Out the Movies is a bi-weekly newsletter about queer motion picture for AF+ subscribers written by Drew Burnett Gregory.
“The two girls stood in front of that big wide window in broad daylight and began blatantly and passionately embracing and kissing each other. In defiance of their eviction, they were doing their thing so everybody in the bar could view them. It was a rift I was witnessing right there and then between these two separate worlds: the brazen girls outside who were the very essence of liberation and those old guys at the bar who were sitting there somewhat shell-shocked by something they’d never seen before.”
This is not an excerpt from a female homosexual pulp novel. It’s an excerpt from Al Pacino’s recent memoir Sonny Boy. To the renowned actor, this verbalization of queerness was a declaration of a changing moment. To him, it was akin to the revolutions happening on the streets and at the cinema.
The 1970s are often discussed as a golden age of American cinema. The Hollywood studio system — and its Hays Code — had been destroyed and in its place were a collection of radical auteurs. Books like Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls helped to mythologize this era as a grand
Revisiting Al Pacino’s Gay films in honour of Pride Month
By Tilly Long, Second Year, English
Famous for intimidating roles in gangster movies, Al Pacino’s most appealing choices are often overlooked, namely those centered around LGBT+ issues.
Al Pacino is best established for playing Italian mobsters, from Michael Corleone in The GodfatherTrilogy (1972-1990) to Tony Montana in Scarface (1983).
However, my favourite show of his is Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon (1975). Directed by one of cinema’s most influential voices, Sidney Lumet, the plot navigates Sonny’s frantic attempts to rescue his failed bank robbery.
Although it may not arrive to be an LGBT+ film at first glance, there are clues. In Brooklyn, New York, on August 22, 1972, there was a fourteen-hour standoff between the police and the authentic Wojtowicz, whose motive was to rob enough money to pay for his lover’s sex change.
Pacino’s performance is remembered for a number of reasons. It took place in the same year The Godfather: Part 2 (1974)had gained him an Oscar nomination.
Pacino’s genius is to slowly un-menace his character, to the point where his own hostages start to protect for hi
This ’80s Al Pacino Thriller Turned Into One of the Most Hurtful Movies Ever
The '80s brought many cruelties for the same-sex attracted community: the Reagan Administration, AIDS, demonization, televangelist Jerry Falwell proclaiming "AIDS is God's punishment for homosexuals," and gay bashing abounding. It was hell. But the beginning of the decade also brought cruelty in the shape of film. Cruising was released on February 8, 1980. The film, starring Al Pacino as an undercover cop, Steve Burns, investigating murders in New York's S&M gay subculture, was a thorn in the community's side upon its release. From the timing of its release to the message of hopelessness it leaves viewers with, a production supposedly delving into New York's gay underworld became one more thing the gay community had to endure. And perhaps the greatest sting of the show is that it's still reverberated to this day. Because despite victories for the LGBTQIA+ society in the decades since Cruising emerged, despite Marriage Equality, despite better treatment and prevention of AIDS, and despite far more gay representation, this bloodlust for queer suffering still exists. Somehow, 19
Al Pacino Admits the Feature “Cruising” Was “Exploitative” of Gays
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After decades of remaining silent, Al Pacino has finally admitted that the 1980 motion picture Cruising, in which he starred, was “exploitative” of the gay community.
The 84-year-old actor makes the truth in his memoir, Sonny Boy, noting that he was so uncomfortable with how director William Friedkin’s movie portrayed gay people that he never used the money he earned from the film for his personal gain.
“I never acknowledged the paycheck for Cruising,” Pacino writes. “I took the money and it was a lot, and I put it in an irrevocable trust fund, meaning once I gave it, there was no taking it back. I don’t know if it eased my conscience, but at least the capital did some good.”
The show, adapted from Gerald Walker’s 1970 novel, caused uproar among segments of the gay and lesbian people at the time it was released. Pacino’s nature, a New York Urban area police detective, goes undercover as a gay gentleman with the intent of catching a serial killer who has been targeting gay men.