When I was a young gay man, oh so many years ago, camp culture was passed down from my elders.
Gay men who were unbelievably old (40!) would tell me about old movies and movie stars, many of whom were popular when they were young. That kind of passing on of culture does not happen anymore. At a recent production meeting for OutSFL, where I am, by far, the oldest person, many of the younger staff didn’t recognize movies from the 1990s and early 2000s. We have become a society of use it, and forget it, with the memory retention of a Snapchat meme. There is a reason that some of these films spoke to generations of LGBTQ people. There was often coded language slipped in by LGBTQ writers and directors. There were stars whose struggles, real or imagined, resonated with us. There were chances to escape to a place “somewhere over the rainbow” to a place where we could find other people like us.
To help bridge this cultural divide, OutSFL and The Stonewall Museum and Archives are hosting a series of film screenings. We’ll begin with the films in this list, a completely subjective list of camp movies from the 1930s to the 2000s. As the series progresses, we’ll also include classic LGBTQ films of the modern era. Joining me in presenting these films will be OutSFL film reviewer (and certified Rotten Tomatoes film critic) Gregg Shapiro, who also just happens to be my husband of 32 years.
Films will be screened at The Stonewall Museum on the second Tuesday of every month beginning just in time for Gay & Lesbian History Month on Oct. 10 at 6:30 with “Death Becomes Her,” one of the great camp-fests, perfect for Halloween season. Admission is free, however, donations for the Stonewall Museum are accepted. Then the next month, in November, we’ll switch gears and show Gregg Shapiro’s pick for the best LGBTQ film, “Parting Glances” (see his article elsewhere in this issue).
Here are camp 20 films all LGBTQ people should see. They are listed in alphabetical order because camp is a matter of taste and not a competition. It’s just a coincidence that the two best movies happen to come first alphabetically. Really, it is!
‘All About Eve’ (1950)
Bette Davis was a gay icon because no one could deliver a put-down line like she could. I believe she also invented the side-eye. Watch this quintessential Bette Davis movie, her best ever, plus, there’s Thelma Ritter. For the younger generation, there’s “Showgirls” (1995), essentially the same plot set in a Vegas strip club with a lot of tits and glitz and Elizabeth Barkley not being able to act. Very campy.
‘Auntie Mame’ (1958)
It’s every gay boy’s dream come true. He’s sent to live with a fabulous Aunt in New York City, who has all these interesting friends.
‘Death Becomes Her’ (1992)
Proof that Meryll Streep is a great comedian and that Bruce Willis could act! He plays it straight while Goldie Hawn and Meryl are so over the top that they go around and come back over the top again. Isabella Rossellini is chillingly wonderful. Look for this story to come to Broadway this fall with Megan Hilty!
‘Funny Lady’ (1975)
“Funny Girl” may have been Streisand’s first film, but “Funny Lady,” about the second half of Fanny Brice’s career is, a much more interesting film. Streisand didn’t want to make the movie and her boredom shows. But the production numbers are hysterical, and Roddy McDowell’s gay best friend defined the genre.
‘The Gang’s All Here’ (1943)
For pure over-the-top camp MGM musicals, this one choreographed and directed by Busby Berkley can’t be beat. It’s got everything including Carmen Miranda. Ingest a few gummies, sit back, and be entertained.
‘Johnny Guitar’ (1954)
Another Joan Crawford movie, this one on the downward slope of her career. She plays a butch cowgirl. This movie just reeks of lesbian undertones between her and her rival Mercedes McCambridge.
‘Mahogany’ (1975)
So utterly over the top, that it comes around and goes over the top again. Diana Ross is a fashion designer torn between community activist Billy Dee Williams (at his hunkiest) and ultra-gay photographer Tony Perkins.
‘Mildred Pierce’ (1945)
If all you know about Joan Crawford is from Mommie Dearest, you owe it to yourself to watch this and see her try to be a serious actress. Plus, you’ll get to see character actress Eve Arden as her buddy, Eve practically invented the character of the wisecracking dame.
‘Mommie Dearest’ (1981)
Because Joan Crawford was such a gay icon, and the fact that Faye Dunaway was so over the top in her portrayal, this movie ended up being unbelievably campy, if you can get past the child abuse.
‘Polyester’ (1981)
Second only to “Hairspray,” Polyester is perhaps John Waters’ most camp film. Starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole, it satirizes the melodramatic genre of women's pictures, particularly those directed by Douglas Sirk in the ‘40s and ‘50s. The film is a satire of suburban life in the early 1980s, involving topics like divorce, abortion, adultery, alcoholism, racial stereotypes, foot fetishism, and the religious right.
‘The Ritz’ (1976)
Very progressive for its time, the film version of Terrence McNally’s play is set in a gay bathhouse where a straight, married man is hiding from his Mafia in-laws. A young and muscly Treat Williams clad only in a towel and Rita Moreno as a no-talent wanna-be Bette Midler named Googie Gomez are the highlights of this romp. Wear Depends because watching Moreno perform “I Had a Dream” from “Gypsy” in a heavy Puerto Rican accent will make you pee yourself.
‘Some Like It Hot’ (1959) ‘Connie & Carla’ (2004)
It is a surprisingly pro-gay storyline for the time, about two straight musicians who go undercover in drag in an all-women’s band in the 1920s to escape gangsters. One has a rich playboy fall for his drag persona. “Connie and Carla,” the 2004 remake, while nowhere near as good, switches things up with two women going undercover as drag queens in West Hollywood, but it’s fun and campy and has David Duchovny’s straight man, trying to reconcile with his gay brother and questioning why he’s attracted to a drag queen. I must confess, it’s a bad movie I love and watch every Christmas.
‘A Star Is Born’ (1954)
Forget the Gaga version or even the Streisand version. It’s Judy Garland, making a comeback (she won an Oscar) in a musical drama directed by George Cukor (that old queen again!) from a screenplay by the witty Dorothy Parker.
‘Steel Magnolias’ (1989)
A perfect example of “The Gang of Four,” the comedy-drama stars Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, and Olympia Dukakis as four women in a beauty shop. Other examples of the “Gang of Four” include Sex in the City, Golden Girls, Designing Women, Girlfriends, and Living Single.
‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’ (1962)
Two gay icons in the camp classic of all time. The fact that they hated each other and tried to upstage each other during the filming makes this even better.
‘Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ (1966)
Edward Albee swore up and down that his play wasn’t based upon a bitchy gay couple, but I’m still not convinced. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor are superb in their love/hate relationship. Some of the cattiest lines you’ll ever hear from one of the greatest playwrights of all time, gay or straight.
‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939)
A kid yearning for a place more interesting than her bland sepia-toned, boring home is swept away into a Technicolor fantasyland of strangely garbed people where she pairs up with a bunch of other misfits to create a chosen family. Sounds like a gay story to me. Plus, there’s those ruby slippers. And it stars Judy Garland, a gay icon to a certain generation. Discover why for generations, asking if you were “A friend of Dorothy” was code for being gay.
‘The Women’ (1939) ‘The Opposite Sex’ (1956)
Another great film from 1939. And a camp classic. The bitchiest bitch-fest of all time. The movie is so well written and the dialogue so snappy that you’ll be halfway through before you’ll notice that there aren’t any men in the movie at all. Not one. It was also directed by Hollywood’s biggest queen George Cukor! The 1956 remake is truly awful, but that’s what makes it so good, Plus, it’s a musical and it has Joan Collins playing the Joan Crawford role! A 2008 remake is so bad, that even Bette Midler couldn’t save it.
‘Valley of the Dolls’ (1967)
Pure 1960s camp, based on the novel by Jacqueline Suzanne. Trying to guess who the various characters are based on is half the fun, the other half is trying not to laugh when you realize that the actors thought they were making serious art. Really, Patty Duke thought she was going to win an Oscar for this role?!
‘Xanadu’ (1980)
Filmed at the height of the disco craze, it stars Olivia Newton-John as one of the Greek Muses. On roller-skates. In legwarmers. It’s so bad they did a Broadway parody of it called “Zana Don’t!” and a tongue-in-cheek adaptation that starred Jane Krakowski and Cheyenne Jackson.
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