Best British gay film

I don't know that it's the best, as I haven't seen all of these, but 'Beautiful Thing' hit me pretty hard and stayed with me for a long time.

I voted for "Weekend"

I also think "Pride" needs to be in your poll. A great film about the true story of the unlikely alliance between gay rights group and coal miners.

Beautiful Thing by far. Pride comes second in my book.

Sunset Song by Terence Davies.

R2, yeah, Pride was a great movie. Joseph Gilgun is fun to watch in everything he does.

Maurice of course, no film comes close to it.

I loved Beautiful Thing, but I voted for Get Real. Probably wouldn't LOVE it if I saw it now, but back in the day I really related to it.

How about "Women in Love" which, despite the guys' relationships with women, has an undercurrent of a gay relationship between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed's characters, especially when they are wresting fully-frontal naked. Very hot scene, plus they are nude elsewhere in the film.

I was going to put PRIDE on the list instead of LILTING, but I think the latter has more emotional depth and, more importantly for me, spends a lot of time on genuine intimacy between the two male lovers. I would have also liked to put at least one Derek Jarman film on there, but I don't think any of them are better than the ones on the list, so I didn't.

r8 I was going to put Ken Russell's THE MUSIC LOVERS on the list, but I prefer the other films listed, so I didn't.

There was a film made in the 80s called 2 OF US, which was made by the BBC, I think (and may have been intended to be shown in schools), and centres on the relationship between two schoolboys. It's a bit dated now, but it's noteworthy for its courage at the time.

Does "The Crying Game" count as a gay film?

I will add what hit me so much about "Weekend" was how much it was just this real movie about gay guys. It wasn't some cliche coming out story we have seen a million times and it wasn't some gay story that seemed aim at a straight audience. The conversations they have and the emotions they go through in that weekend after their one night stand just resonated with me as a gay guy in a way I hadn't really seen on screen before. Everything just felt real and that was film actually FOR gay men.

Not sure if it that was well described, but I liked that movie a lot.

I loved Beautiful Thing and Get Real was pretty great as well.

I'm so glad Beautiful Thing got such a fantastic response. It was literally the first gay film I ever saw in a cinema. I was 18.

What's wrong with British cinema? Is it too real for you Americans??

There's nothing gayer than The Importance of Being Earnest with Michael Redgrave and Edith Evans.

Prick op your Ears was 1987 actually!!

THE IMITATION GAME

LOVE IS THE DEVIL: STUDY FOR A PORTRAIT OF FRANCIS BACON

GOD'S OWN COUNTRY

EDWARD II

CHRISTOPHER AND HIS KIND

BENT

NOTES ON A SCANDAL

WILDE

THE HISTORY BOYS

... were all better movies than everything on OP's list except LAUNDRETTE.

Does WITHNAIL AND I count? That was awesome.

WEEKEND is so boring and overrated.

Identity is not literature. Affirmation is not entertainment.

r17 I mostly left THE IMITATION GAME off the list because I think it's a dreadful film, but the main reason for its exclusion other than that is the fact Alan Turing's homosexuality is taken as a given and never once expressed onscreen. Which is particularly cowardly when you consider the fact that Derek Jacobi played Turing in a BBC film over 20 years before and it contained far more male/male intimacy. It's an important part of Turing's story, after all.

I would have liked to have included LOVE IS THE DEVIL, EDWARD II and THE HISTORY BOYS, but felt they weren't quite as good as the ones I did. The rest on your list are kind of boring, to me (sorry).

I think all you have the worst taste. "Laundrette" was awful and so was "Weekend". Prick up was the best of all. Beautiful Thing was poorly acted and unrealistic.

You did the right thing leaving off the Imitation Game, calling it a "gay film" would be incredibly misleading. It is not.

[quote]Beautiful Thing was poorly acted and unrealistic.

The ending is supposed to be unrealistic. It's a fairy tale. But the emotional heart of the film is 100% true and the social setting is extremely accurate.

Terence Davies' "The Long Day Closes"- an autobiographical film about the time in Davies' life after the death of his abusive father and his growing awareness of his sexuality in the 1950's.

I also loved Sidney J. Furies's "The Leather Boys" from the early 60's- a story of unrequited love but it really shows what the reality of being gay was like at the time. This was just before gay people began to understand themselves as an oppressed group; they are only isolated individuals but deserving of respect and freedom from hate.

I love the scene in THE LONG DAY CLOSES where the main character is watching the sweaty workman outside his house, captivated by his muscular body. There's so little happiness in Terrence Davies' films, though. I think he's been celibate his whole life and though he acknowledges his homosexuality I don't think he's ever welcomed it or been proud of the fact. Great film-maker.

British gay films are far more superior to the American gay ones. My favorite is "Priest". Of course, I'm gay man and a Catholic who considered the priesthood. (Shocking, I know). The film is a masterpiece.

How about some Lindsay Anderson? Either This Sporting Life or If...

There are some amazing American gay films that are superior/equal to any on this list, though: MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO, FAR FROM HEAVEN, CAROL, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, CRUISING, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, MYSTERIOUS SKIN, BOYS IN THE BAND, LONGTIME COMPANION, EDGE OF SEVENTEEN, PINK NARCISSUS, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, SHELTER, the films of Kenneth Anger and John Waters, etc.

IF... is an amazing film. Lindsay Anderson was similar to Terrence Davies, I think, in that he was also deeply religious and uncomfortable with his homosexuality. I think he spent his life lusting after straight men in friendships which were doomed to remain unreciprocated.

[quote]FAR FROM HEAVEN, CAROL

None of Todd Haynes's pallid, didactic, self-congratulatory pictures deserve to be anywhere near a list of great American gay films.

r30 They're beautiful films and incredibly moving (esp. FAR FROM HEAVEN).

Love "Beautiful Thing" and it's the film I watch over and over for pleasure. James WIlby is a dick-wilter for me, so that kind of ruins "Maurice." (If only they'd cast Cary Elwes.) And Daniel Day-Lewis is so fucking sexy in "My Beautiful Laundrette"...that tongue gave me wet dreams as a kid.

"Victim" is the truly landmark film on this list. If you haven't seen it, you must. It's on Criterion and iTunes. It's not a fun movie...but the fact that it was made in 1961 and addressed head-on the way that English law destroyed the lives of homosexuals is shocking and undeniably brave. Dirk Bogarde and Sylvia Syms are amazing. There's no other gay film I can think of that mixes the personal and the political so well.

Most gay films deal with love, sex and loss. "Victim" deals with identity and having the courage to stand up and say that you are a homosexual. It's still relevant and necessary.

James Wilby is a bit of a problem in Maurice (too droopy and wet, when Maurice is supposed to be a rugby sort of guy), but he was apparently a last-minute replacement for Julian Sands, who pulled out quite late.

r32 Very well said. I think VICTIM is the most important gay film of all-time. It was very influential in the subsequent battle to decriminalize homosexual acts in the UK. Not many films can say they helped to change the law.

[quote] How about some Lindsay Anderson? Either This Sporting Life or If...

If is my favourite film of all time but it is a critique of British society rather than a gay film per se.

Staircase

The OP is, of course, absolute shit in describing British film, but he or she comes up with interesting genres for discussion, I vote for Priest. Moving story and performances, hot Linus Roache and Robert Carlyle.

No one has mentioned Tony Richardson's "A Taste of Honey" which was considered a groundbreaking gay film at the time due to the Murray Melvin character. I watched this for the first time a while ago and I was pretty unimpressed. The Melvin character is so wan and asexual. He practically gives up his own life to take care of the needs of Rita Tushingham and her baby.

Victim 1961 a classic and a must watch...

So last week was the 50th anniversary of England's decriminalization of homosexuality. Also, of Orton's death.

& the 50th anniversary of the banning of the pirate radio stations.

& from then on and for years -there was only one national pop radio station, run by the BBC and with [bold]restricted needle time.[/bold] that had to shut down at 7PM.

Swinging England, right?

Already posted for Priest, and this old gay in NYC goes for US Mysterious Skin, really remarkable. Meh to imitative Todd Haynes. Just watch Sirk and Fassbinder. For the most parts, the Brits are better.

Re. Honey, I think handsome babydaddy Paul Danquah was gay. It really was gutsy of closeted gay Bogarde to star in Victim. The excellent Breaking the Code (wonderful play on,words) was the Turing version with Jacobi.

No Naked Civil Servant? I miss John Hurt.

I love British cinema you have no idea what you are talking about.

Yep r42. Paul Danquah was/is a relative of mine. He was gay. His lifelong partner was Peter Pollock and they were friends of the artist, Francis Bacon (Pollock sponsored him) who stayed in their flat in Battersea for a few years (1956 - 1961). Later Danquah and Pollock moved to Morocco. Danquah died aged 90 and was buried beside Pollock who'd died several years earlier.

Danquah was reportedly the first black children's tv presenter in 1960's when he presented Play School

He studied law and ended up a consultant for the World Bank until he retired.

Unfortunately I never met him.

Fascinating! If you are as cute as he was, congratulations.

Another for Love is the Devil. Daniel Craig full frontal isn't bad either!

Howabout "The Fruit Machine" from 1987? Another favorite is "Like it Is" from 1998.

I voted for 'Beautiful Skin', since it's the one listed that got to me the most. But I want to thank the rest of you for sharing some other good selections (taking notes from this thread). Thanks for getting the ball rolling, OP.!

Is Beautiful Skin the porn version?

R49, lol. Sorry, I meant 'Beautiful Thing'.

I just saw Victim on the big screen. Some of the acting was very of its time (The Barber! And the blackmailer seemed like an Avengers villain) but it's still a powerful film.

Peter McEnery as Boy Barrett is really cute in that.

Contrary to the haters' lies, THE IMITATION GAME did, indeed, show an explicit homosexual relationship between Alan Turing and a school mate through flashbacks.

It wasn't explicit sex. But it was explicit homosexual attraction, desire and it showed how they suffered adolescent bullying.

If you absolutely demand that these underage characters have explicit sex and nudity on the screen, then you're a PIG and PHILISTINE who doesn't get what film is all about.

Refraining from sex on-screen has the advantage of appealing to most heterosexuals, who need to learn some compassion for gays. Explicit sex would alienate many of them who need a good lesson. THE IMITATION GAME was absolutely appropriate for its purpose and broad audience.

Not every show should be a porno or for the exclusive enjoyment of gay men and their genitals.

Rebecca is the most Lesbi-erotic film of all time.

Set in England, but made in US.

Past: A TASTE OF HONEY.

Present: MY BROTHER, THE DEVIL.

Entertaining Mr. Sloane

Also like the movie's song.

I love The Servant.

Yes! The gay is more a subtext though?

[quote]Contrary to the haters' lies, THE IMITATION GAME did, indeed, show an explicit homosexual relationship between Alan Turing and a school mate through flashbacks.

It's a very close friendship that could have become something more, but there is no evidence in the film or in real life that Christopher Morcom reciprocated Turing's feelings for him. It's extremely ironic that they say at the end of the film how terrible homophobia is and what damage it did... and yet can't bring themselves to show any actual homosexuality.

That hot blond guy in The Servant is exactly my type.

I love his whole bitchy, aristo mien.

Entertaining Mr. Sloane's theme song...

Voted for lilting. Why Brideshead Revisited is not on the list?

R53 is right about this

Explicit sex would alienate many of them who need a good lesson. THE IMITATION GAME was absolutely appropriate for its purpose and broad audience.

r64 But no one is talking about explicit sex. There is plenty of heterosexual intimacy in the film: kissing, cuddling, holding hands, dancing, casual expressions of physical attraction. There is zero homosexual intimacy in the film. That was a conscious choice. And when the story is about homophobia and bigotry, that choice is cowardly and misguided at best. The argument that it's a wise choice because it will appease homophobes is bizarre. Most homophobes would have avoided the film anyway. And I hardly think those who did manage to see the film will have their views changed, as there's no actual homosexuality in the film; it remains an abstract thing, that takes place off-screen.

Also, its not just same-sex intimacy that's absent in the film: we never once see the adult Turing as someone who had any kind of sexuality. Just something as simple as seeing him attracted to another man is absent. We know that Turing was a sexually active man who had many homosexual relationships. And of course his arrest and downfall was because of a gay relationship he was in at the time. He's basically shown as asexual, which he clearly wasn't.

The OP is nuts. British/UK movies from the 60s are among the best.

Albert Finney, Dirk Bogarde, Julie Christie, Terence Stamp, Tom Courtenay, Peter Finch, Rachel Roberts, Richard Harris, Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Alan Bates, Sean Connery, etc.

& many great films in the 80s.

[quote]Why Brideshead Revisited is not on the list?

If you mean the Jeremy Irons one from 1981, I think that's one of the greatest things ever made, but it's a TV series, not a film. If you mean the Ben Whishaw one, I didn't include that because it's absolutely dreadful. One of the worst films I've ever seen. I love Ben Whishaw, but unfortunately that film is shit on a stick.

And to add to what r65 / r66 said, in the school scenes Turing and his mate were depicted as being in their early to mid teen, hence "naive" (= non sexual), while in real life Turing was in school until he was 19, but this (probably - who are we kidding, definitely - far more sexual) phase was ignored.

Add BORSTAL BOY (2002, dir. Peter Sheridan), based on the life of delinquent Irish poet Brendan Behan.

It is a misty-eyed nostalgia piece; pure fluff, and very watered-down for a film about a reform prison for teenage drunks and louts. First and foremost it's a love song to first gay infatuation in all its innocence and also to a long-lost post-war Britain - perhaps one that never really existed, a kind of Arcadia. It's not even fair to call it a great film, but it is a sweet and enjoyable romance believably executed and one that does not shy away from showing the beauty in romance between men. It's a little gem, oft forgotten.

The two romantic leads have excellent chemistry, and Danny Dyer gives a particularly compelling turn (which is high praise coming from someone who generally hates his acting). Interesting to realise that this very safe film was shot and produced around the same time as the in-your-face U.K. Queer As Folk.

I love love love Priest, I saw it 6 times in cinema when it came out, but still nothing beats Maurice.

r71 About 10 years ago Danny Dyer had carved out a niche for himself playing gangsters and thugs. He made a whole slew of films about violent gangs, football hooligans and criminals, etc. BORSTAL BOY was re-released on DVD and sold in supermarkets with this very misleading cover, which not only suggests Dyer is the star of the film, but also that it's just another criminal/prison movie, which always made me chuckle as I'm sure many straight men bought it and were shocked when they actually saw the film...

I'm always reminded of Borstal Boy when watching Animal Kingdom. Shawn Hatosy plays a slightly autistic killer in it. He was so pretty in Borstal Boy.

PENDA'S FEN is a very interesting film. It was directed by Alan Clarke in 1974 and written by the great David Rudkin. It's not strictly a film, as it was made for the BBC's "Play For Today" strand, but it was released on DVD several years ago. It's about history and personal/national identity, faith, language and the political landscape at the time. But the main character is a deeply religious gay boy who is struggling to align his sexuality with his faith. It's brilliantly written and unlike anything else I've ever seen, but may be too weird and slow for a modern audience.

[quote][R71] About 10 years ago Danny Dyer had carved out a niche for himself playing gangsters and thugs. He made a whole slew of films about violent gangs, football hooligans and criminals, etc. BORSTAL BOY

Shit like that is all they ever make in England or costume/ period stuff.

I can't stand either personally.

2nd WITHNAIL AND I!!

I love Withnail and I but I think it's a bit of a stretch to call it a gay movie.

Stretching is good if it goes gaywards

Again, r20, a.k.a. the OP originally wrote,

[quote]Alan Turing's homosexuality is taken as a given and never once expressed onscreen.

Which is untrue. They talk about Turing's homosexuality a few times and his school mate relationship is played with aching affection.

If you absolutely need gay sex, kissing or cuddling in EVERY gay film, then there's something wrong with you. Is that all gay people are? Is that all gay people do?

Is that what makes or breaks a great film?

Is that what everybody needs to see?

And F.Y.I., many homophobes DID see Imitation Game -- it has a WWII and military plot, so lots of elderly people and straight MEN watched it for a change.

My mother, aunts and uncle watched it. They're homophobes, but they all liked the movie and came away with newfound appreciation. My mother refused to watch Brokeback Mountain and she exited Black Swan "disgusted" and breathing fire.

It's the 30th anniversary of Maurice this year.

OP R60 ty!! This is informative re. Turing and Morcom.

I love that one poster is trying to prove Imitation Game was a gay movie by pointing out that homophobes felt safe watching it and they liked it.

Yeah, that's exactly the point.

More Turing

"There is a direct and somewhat causal link, then, between point A (Turing’s love for Chris Morcom and Morcom’s death) and point B (Turing’s interest in and groundbreaking work on the idea that would eventually be embodied as the computer and the area of thought that would ultimately become the discipline of artificial intelligence)."

R71 true that it's a rosy & softcentred romance, but it's a stretch to call 'Borstal Boy' a gay film. It should have been one but underwent straight-washing spin. The explicitly gay content, gang brutality & general misery were toned down heavily (surprisingly so for a Danny Dyer film).

The film is homoromantic, and this does become textual during a m/m kiss. However, the main character Brendan is portrayed in this film as bicurious at best with homophobic ideas typical of the era and with a serious female love interest. On learning of the death of Charlie, his close gay male friend and once-potential love interest, this film version of Brendan expresses shock but no misgiving or distress, and essentially concludes that "life is short so we'd better make the most out of it and not drink or terr orise so much".

The real Behan himself remained a hardcore alcoholic & philandering bisexual his entire life even though he gave up arms-dealing for the I RA after his Borstal stint.

I voted for Maurice, but also love Beautiful Thing and Get Real. God, I jerked off to the making out scene in My Beautiful Laundrette so many times when I was a teen.

Brit movies were quite daring back in the 80s and 90s while US movies were rather conservative when it came to gay themes and characters.

I voted for Maurice which such a good film.

Honourable mentions to Pride, Bedrooms & Hallways, Young Soul Rebels and The Hollow Reed.

The lesbians do quite well with Imagine Me And You, My Summer Of Love and the incredible Notes On A Scandal.

R75, I came across Penda's Fen on YouTube a couple of years ago, watched it and really enjoyed it. I didn't mind that it was slow at all, and I enjoyed the weirdness, because it wasn't really weird for the sake of it, but was actually expressing stuff I could think about and analyse afterwards, which I enjoyed. It got me looking up information on pre-Christian Britain's legends too. I'd recommend it, though you are probably right about how it would generally be reviewed by modern audiences (I always feel like a bit of an outlier, so am probably not the best judge of things).

I saw "Victim" on the big screen a few years ago. I thought it was pretty damn good.

DOCKYARD DORIS DOES DOVER

Another Country (1984) Cary Elwes was beautiful, I wish he’d starred in more gay themed things in the 80s and 90s. To me he would have been a perfect Sebastian Flyte.

"Victim" remains for me the bravest and most devastating and the one that best depicts what life was often like for gay men in the UK at the time (early '60s). Closeted film stars Dirk Bogarde and Denis Price do equally brave work. And as a bonus, you get to see the marquees of the currently running West End musical hits "Flower Drum Song" and "Oliver!" The latter figures prominently in the climactic action sequence.

But don't miss "The Lost Language of Cranes," a superb and moving made-for-TV film adaptation of a novel. Eileen Atkins has both a gay son and a closeted gay husband, played unforgettably by Brian Cox.

God's Own Country

Bedrooms and Hallways. Mainly because Kevin McKidd is in it 😍

I haven't seen a few of these films. I tried to watch Pride again and found it to be as cheesy as it was the first time. Weekend is good. God's Own Country should be on that list.

OP missed the good ones.

Absolutely fabulous but beyond the OP’s knowledge:

I was torn between Beautiful Thing and Maurice, they are both fantastic films, but Maurice wins out by a tiny margin for me, as it was a film that I really loved when it came out, and it was based on a book written way back in 1913 yet still had a happy ending, a brave thing to imagine for gay men back then. I loved the scene linked below, always stuck with me

Wow, no love at all for SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY? One of the best screenplays ever filmed. Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson? No love at all?

R99 not enough sexiness. Honestly I do like Sunday, Bloody Sunday too but I prefer my gay films with a little more passion like that in Maurice, Weekend, Another Country and God’s Own Country.

Starting with a false premise make really hard to take you serious.

Re: Victim, Dirk Bogarde was one of the biggest stars in the UK at the time it was made. He took an enormous personal and professional risk in taking the lead role. Horrible bitch of a man privately (read his autobiographies for evidence), but very brave.

I thought Weekend was pretty good, and then wasted a lot of time watching all the rest of Haigh's stuff. Weekend is by far the best of the lot. And even that was driven by a very contrived plot/twist (OMG I have to move to the US TOMORROW!!! And I never want a boyfriend even though I've snuggled with you for the past 24 hours!!)

As far as the list goes, I figured people would have moved beyond Maurice by now. Maybe it's just the most viewed.

'Victim' was also vital in adding to the impetus for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK in 1967. Few if any films can be said to make such a difference.

[Quote]a book written way back in 1913 yet still had a happy ending, a brave thing to imagine for gay men back then

R98 Yes it was written by E. M. Forster back then but he did not allow its release until after his death in 1971. The irony that a book about gay love which has a happy ending was written a century ago, but remained hidden all those decades. Imagine if it had been released decades earlier; what a guidepost it could have been for generations of young men.

Adding to the list: God's Own Country, a British Film about two gay men with a happy ending.

Maurice the book also wasn't released because it just is not very good, and not only because of the scandalous content.

I thought Sunday Bloody Sunday was AWFUL. Pretentious weird shit, and I have a tolerance for that kind of thing. Also wondering how many of the Victim fans have watched all of it. He repents of fagginess in the end and cries on his beard wife's shoulder. Hilarious how a DL full of gold star closet destroyers will tolerate that.

The History Boys isn't about being gay, it's a defense of teachers sexually preying on their students.

R110 yeah I found it disturbing. I didn’t understand the acclaim.

Did you miss the scene with the gay boy where the teacher fails to reach out and offer words of comfort? It's not a defence of molestation.

The Imitation Game was pure Oscarbait and a blatant (and successful) attempt to put over Benedict Cumberbatch with a mainstream American audience. I thought it was total schlock and not worthy to pick up the toenail clippings of Breaking The Code.

[Quote]Maurice the book also wasn't released because it just is not very good, and not only because of the scandalous content.

Said about a book actually written in 1913. So you were there when it was written.

Are you like more than a century old? Are you in The Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest living DLer?

It's suckiness is evergreen, R114.

The note Forster left on it said "publishable, but worth it?"

I like Victim and the young guy playing the gay guy is tasty. As for the British being shit at cinema there were a couple of guys named Powell and Pressburger, a guy named David Lean, one by the name of Carol Reed, and one called Alfred Hitchcock.

So glad to see Priest on this list. Weird - no one I mention this film to knows it. I remember when it came out it was kinda obscure. Not a big gay film. Seemed like no one saw it - and have never seen it aired anywhere since. But it was a direct hit for me at the time - as an Irish Catholic kid who had just come out.

With that said, Beautiful Thing is my favorite on this list. Schmaltzy perhaps - but the happy ending I wish I had as a teenager. Sentimental.

R117 they also had some great kitchen sink dramas too and the swinging 60s stuff