Main Cast: Antonio Banderas, Tony Curtis, Harvey Fierstein, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Sharon Stone, Lily Tomlin, Gore Vidal
Release Year: 1995
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Based on Vito Russo's groundbreaking 1981 work of film history, The Celluloid Closet gathers clips from dozens of mainstream Hollywood films to illustrate how the movies have dealt explicitly -- and more importantly, implicitly -- with gay and lesbian themes. Layered between the clips are interviews with filmmakers whose works have touched on that subject. The popular films of the Golden Age could only hint at homosexuality and often portrayed gays as simpering characters, objects of scorn or merriment, or insidious villains. With the strictures of the old Production Code loosening, bolder presentations were possible, but often over the objections of studio executives who feared a public backlash against a film that dealt with a long taboo subject. Among the films discussed are Philadelphia, The Children's Hour, Making Love, Rope, and Spartacus. Gore Vidal, Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, and director John Schlesinger are among the film's strongest interview subjects. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
Review
In transferring the important work of the late Vito Russo to the screen, the question was whether filmmakers Rob Epstein (The Times of Harvey Milk) and Jeffrey Friedman would be able to obtain the proper clips to illustrate Russo's points about the portrayal of homosexuality in Hollywood films. The Celluloid Closet, happy to say, delivers the key illustrative material and adds commentary and reminiscences from a number of film personnel (actors, writers, directors, producers) to give even more perspective to a long-neglected subject. This is not an exposé of who's out of and who's still in the closet in Hollywood, but a more serious discussion of the clever ways that filmmakers of the so-called Golden Age were able to suggest the sexual orientation of certain characters, and how the transition to a more explicit and honest portrayal was made. The film is free of cant and preaching; it recognizes the difficult circumstances under which artists were laboring for many years. And there are moments of playfulness, too, as when Gore Vidal remembers his little conspiracy with actor Stephen Boyd and director William Wyler to suggest an extra dimension to the relationship between the male leads in Ben-Hur. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
