Fifth Freedom, 1982-02-01

              THE FIFTH FREEDOM A PUBLICATION FOR THE BUFFALO GAY COMMUNITY FEBRUARY 1982 FREE "The Freedom to love whomever and however we want" "Making Love" In Buffalo BY JOHN A. FAULRING, JR. The Buffalo News/Sunday, January 17, 1982: MONDAY-Movies/Sneak preview of "Making Love" starring Michael Ontkean, sponsored by Mattachine Society. 7 at University Cinema. Can it be? Buffalo finally gets a look at a NEW movie? Its not a film the rest of the country has had for weeks, or even months? Its not a re-release that has already been shown on cable? You hear people talking about it after they come back from New York City, or some other vacation spot? It is true! Buffalo, New York has been chosen to be one of the cities that will see the first run showing of a film that will be one of the most controversial, and hopefully successful, ot 1982. Why? There are a few reasons that should be known as background for thie coming of age for Buffalo. These will be looked into in this article. Why Mattachine? The involvement of Mattachine/The Fifth Freedom began a year ago. In January of 1981 in New York City we attended the formative meetings of what is now the Gay Press Association (GPA). We were contacted by a national ad representative in The Big Apple about our involvement and participation in the organization. It seemed like a very big step, but a necessary one. So we said yes. At the meeting, we talked over the format of the paper; possible national ads; working with national distributors of things such as movies, records, books, and any further outreach that could come along that would mean more revenue for us. Because of these discussions, it was decided that THE FIFTH FREEDOM would start being typeset to have a more professional, and marketable, appearance. This happened in April. Next Stop Dallas Then in May, we attended the final formational meeting of the association in Dallas. Once again, more talk of national involvement. After the conference, we saw it begin. Books that were to be released shortly that would be of gay interest were being sent to us for review. As much as possible, we ran our reviews. As to the impact on purchases, we'll never know if we had an effect. Still they came...and keep coming. The we received records from companies that wanted our help. To this date they have all been oriented toward the feminine audience, but there is hope for the men to come around with some soon. Hopefully, we had an impact. ! National Exposure Through exchanges with gay publications in other parts of the country, a very strong push for national ads through the mails, and, most important of all, a very i strong campaign by our national ad representative, we became known to those that could do us the most good. For too long it was not known that i THE FIFTH FREEDOM existed as a viable instrument of outreach into this part of 1 New York State. After a lot of hard work, I and long hours...it is known. < We are in contact with companies < from all over the country now and hope to be having more and more national ads appear in the coming months. We are aware that it is not always easy to be able to find the variety of products that one might find in other parts of the country, that have interest to Buffalo's gay population. We hope to become a marketplace for these items. "Making Love,, When it was known that there was a movie being made with a "gay theme/ I was very interested in getting some ads for it. I never could have realized the turn this would take. After months, even a year, of hearing rumors, keeping hopes up and waiting...finally it happened. "It" was the phone ringing, my answering it and, on the other end, it was Twentieth Century-Fox in New York City. They wanted to know if we would like to set up a Sneak Preview of the movie "Making Love" starring Michael Ontkean, Kate Jackson and Harry Hamlin. It wasn't due for general release until February 12th; but we could have a private showing on January 18th, if we wanted to. WE WANTED TO! Premier Night After talking with them a few times; having them send us printed tickets for the showing; then contacting 340 people to come...it was set. The crowd was, purposely, made up of gay men and women; non-gays that are known to be supportive of us; and many from the media that have been helpful to us in the past. The night was anything but hospitable, following on the coat tails of one of our "Sunday Snows" that have become standard this winter, but they came out anyway. In the end 325 hardy souls made it out. It may have been cold outside, but the mood indoors was a warm and congenial mix of friends old and new, known and not so well known. After the usual stocking up on all the standard movie goodies, even though some of us shouldn't have, it was... Showtime The movie starts in a documentary style with both the male and female love interests talking about "the man in their lives." That rather technically cold way of starting the film soon ends and we are immersed in the warmth, and heat, of the relationships that form the story. There were moments of audible recognition from the very beginning. The audience reacted to many things they saw and heard on the screen, with knowing asides to their neighbors. This continued all through the film with a couple moments of total silence during BULLETIN: Barry Sandler Here Feb. 11 Barry Sandler, who wrote the screenplay of "Making Love" will be making an appearance on AM Buffalo on Thursday, February 11 at 10 a.m. There will also be a special screening of the movie for a studio audience. Watch Channel 7 for further details. The Media Watch "Brideshead Revisited" & "Making Love" Gay TV And Film BY ROD HENSEL It is a month of media events for gays. First, the release of "Making Love," the first major motion picture with a positive view of gays, and the continuing saga of "Brideshead Revisited," the British production of the Evelyn Waugh novel now showing on PBS (channel 17). The plot of "Making Love," and the Mattachine preview of the film last month, is described elsewhere in this issue. The question before us here, is what kind of impact will the movie have. For straights, it is a unique film indeed. For the first time, two men are shown in love, and neither one is driven to suicide or suffers agonizing guilt. In fact, both go on to lead happy homosexual lives, although not with each other. What is also unique is the major promotion being given the film by Twentieth Century Fox. The studio is gambling that the time is right for a gay love story that will be accepted by the public at large, and if they guess right, gay characters could start cropping up with some regularity on the silver screen. That could have a very profound effect on our culture, because movies set trends. They establish, or at least give some legitimacy to, what society as a whole finds acceptable. In "Making Love," society is told that gays aren't silly drag queens, that they do not go around lamenting being gay, that two fairly macho type men can find happiness together. It would be expecting a great deal of any film to make acceptance of such attitudes common place—no one is going to confuse this movie with "Gone With The Wind"—but if the seeds are sown now it could have a profound effect on how you and I live. Even if its a flop among general audiences, "Making Love," is going to have an impact on many closeted gays. It is an acceptable movie for a closeted gay to go see. And from it, I can see hundreds of men who are now living in unhappy heterosexual marriages finding the strength and courage to come out, just as the hero does in the movie. Even more interesting to watch in the weeks ahead will be the impact of the film on the gay community. It presents, perhaps unintentionally, some fairly probing issues to the gay man watching the film. In the movie, Michael Ontkean falls in love with Harry Hamlin. As they become bedmates with increasing frequency, Michael whispers, just after a moment of passion, the words "I Love You." In the theater at the Mattachine preview, you could hear a very audible "oooooh" from the mostly gay crowd just after the words were uttered. Those three little words, to quote the old song, are a clear danger signal tomany gays. They fear emotional attachments, largely because they've been there before and don't want to return again. The film presents to the gay viewer some important contrasts. It shows the emotional dependency and support Michael had in his heterosexual marriage with Kate Jackson, and how, upon coming out he sought that same sort of support in a gay relationship. It contrasts it with Harry's familiar lifestyle of pickups in the bars and one-night stands, emphasized at one point by Harry's refusal to even have breakfast with an overnight trick for fear of becoming too involved. That question nags the gay viewer throughout the film, because it is a question that the gay man must face throughout his life. The gay man in a lover relationship is viewed with envy by many single gays, but the gay man in such a relationship often views with envy of his own the sexual freedom of the single gay. A gay friend of mine told mc after the preview that he didn't really like it, but later admitted his reason was that "it hits too close to home." Carol Stevens, a reporter for the Courier-Express, saw the preview too and said later in a column thatthe movie could be criticized for showing gays as too happy, or as she said, "abnormally normal." For both straights and gays, "Making Love" appears to be hitting on some truths. Any film that can do that makes a valuable contribution to society as a whole. TRUTH IS a little more elusive in the PBS showing of "Brideshead Revisited," a film where the two principle characters have a homosexual relationship. By all accounts, it is accepted thatthe story is a classic, that the acting is superb, and that the 11-week series is top-notch television. It also contains what Newsweek has dubbed a "serious and empathetic portrayal of young male love." The serious makes it obvious that the two characters (played by Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews are lovers) but confines onscreen contact largely to walking handin-hand through the garden and a lot of leaning on each others shoulders. It is such a good series that everyone wants to talk about it, but confusingly, everyone is almost universally ignoring the gay theme of the story. This is not easy to do, since the plot, especially in the initial episodes, is based entirely on the love relationship between the two young men. Continued on page 6 Continued on page 13