By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Crayton Robey
Country: united_states
Year: 2009
Running time: 90
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1413493/
Bruce says: “MAKING THE BOYS, a documentary about the creative process in developing The Boys in the Band and the resulting impact it has had on the gay community, was entered in the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival as a work-in-progress. Director Crayton Robey takes his time and likes to fine tune his films. His earlier film WHEN OCEAN MEETS SKY experienced several revisions before release. What Robey might add to improve MAKING THE BOYS is a mystery. The only thing that comes to mind is an anecdote he told in front of the Tribeca Festival audience. In high school he was caught kissing a boy in the stairwell – his first male kiss, no less. Taken to the principal’s office the boys feared the worst. When they got arrived, instead of a reprimand the principal gave them a copy of The Boys in the Band to read.
“MAKING THE BOYS draws heavily on the background and oral history of Mart Crowley, playwright of The Boys in the Band. Crowley was a personal assistant to Natalie Wood and was well-connected in Hollywood. He was a regular at Roddy McDowell’s Sunday afternoon beach parties where he mingled with the likes of Judy Garland, Rock Hudson, Sal Mineo, Tuesday Weld, and Robert Wagner. Influenced by Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Crowley decided to take a stab at writing a play where all of the characters were gay men. Robey gives the viewer important background information about the prevailing attitudes of the day such as Stanley Kauffman’s infamous New York Times article, ‘Homosexual Drama and its Disguises,’ which suggested that gay playwrights such as Albee and Tennessee Williams were actually writing about gay characters masked as heterosexuals.
“When Crowley took the play to his friend Robert Moore at the Soho Playhouse, it was well received. Natalie Wood was very supportive. Others were not so enthusiastic, at least initially. John Simon queries, ‘Is this the right way to rebel?’ Albee, involved in the playwright’s workshop which first staged the play, recalls The Boys in the Band was ‘highly skillful work that I despised. It did serious damage to the gay respectability movement.’ Many talking heads, from Terence McNally to Michael Musto and Larry Kramer, testify to the vast influence The Boys in the Band had in opening the door to for gay characters and gay subject matter. McNally freely admits his gay plays could not have been written were it not for The Boys in the Band. Later in the film Albee worries, ‘I remain totally vigilant because I’m not convinced that the good things that have happened are here permanently.’
“The play opened on January 23, 1968 as a workshop project. The next morning there was a ticket line three blocks long, an unheard of event for an off-Broadway play that had not officially opened. In April the show opened on West 55th Street where it lasted for 1001 performances. It had a well-received run in London’s West End and two American road companies toured with the show. Crowley was loyal to his original off-Broadway cast; he refused to sell the film rights unless the same actors were used in the film. His one concession was letting the producers find a new director. William Friedkin got the assignment. Robert Moore never recovered from the disappointment and Crowley’s long term friendship with Moore was permanently impaired.
“The thoroughness with which Robey covers his subject is a joy to behold. Much discussion centers on the selection of the actors for their now iconic roles and the effect the play and film had on their careers. (Five of the original cast have now died of AIDS.) When he interviews young gay people today about what they think of The Boys in the Band, few have ever heard of it, a reminder of how quickly even the most influential sources in our culture vanish from the public consciousness. 5 cats
“(MAKING THE BOYS premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.)”