Steve Hayes reviews the classic celestial fantasy, filmed in glorious Technicolor in England at the end of World War II, based on the play by the great Noel Coward. Never mind what the critics said at the time, or later - this is a beautifully filmed, delightfully upper-crust comedy of the kind that isn't made anymore. And darling Margaret Rutherford, the old dear, is a complete hoot! If you've never seen it, your're in for a treat - enjoy!
Bonus: The English country house that was used for exterior shots is still standing just outside London, and just as lovely as it looks in the film. Check out the real estate listing from 2019 to see some stunning photos of the inside and outside.
Steve Hayes reviews the delightful screwball comedy, starring Irene Dunne and Carry Grant. M.P. and I recommend it highly. It was remade by Doris Day and Jim Garner in 1963 as Move Over, Darling, which is also a treat.
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn enter the battle of the sexes in the first of several collaborations in George Steven’s classic comedy: “Woman Of The Year” . Also starring Fay Bainter and William Bendix, it’s the perfect comic pairing of two pros at the top of their game.
The full movie is available for rent or purchase on YouTube. Catch more fabulous movie reviews at Steve's YouTube channel.
A mysterious guest arrives and disrupts an already chaotic household, when Deborah Kerr, as a governess with a secret, is put in charge of delinquent teenager Hayley Mills, in Ronald Neame’s The Chalk Garden (’64). Also starring John Mills as a wise, ever faithful butler and Oscar nominee Dame Edith Evans as the domineering grandmother. Based on the hit Broadway play by Enid Bagnold, The Chalk Garden is riveting drama from beginning to end.
What I Say: Your Head Trucker loved Hayley Mills and always looked forward to those summertime Disney films that she starred in. But The Chalk Garden, produced by Universal, was a big disappointment - the story line and the dialogue were way over my head, and I was bored to tears. But when M.P. and I watched it online a few years ago, we were both impressed by the emotional depth of the screenplay and the brilliant acting by the whole cast. It's an odd story, but very moving and well worth watching.
It's June 26, a very gay day indeed: the anniversary of the Lawrence, Windsor, and Obergefell decisions.
Steve Hayes reviews the groundbreaking film version of the 1968 play, which portrays gay life as it was fifty years ago (OMG has it really been that long?): before Stonewall happened, when the closet doors were still shut tight, "gay pride" hadn't been thought of, AIDS was nonexistent, and gay marriage was an entirely whimsical thought, as unreal and implausible as time travel.
As it happens, a summer revival of the play, with an all-gay cast, is running on Broadway now. I have no desire to go to New York, but I hope somebody films that production - it would be fascinating to see what the current generation does with it.
I was in high school and had only recently put the words homosexual and me together when I first heard of this film. I think it played a single week in the city where I lived, but I would have sooner jumped off a cliff than go see it back then: both for the fear of being seen and identified as "one of them" as well as the fear of actually meeting "a homosexual" - homo, homo, homo - I actually used to pray that God would never, ever let me meet one of those awful, horrible, depraved people, who would surely tempt me to sin, and ruin my salvation (already in tatters due to my constant, ever-failing battles with - oh woe is me! - the deep, dark, godless sin of masturbation).
Sounds so silly now, of course: but at the time, it was a deadly serious thing for a young, isolated gay boy who knew what he was and hated it with every breath. That kind of fear and self-hatred is something straight people never go through - and I have yet to meet one who really "got it." It does bad things to you inside. Really bad. Some guys didn't make it. That could have been me, too. Or you, perhaps. But as my truckbuddy Frank remarked to me the other day, we managed to live thought all that, we are survivors - and that is surely something to be glad of.
I finally came out a decade later in college, and yes of course I had already shed all that fundamentalist crap - but between all that and the bullying in school, and the constant fear of being "found out" I was badly injured - as I know so many of my truckbuddies were too. A stupid, awful, inhuman thing to put people though - for no good reason whatsoever. I was about to rejoice that all that is history - but is it really? We only had to deal with bullies in person back then - now there are cyberbullies and all sorts of public invective on the airwaves that wasn't possible in those days.
And the scars still hurt. They will always hurt. Like the pain of losing a loved one. But life goes on, regardless of all your hurts, and in time you just learn to make the best of things. Nobody gets through life unscathed, though some work really hard at hiding the fact.
One more note: when I finally got to see the video, say around 1985, and also found a copy of the play in a used book store, I was struck with how true to life it was, and still is - kudos to playwright Mart Crowley, a fellow Southerner, now 82 - a microcosm of the gay world that still rings true to me. I don't mean the clothes and the music and the slang, which are ever-changing, but the way gay people talk and act among themselves, when there's no need to "butch it up" or mind your manners or pretend to be straight - which for the men of my generation and before was, and still is down here in the provinces, our automatic default mode in public.
I saw the video again a few years ago, and while this time I didn't see the ending as being quite so bleak and depressing as I had the first time, I still thought the dialogue, the essential gayness of the characters was spot on. Because human nature in general does not change, and by corollary, the sub-category of gay nature does not change, either - that's my view of things. (If human nature were not a constant, we would have changed into some other kind of critters long ago. But human nature is the same from age to age - just as is dog nature, cat nature, monkey nature, etc. - all capable of infinite outward variations, yet inwardly still the same.) But another thing that straight people don't get, unless they are very wise indeed, is that gayness is not only about who you sleep with - there's a nature, a character, a spirit, a whatever-you-call-it that comes with being gay, that is part of the package.
No, I don't mean effeminacy, necessarily - oh stop it, Mary - I have known (in both senses of the word) bricklayers, truck drivers, doctors, lawyers, football players, and Marines, none of whom had a touch of nelly queen about them, though they probably thought I had more than a touch, sometime or other. But there's a certain beingness, for want of a better word, that I recognize in other gay men, butch or femme, or somewhere in between. I mean a certain ambiance, if you will, a certain way of encountering the world and looking at it. A certain attitude and rhythm of being that is neither straight-guy nor straight-girl but something else again - a third mode of being that partakes of both the others, but is itself, by itself, complete, and not merely an imitation of the other two: something else again. Something that is neither good nor bad but just IS - and is no strange thing, but simply belongs here in this world, like any other part of nature, human or otherwise. We just are. No explanation or justification needed.
At least that's how it seems to me, but I'm afraid I have neither the vocabulary nor the patience to write out a full exegesis of gaiety at this time. Instead, why don't you fellas just go watch the video again, and I dare you to come back and tell me you don't see yourself in at least one of the characters, or several, or maybe all! At least, you'll be reminded of one important thing - it's so so so important in this preachy, self-righteous, broomstick-up-the-ass modern world to be able to laugh at ourselves. That too is an essential part of the human condition, and one we disown at our peril.
PS - I don't presume to speak for all the other letters of LGBTQIXYZ and whatever - they can certainly speak for themselves if they please. I can only speak of what pertains to my existence and experience on this planet. And of course my existence, my beingness, does not in any way preclude theirs. I really, really don't want to run anybody else's life; I simply want everybody else to leave me the hell alone and let me get on with mine, on my own terms, and not those of some puritans of the left or the right.
Steve reviews the frightening and very timely political thriller - your Head Trucker has never seen it, but intends to soon:
Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury in an Oscar nominated role, bring one of the greatest political thrillers to the screen in John Frankenheimer’s legendary “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962). The suspense builds to a chilling climax as a group of soldiers, rescued from the Communists, gradually realize that something has been done to their brains and they are being used in a plot to overthrow the government. You will be on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.
In Memoriam, 9:25 p.m.: I've just learned that the delightful Robert Osborne, expert host of Turner Classic Movies since its inception in 1994, died at home today, as his longtime partner, David Staller, told the press. Osborne was a wonderful, witty raconteur whose comforting presence and urbane introductions must have piqued the interest of millions in the classic films of Hollywood. The world is a little darker, a little less gay, for his passing.
Steve Hayes reviews the 1939 comedy, a favorite of your Head Trucker's:
Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Roz Russell lead a bevy of MGM beauties in George Cukor's comedy classic The Women. Based on a play by Claire Booth Luce, with a screenplay by Anita Loos, it also stars Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, Marjorie Main, the delightful Mary Boland and an all female cast who deliver some of the wittiest dialogue of the golden age of screen comedies. Gorgeously shot in the MGM tradition, with outrageous costumes by Adrian and a color fashion show that will knock your eyes out, it's a hysterical, bitchy glam fest you don't want to miss!
Steve Hayes reviews the classic screwball comedy, which your Head Trucker highly recommends:
Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea have a field day in the zany Preston Sturges comedy PALM BEACH STORY (1942). With able support from such Sturges comic regulars as William Demarest, Jimmy Conlin, and Roscoe Ates, and with brilliant comedic turns by Rudee Vallee and Mary Astor, it’s a happy, slapstick free-for-all, loaded with sophisticated dialogue, unexpected reversals, and sexy innuendos. The perfect way to start the New Year off with a bang!
Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent make holiday sparks fly when they begin a controversial romance in Curtis Bernhardt’s MY REPUTATION (1946). Stanwyck plays a newly widowed woman with two teenage boys who meets a handsome major on a skiing trip, and much to the dismay of her friends and family, falls in love and must choose between her happiness and her reputation. Eve Arden is on hand as her best friend to offer humor and consolation, and Lucile Watson plays her formidable battle-axe mother. Warm and romantic, Stanwyck and Brent make a wonderful team. Beautifully photographed, the film is also lovingly scored by Warner’s favorite Max Steiner. It’s a holiday romance that you won’t want to miss. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
William Powell and Myrna Loy create marital bliss and movie history in their first two teamings as Nick and Nora Charles in W.S. Van Dyke’s The Thin Man (1934) and After The Thin Man (1936). Taken from a novel by Dashiell Hammett and based on his relationship with playwright Lillian Hellman, this off-beat husband and wife detective team round up a bunch of fabulous suspects played by top notch character actors and proceed to solve multiple murders. The results are a perfect combination of suspense, hilarity mixed with a touch of sophistication that simply can’t be beat.
I should have posted this last week. Steve Hayes reviews:
Halloween brings thrills and suspense as debonair Michael Rennie arrives from another planet to warn the Earth of impending doom in Robert Wise’s Sci-Fi classic, The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951). With a brilliant supporting cast including Patricia Neal, Billy Grey, and Hugh Beaumont, and a spine-tingling score by legendary composer Bernard Herrmann. It’s just the thing to set the hair on the back of your neck on end. Happy Halloween from Tired Old Queen at the Movies!
Steve Hayes reviews the half-naked men 1958 musical:
In glorious Technicolor, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic SOUTH PACIFIC comes to vivid life under the direction of Joshua Logan. Shot on location with a cast headed by Mitzi Gaynor, Rosanno Brazzi, John Kerr, Ray Walston, and Juanita Hall re-creating her legendary Broadway role as Bloody Mary, it is as romantic, erotic, and sumptuous a musical as Hollywood ever brought to the screen.
Action director William Wellman takes you on a perilous journey through the old west as Robert Taylor leads a wagon train full of women to California in “Westward The Women” (1951). Filled with action, romance, comedy and tragedy, this is a rip-roaring adventure that will have you glued to your seats from beginning to end. Featuring a terrific cast that includes Denise Darcel, Julie Bishop, John McEntire, Henry Nakamura and the wonderful and hysterical Hope Emerson, you won’t want to miss a moment of the journey west with this wagon load of wonderful women!
Spring arrives with one of the most heartwarming films in MGM history, Clarence Brown’s National Velvet (1944), starring Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, Donald Crisp, Angela Lansbury and Oscar winner Anne Revere. Taken from the novel by Enid Bagnold and filmed in glorious color, the film follows the dreams of a young English girl (Taylor) and her beautiful stallion known as “The Pye”. With the help of a rough young trainer (Rooney) and a wise and gentle mother (Revere), she is able to achieve her dream of entering “Pye” in the Grand National, the greatest horse race in England. It’s nostalgic, heart stopping, sensitive and beguiling. So, sit back and fall in love with National Velvet.
James Dean gives an iconic performance in Nicholas Ray’s classic study of troubled youth Rebel Without A Cause (1955). With able Oscar-nominated support from Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, it’s the story of a teenage misfit who moves to a new town and must juggle the pressures of an unhappy home life and his peers at school. Dean never lived to see his most famous screen role, which has served as the basis for countless movies about teenage rebelliousness ever since.
It’s high hilarity as Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe play three gold diggers on the make in Jean Negulesco’s How To Marry A Millionaire. Shot in glorious Technicolor and Cinemascope, it’s a love letter to Manhattan and three of the funniest and most glamorous gals that ever hit Hollywood. Rounding out the cast are Cameron Mitchell, Rory Calhoun, David Wayne, Alec D’Arcy and William Powell as their intended spouses with able comic support from Fred Clark. The girls are gorgeous, the settings are fabulous, the dialogue witty and sophisticated. It’s the perfect way to ring in the New Year.
Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and a brilliant cast ring in the season in George Cukor’s HOLIDAY. Adapted by Donald Ogden Stewart and Sidney Buchman from the play by Philip Barry, it deals with an unconventional young man (Grant) who wishes to marry into a wealthy family without sacrificing his ideals. He meets a comrade in the feisty sister of his fiancée (Hepburn) and her alcoholic brother Lew Ayres, in a brilliant performance. As always, Grant and Hepburn sparkle together. The dialogue is sophisticated, witty and the message as relevant today as it was when it was made. From all of us at Tired Old Queen at the Movies have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a lovely “Holiday”.
Steve Hayes reviews this classic tale of love and loss in old New Orleans - and your Head Trucker highly recommends it, too:
Steve celebrates Thanksgiving with JEZEBEL! Bette Davis sets fire to the screen and goes on to Oscar glory for the second time in William Wyler’s classic tale of the old South (1938). Directed with consummate skill by William Wyler, it was the first of the three films they made together. With able support from Henry Fonda, George Brent, and Fay Bainter in an Oscar-winning role as Bette’s sympathetic aunt, it’s as close to Scarlett O’Hara as Davis would get, and she gives it all she’s got.
Steve Hayes reviews the 1999 gay romantic comedy, which your Head Trucker saw some years ago and heartily recommends, not least for Steve's own hilarious rendition of "¿Como Te Gusta Mi Pinga?":
Tori Spelling, Christian Campbell, JP Pitoc, Miss Coco Peru and “Yours Truly” spend a hilarious and romantic summer night in Manhattan in Jim Fall’s classic Gay comedy TRICK (1999). Shot on location with an original script by Jason Schaeffer, the film deals with a young gay composer and a hot go-go boy who hook up. During the course of an evening, they try and find a place to have sex, without much success, and despite numerous obstacles, including themselves, they wind up falling in love. Sweet, sexy, romantic and endlessly funny, TRICK is the perfect way to spend an autumn evening. “It’s big. It’s beautiful. And you’re gonna love it!”
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, harmony; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
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We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
and welcome to the Blue Truck, a blog for mature gay men with news and views on gay rights, history, art, humor, and whatever comes to mind. Plus a few hot men. The truck's all washed and gassed up, so hop in buddy, let's go.
CAUTION: For mature gay men only beyond this point. Some posts and links may not be suitable for children or the unco guid. You have been warned.
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My Story
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Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?
It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred. It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society.
If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
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