Rainbow Colored Glasses

Coming Out aired in 1979 as part of the BBC’s Play for Today series.  A closeted writer and his friends debate whether the LGBT+ community should assimilate or rebel. The discussion still resonates today.

Rainbow Colored Glasses starts season four with a look at Paul Oremland’s 1998 film Like It Is . A boxer from Blackpool falls for a music promoter from London. The promoter’s snobby friends try to break them up. I enjoyed this film. My guest did not.

Harry Styles recently starred in My Policeman. A film about a man juggling relationships with a woman and another man. This inspired me to revisit John Schlesinger’s classic Sunday Bloody Sunday . One of my guests was seeing it for the first time. The other saw it when it premiered in 1971.

We discuss a short film with a long title: It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives . Activist Rosa von Praunheim read Berlin’s gay community for filth. His political manifesto remains timely.   This episode includes explicit language.

 An author investigates the death of a young woman. Hasse Ekman's Girl with Hyacinths has been affectionately called "The Lesbian Citizen Kane. " 

Todd Stephens’ feature debut, Edge of Seventeen , was a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama. A gay teen in Sandusky, Ohio struggles to hold on to his old friends and family as he enters the gay world. 

Gods and Monsters examines the unlikely friendship between Hollywood director James Whale (Ian McKellen) and his naïve yard man (Brendan Fraser). My guest and I revisit Bill Condon’s ambitious tragicomedy. 

Penda's Fen aired on the BBC on March 21, 1974. David Rudkin's screenplay follows a gay teen on an Alice in Wonderland style journey through England's pagan past. We attempt to parse Rudkin's thoughts on religion, sexuality, social conformity and rebellion. 

In 1987 two TV specials dealt with the challenges of coming out in your teens. What if I'm Gay?  aired on CBS in the afternoon.  Two of Us  was pushed to a late night spot by the timid BBC. My guests and I look at the mixed messages these stories send. 

 In 1984 French Canadian flight attendant Gaétan Dugas was falsely accused of bringing H.I.V. to America. He was dubbed “Patient Zero.” In 1993 John Greyson wrote and directed a movie musical about the myth. Zero Patience is raunchy, surreal and political 

In Our Sons Julie Andrews and Ann-Margret play the disapproving mothers of a gay couple (Hugh Grant and Zeljko Ivanek). Zeljko’s dying of AIDS so the women go on a road trip to visit them. Cue fights, tears and a sprinkling of camp. This episode contains strong language. 

William Wyler first adapted Lilian Hellman’s play The Children’s Hour to the screen in 1936. In 1961 he produced an uncensored remake . My guests had contrasting responses to the film.  Trigger warning: the story includes an act of self harm. 

The Fruit Machine (aka Wonderland ) is an ambitious, frustrating film. Two gay teens witness a murder and go on the lam. One falls in love with a sexy dolphin man. Things get weird. 

Patrick Wilde's Get Real follows a teen writer who falls in love with a closeted jock. My guest had a rosier view of the romance in 1998 than he does now.  This episode contains  strong language and a discussion of domestic abuse. 

Welcome to Season Two! Basil Deardon’s Victim pits a closeted barrister against a blackmailer. The film bravely denounced the UK’s anti-gay laws. 

Our season concludes with a look at Beautiful Thing.  Jonathan Harvey's gay teen romance is as charming today as it was in 1996.

 Blake Edwards co-wrote and directed this glamorous remake of the 1933 musical. This Julie Andrews vehicle still has a lot to say about sexuality and gender roles. 

Foes to Friends to Lovers is a classic romcom formula. But what happens when the central couple never stops fighting? Dan Bucatinsky’s All Over the Guy pairs two men who make each other miserable in this sour romance. 

When Klaus makes a gay friend his mother panics. This German gay-sploitation film underwent many rewrites to please the censors. Bewildered Youth portrayed sympathetic gay characters long before Hollywood would try.

 Tom Gustafson’s musical, Were the World Mine , sets A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a modern high school. Timothy, a bullied teen, casts a spell that makes his tormentors fall in love with people of the same sex. My guest and I have mixed feelings about the work. 

Joe Mantello directed a remake of Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band for Netflix last year. Eight gay men attend a birthday party. Things fall apart when a surprise guest arrives. This episode contains plot spoilers and strong language.

Greg Berlanti wanted The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy to showcase the gay men he wasn’t seeing represented in mainstream media. The starry cast plays a group of friends in West Hollywood. We discuss our favorite characters and analyze the film’s mixed messages about gay friendships. This episode contains plot spoilers.  The Broken Hearts Club is currently available on multiple streaming s...

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert follows three drag performers on a road trip across the Australian Outback. The film was a critical and box office hit. It revitalized the careers of stars Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Terrence Stamp. But writer and director Stephan Elliott received push back for some controversial scenes. We gave it a fresh look in 2020. This episode contains plot...

David Secter was 22 years old when he wrote and directed Winter Kept Us Warm . The film follows two students, Doug and Peter, at the University of Toronto. Doug starts to realize he wants more from Peter than friendship. Same-sex activity was illegal in Canada in 1965 so Secter removed all direct references to it from his script. The relationship became ambiguous enough to sneak past the censors a...

In our last episode we covered the 1999 romcom Trick . We followed up with a discussion of how we would adapt it into a musical. Are we out of our minds? Or is this a great idea?  This episode contains spoilers and strong language.