The film stars Dirk Bogarde, who also played another very frustrated gay man in the film adaptation of Thomas Mann’s bleak Death in Venice (1971). In this wild ride of a movie, the closet opens up plenty of fear and loathing after a blackmailer threatens to expose a gay man’s deep, dark secrets.

Bonus: It stars a very young (and gay) Farley Granger.įarley Granger (left) and John Dall in Rope. They didn’t call him Hitchcock for nothing. While most films from the pre-Stonewall era only ever allude to gay life with a wink and nod, this thriller centers on two young men who strangle their classmate and stash his body in their apartment – before having the perfect dinner party. But they are all in some way groundbreaking for their time period and considered in sequence they provide a record of mainstream culture’s changing attitudes towards gay men.įeeling nostalgic? Can’t get enough body hair? Want to experience the celluloid life pre-Stonewall? Here’s our guide to some of the most notable (and gayest) old-school flicks from before the millennium. In fact, some are downright offensive by today’s standards.

Just as your favorite TV series may be getting ready to take the summer off – or get canceled (goodbye, The New Normal) – entertainment buffs needn’t look too far to find a wealth of memorable gay movies that are well worth watching again and again. Cruising stars Al Pacino as a leather-clad undercover cop… who’s not a member of the Village People