films from the 1980's.
• 14 films from the 1990's.
• 2 films from the 2000's.
• 4 documentaries.
• 2 foreign language films.
• 1987 and 1990 are the most represented years, with 3 films each.
• Rob Epstein is the only director with two films on the list: The Times of Harvey Milk and The Celluloid Closet.
• A total of 7 Oscars were won by 5 of the films, but no Best Pictures (damn you again, Crash!).

As for the breakdown of what's G, L, B or T:

• 15 films with gay subject matter.
• 8 films with lesbian subject matter.
• 7 films with bisexual subject matter.
• 6 films with transgender subject matter.

The only film to feature all four is, naturally, The Celluloid Closet.

Links via OutFest.org.

Tag, You're It

Lines of dialogue aren't the only words written for a movie that can be quoted. A memorable movie tagline can sometimes become just as big as the movie it came from ("In space, no one can hear you scream." from Alien) or even be better then the movie (take your pick from these two Jaws sequels: "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water." or "This time, its personal.").

Entertainment Weekly recently asked their readers to name their favorite movie taglines, and their subsequent list is filled with such usual suspects as ''They're young ... they're in love ... and they kill people.'' from Bonnie and Clyde and ''Be afraid. Be very afraid." from The Fly.

Although you wouldn't know it from EW's list, gay-themed films have had taglines for years too.

Considering the controversial subject matters of early queer films, tagline writers of the day had to get creative when a film dared to broach such themes back then:

• "You don't know women until you know them without men!" - Caged
• "What made these women different?" - The Children's Hour
• "Tennessee Williams shocks you again as he transports you to a STRANGE, NEW BOLD WORLD!" - Suddenly, Last Summer

As censorship loosened over the years, and more and more realistic, adult-themed stories were being told, you still had to read between the lines of some tags to glean the movie's queer content:

• "The Boys in the Band ... is not a musical."
• "Between Ellen and Jill came Paul ..." - The Fox
• "Only his draft board and his girlfriend know for sure." - The Gay Deceivers
• "There's more to love than ... Making Love."

Others were more blatant, yet nevertheless proved to be truth in advertising - they were as offensive as the movies they were touting:

• "Benson is a cop who wants to clean up the streets ... His partner just wants to redecorate." - Partners
• "A sad gay story." - Staircase

Some just told it like it is:

• "Weird. Wild. Sexy. Strange." - Myra Breckinridge
• "An exercise in poor taste." - Pink Flamingos

Or out-right lied:

• "The Musical Comedy Smash of the 80's!" - Can't Stop the Music

While others were just downright indecipherable:

• "When you run into yourself you run into feelings you never thought you had." - Personal Best

As more and more movies with gay content were produced, taglines got better and more open:

• "An urban fairytale." - Beautiful Thing
• "For Money. For Murder. For Each Other." - Bound
• "It's not who you love. It's how." - Chasing Amy
• "School's out, so is Steven Carter." - Get Real
• "There's a first time for everything." - The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love
• "Sometimes you just have to be yourself." - Ma Vie en Rose
• "Having a ball ... wish you were here." - Paris is Burning
• "How's a guy supposed to find Mr. Right when his dad won't stop trying to help?" - The Sum of Us
• "One girl. Two guys. Three possibilities." - Threesome
• "You are cordially invited to a wedding where everybody wants to kiss the bride ... except the groom." - The Wedding Banquet

Or maybe not:

• "No one would take on his case ... until one man was willing to take on the system." - Philadelphia

Nowadays, gays are everywhere, and recent movie taglines reflect that with some of the best of the genre:

• "Parenthood is about to get a little hairier." - Bear Cub
• "Love is a force of nature." - Brokeback Mountain
• "The shortest distance between friends isn't always a straight line." - The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy
• "You can't fit in when you already stand out." - Camp
• "An actress is nothing without a meaty part." - Girls Will Be Girls
• "An anatomically incorrect rock odyssey." - Hedwig and the Angry Inch
• "When it comes to love, sometimes she just can't think straight." - Kissing Jessica Stein
• "Aaron prays. Christian plays ... Opposites attract." - Latter Days
• "Open Your Mind. And Everything Else." - Shortbus
• "Life is more than the sum of its parts." - Transamerica
• "A story about two guys trying to make it in the big city." - Trick
• "Love should never be a secret." - Yossi & Jagger

Alas, there is always a throwback to more unenlightened times:

• "They're as straight as can be, but don't tell anyone." - I Know Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Links via Portfolio.com and EW.com.

The Crying Game

As opposed to in real life, I can cry at the drop of a hat while watching a movie. And I don't even have to see the whole movie, as I've been known to burst into tears from the last five minutes alone of The Color Purple or Pocahontas.

It goes without saying that I am far from the only one who finds cathartic release through film (I remember when I saw Braveheart and a teen-aged girl had to literally be carried out of the theater by her friends when it was over, she was sobbing so hard). There is something about certain films that can sneak up on your emotions and you don't even realize it until your sobbing into your snack bar napkins. They are called "tearjerkers" for a reason, after all.

Entertainment Weekly recently ran their list of the top tearjerkers of all time (in two parts: part one, part two). Or should I say re-ran, as this is basically the same list they came up with in 2003 with some tweaking. Gone are such films as The Yearling and The Sixth Sense (huh?), replaced by more recent ones such as The Notebook and Million Dollar Baby.

And while it is nice to see Brokeback Mountain deservedly in the top ten, it is a little off-putting for it to take the place (#6) of Longtime Companion, which has been bumped down to #22. Now now, EW. Are you saying gay weepies are interchangeable?

The déjà vu-ness of the new list aside, the list covers many of the most tear-stained films in movie history, although they included the wrong Cocoon and The Champ in my opinion (the sequel and the original, respectively, are much more tearjerky).

Since their list is 50, my usual top 5 favorites culled from their list will be a top 10. (As you can tell, I like to cry in my popcorn.)

• Bambi - "Your mother can't be with you anymore."
• Brokeback Mountain - The shirts. That's all it takes.
• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial - "I'll be right here."
• The Iron Giant - Totally catches you off guard. Damn you, Brad Bird!
• The Joy Luck Club - Oh man, where to begin ...
• Longtime Companion - Bruce Davison, bedside. Don't need to say more.
• Stella Dallas - One image: Barbara Stanwyck in the rain.
• Terms of Endearment - EW has it right with this one: Huckleberry Fox gets to me every time.
• To Kill a Mockingbird - "Stand up. Your father's passing." (Man, just typing that gives me goose bumps.)
• West Side Story - "Hold my hand and I'll take you there ..."

Links via EW.com and Imdb.com.

What's In a (Gay) Name?

Movie Morlocks, the Turner Classic Movies blog, recently posted a collection of memorable movie character names. It is a compelling and (mostly) comprehensive list, yet, with a few exceptions, it is, well ... pretty straightforward.

I give them the benefit of the doubt though, for their stock and trade is classic films from the studio era, and we all know what kind of representation gay characters received in those times: next to none. And what there was was usually negative; for example, characters generally regarded as queer that did make their list (Mrs. Danvers, Eve Harrington, even the cross-dressing Norman Bates) are all villains.

So to give the gay perspective, here is the Movie Dearest list of memorable GLBT movie character names (including a few more villains). Also, note that I have left off any "real" people (James Whale, Brandon Teena) that were well-known prior to their appearance on film or any characters that are named in the movie's title (Chuck and Buck, Hedwig). See if you can guess what movies they are from (names are in alphabetical order):

1. Albin, a.k.a. Zaza
2. Angel & Collins and Maureen & Joanne
3. Bruno Anthony
4. Shug Avery
5. Andrew Beckett
6. Arnold Beckoff
7. Vida Boheme, Noxeema Jackson and Chi-Chi Rodriguez
8. Bree Osbourne
9. Joel Cairo
10. Cristal Connors
11. Corky and Violet
12. Roger De Bris and Carmen Ghia
13. Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist
14. Dil
15. Felicia, Mitzi and Bernadette
16. Dr. Frank-N-Furter
17. Fuzzy
18. Gay Perry
19. Jamie and Ste
20. Kitten
21. Rosa Klebb
22. Waldo Lydecker
23. Michael, Emory, Harold and Cowboy
24. Molina
25. Dolly Pelliker
26. Plato
27. Toddy
28. Catherine Tramell
29. Sebastian Venable
30. Zach and Bart

Give your guesses (or add more character names to the list) in the comments section below.

Link via MovieMorlocks.com.

The Advocate Goes to the Movies

In conjunction with their 40th anniversary poll to find the top 40 "Gay Heroes", The Advocate is also giving readers a chance to name their ten favorite queer movies from the last 40 years.

Of the 40 films nominated, such usual suspects as Brokeback Mountain, Boys Don't Cry and Personal Best are present. Sprinkled in among the foreign fare (Before Night Falls, Law of Desire) and indie faves (Go Fish, Poison) are such Hollywood pap as In & Out, The Birdcage and Philadelphia, not to mention the just plain awful Mulholland Drive. Missing in action? Latter Days, Edge of Seventeen, Victor/Victoria, Trick, Cabaret ...

My personal top ten from this list is as follows (and illustrated above):

• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: Aussie drag beats American drag (The Birdcage) every time.
• Beautiful Thing: I like my young love to end happily (My Own Private Idaho, I'm talking to you).
• Bound: I admit, I need to see more lesbian movies, but this one made me want to be a lesbian.
• Brokeback Mountain: Goes without saying.
• The Crying Game: The second most well known gay movie for straight audiences, after Brokeback.
• Longtime Companion: Narrowly ahead of Parting Glances and miles ahead of Philadelphia.
• Making Love: The first Hollywood film to get it (mostly) right.
• Maurice: As British films go, more romantic then Sunday Bloody Sunday.
• My Beautiful Laundrette: See above, add Daniel Day Lewis and champagne.
• Transamerica: Regarding transsexual themes, this one was a close call with Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Click here to vote for your own ten movies, plus your TV favorites and, for the guys, the hottest hunks of the past four decades. As for the ladies, there are no ladies to vote for (as of now). Note to Advocate editors: it is wise not to anger the lesbians.

Results will appear in The Advocate's 40th Anniversary issue and I will cover it here as well.

UPDATE: If anyone has the results of The Advocate's 40th Anniversary polls, please email them to me at my Hotmail address, located in the sidebar below my profile. It would be greatly appreciated!

Links via Advocate.com.

Brokeback Broadway

One thing about rumors is that half the time they are, in a way, wish fulfillment waiting to happen.

Such is the case with the recent gossip of a stage version of the landmark film Brokeback Mountain. Back around the time the Brokeback theme was released as a dance mix (yeah, I know; you can't get much gayer then that), the thought entered my mind of a Broadway musical based on the story of two cowboys in love (OK, maybe you can get gayer then that).

All kidding aside, if Romeo and Juliet can be turned into West Side Story, why not a serious musical drama based on Brokeback? With the right handling, it could work.

Unfortunately, I feel that if this project does turn out to be true, we will be subjected to a whole other round of "gay cowboy" jokes, except with extra "show tune" ammo to fuel the thinly veiled homophobia. Personally, I really don't want to see Jay Leno crooning "Climb Brokeback Mountain" to the tune of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain".

Former X-Men Hugh Jackman (Tony-winner for The Boy from Oz) and James Marsden (who proved he can sing in Hairspray) are mentioned as candidates for the roles of Ennis and Jack, leading AfterElton.com to chime in with their own casting choices: Patrick Wilson (above left, in Oklahoma! drag) and Cheyenne Jackson (middle left, who will hopefully not be reduced to the go-to guy for gay roles on Broadway). I could also see Matthew Morrison (middle right, the original Link Larkin in Hairspray) and Matt Cavenaugh (right, as the Urban Cowboy) in the iconic roles. (Click on the picture for a closer view.)

However, the answer may be more obvious. Remember Jake Gyllenhaal's outrageous Saturday Night Live opening number? That boy's got pipes. Now replace the lyrics "I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" with the words "I Wish I Knew How to Quit You".

Scary how these things work out sometimes.

Click here to purchase Brokeback Mountainon DVD from Amazon.com.

Links via Towleroad.com, AfterElton.com and YouTube.com.

Absolutely Fabulous

To see just about every gay and lesbian director in film today, look no further then Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema. Originally shown on the Independent Film Channel, this documentary (available on DVD) is a valuable companion piece (a pseudo-sequel, if you will) to the ultimate gays on film doc, The Celluloid Closet.

Focusing on the rise of queer moviemaking in independent film, from Kenneth Anger's Fireworks to Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee appears, the only non-queer interviewed), the film includes interviews with such out directors as John Cameron Mitchell, Todd Haynes and Angela Robinson, as well as critic/historians B. Ruby Rich, Alonso Duralde and Jenni Olson.

And for a fitting post-script to the film, read Duralde's AfterElton.com piece detailing the current status of queer cinema in these post-Brokeback times.

Click here to purchase Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinemaon DVD from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com, Amazon.com and AfterElton.com.

My Top 100 ... For Now

To give you a taste for my tastes in movies, I have listed the 100 films that I voted for in the American Film Institute's most recent poll. You can find it in the sidebar under the heading "My Ballot: AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies - 10th Anniversary Edition".

As is my prerogative, this list is certainly subject to change. For example, in the six months since I voted I have seen Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd, an awesome movie that certainly would be included if I were making the list today. Oh well, at least they will be re-polling members once more in another ten years.

For the record, 64 of my choices made the final cut, announced about a month ago. They are indicated on the chronological list in the sidebar with a *, and the links will take you to their respective IMDB pages.

What is most fun about these things (for me anyway) is figuring out the statistics of it all. You know, the most this or the least that. I have compiled facts and figures for each of the AFI lists, which will appear in this section eventually. To give you an idea of what I am talking about, here is some interesting data for the 100 movies on my ballot:

• The oldest film is Harold Lloyd's Safety Last; the newest is Brokeback Mountain.
• The most represented decade is the 1950's, with 18 films.
• The most represented year is (naturally) 1939, with 5 films.
• There are 3 silents on the list (I know, I need to see more).
• Dramas account for 45 entries, the most represented genre. Musicals, one of my favorite genres (go figure), comes in second with 17.
• Steven Spielberg is the most represented director (5 times), followed by Alfred Hitchcock (4 times).
• The actors who appear the most are Humphrey Bogart, Dustin Hoffman and James Stewart, with 4 films each, while the actresses are Faye Dunaway (purely coincidental) and Judy Garland, with 3 films each.
• The Godfather Part II is the only sequel (isn't that always the case?).
• There are 6 animated films, 7 if you count Mary Poppins.
• There are only 4 films with overt gay themes: Midnight Cowboy, Cabaret, Dog Day Afternoon and Brokeback. This is a case where foreign fare does infinitely better.
• 24 films were Oscar-winning Best Pictures. 43 more were nominated for that prize as well. (For the record, Safety Last was released prior to the Academy's existence.)
• The film with the longest title is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (49 letters, symbols and spaces); the shortest is Jaws (4 letters).
• 37 1/4 * films are in glorious black and white.

* This figure includes the Kansas sections of The Wizard of Oz.

UPDATE: The list has been removed from the sidebar and can now be found in the comments section below.

Links via Imdb.com and AFI.com.

Dennis Hensley's Brokeback Memories

Dennis Hensley is one of my favorite writers. I totally dig his style and frequently find myself laughing aloud so much that Big Edie wonders what's so funny on "that there computer box". Naturally, his book "Screening Party" will be featured here in an upcoming "Off the Shelf", and you may also know him from his screenplay for Testosterone or his appearances on the first season of Kathy Griffith: My Life on the D-List.

Dennis also writes for various online sources such as PlanetOut, where he recently relates his trip up north for the Calgary Gay Rodeo and, more importantly, the actual filming locations for Brokeback Mountain. This newest of gay meccas even inspired this video recreation of that film's most iconic scene. And no, not the part where Heath Ledger spits into his hand.

Click here to purchase Brokeback Mountainon DVD from Amazon.com.

Links via DennisHensley.com, PlanetOut.com, FindingBrokeback.com and YouTube.com.