MovieChat Forums > Partners (1982) Discussion > Dated in more ways than one

Dated in more ways than one

posted 13 years ago by Itsamoomoo
13 replies | jump to latest

I recently saw "Partners" for the third time since its original release nearly thirty years ago. Friends always ask me why I even bother watching it. However, I have always found it a very enjoyable film. I especially like to watch Ryan O'Neal. But in this recent viewing I've noticed a few things that really date this movie or bother me.

For example. Ryan O'Neal is really hard on the John Hurt character, when his boss assigns him the assignment to go undercover in the gay world. You can feel his hostility and at one point even refers to John Hurt with the "F" word. While I understand this is 1982 mentality I was a bit offended. I thought gay tolerance has come a long way but this film brought a lot of old feelings back. I really disliked the way Ryan O'Neal's character came off and it made me wonder how close to the real Ryan O'Neal this is.

Also, almost every gay male in the film was portrayed as ultra queenie. I don't know who wrote the screen play but a film like this only caused more straight people to think negatively of gay men and probably continues to to this day.

I am sure I will watch this again in another five to ten years and enjoy it somehow.

[–] rship1 13 years ago

My first attempt to watch this movie was when it first came on HBO ~ in 1983[?]. I couldn't stand the stereotypes & the 'F' word. I only made it through part of the movie. I turned it off at the scene where O'Neal beds the female photographer and Hurt goes to the bar in a state of depression. Because it was just another stereotype: Despite that O'Neal was abusive to Hurt & certainly not sexually interested in men, it was sterotypical that Hurt would fall in love with O'Neal
stereotype: all gay men secretly really want a straight man

It's on FLIXe tomorrow. Maybe I'll make an attempt to watch it all the way through this time

edit: Oops! It was on a few hours before I posted making the showing yesterday. I missed it.

[–] dalldorfw 13 years ago

I agree about the stereotypes, but O'Neal's homophobia was kinda the point; he was a homophobic that had to overcome his old-fashioned prejudice in order to solve the case and becomes a better person in the process.

[–] jac91604 13 years ago

Please, you read too much into this film.

I guess we shouldn't view old films from the 1930s because blacks might get offended.

The film is almost 30yrs old and it dealt with how the police viewed gays.

Do you honestly think the F word isn't used among cops today?

Why not just enjoy the film or not watch it.

You sound like a black person who can't watch Gone With The Wind, never mind the fat that Hattie McDaniel got an Oscar for it.

Get so tired of everything having to be PC.

And did you ever think that films like this started the ball rolling to having more acceptable gay themed films that are made today?

[–] dalldorfw 13 years ago

Resound to the person above; I'm the one that agrees with you.

[–] mlmerit 13 years ago

Being a straight man who has been around a couple of gay family friends all my life (50yrs) I can tell you it was embarassing to watch how people reacted to openly gay men. The "family friends" were friends of my mom and she's known them since before I was born. They were a couple. Were, because one of them died a couple years ago at the age of 82 I think. To us they were just a couple, nothing more, nothing less. One was a fantastic cook who when in town would cook for us while they stayed at our house for a few days...Of course my friends and I were high school age and I had a couple less friends after they either reacted poorly to a gay man, or judged me for not judging my mom's friend for being gay....You learn early who can be your friends.

So sorry for going off the deep end there...About the movie and all the "f---" and "girls", "ms" a few times etc...As I mentioned above it just seemed to come out of resentful or frightened hetro males like it was a reflex reaction. Sure when we saw the couple together they talked about themselves like that but we weren't taught to hate or disrespect people like that, so we didnt. It's true that is how most police did and still do sometimes deal with anyone who is gay or lesbian. I assume its for the same reason my high school friends made the same comments..They were uneasy around someone who was gay. Whether it was caused by their own hidden homosexual thoughts or guilt or maybe it was what they were taught. Either way once spoken to and explained that our family didn't harbor those thoughts or opinons because someone was gay, black, short, fat, etc etc etc I either lost them as a friend (no loss) or they at least learned to accept a little better. Ignorance is one thing, as it can be dealt with by teaching or asking someone to accept before judgement. Hatred is an entirly different story, and until those people are put in the shoes of being hated for no reason but being different they wont learn.

Remember...Dennis Miller's comment...Gay people aren't destroying the sanctity of marriage...Judgemental people are...

edit note...After posting this message I noticed IMDB wouldn't let me use a 3 letter word used by homophobes to describe gay men...it starts with F..Since the discussion of this movie was about those types of words being used I didn't think twice about using that word as a quote from the movie. I went back and used f---- to replace the *beep* IMDB used in place of the actual word..Hopefully it will be understood and nobody was offended either way...

[–] Erin-Leigh-14 10 years ago

I went back and used f---- to replace the *beep* IMDB used in place of the actual word..Hopefully it will be understood and nobody was offended either way...

i am a firm believer that words like this do not have power - it is the intention with which they are said that has the power. you were quoting from a movie and certainly not using the word to describe or insult someone. no offence taken at all :)

it's wonderful to hear that your family friends had such a long, loving relationship with each other at a time when gay relationships were even less accepted than they are now, and that they had great friends who accepted them as they were and stuck up for them against intolerance and hate. it's people like you and your mom who have helped gay rights get to where they are now, just by recognizing that these people are just people and they are deserving of equality. kudos to you!

[–] vilafire 8 years ago

And kudos to you for not giving world power. This is something that's gotten so out of hand. The n word, the f word, the t word.

If someone says using the word offends them, they're ignorant. If someone calls me a f--, as a gay man I will be offended. If someone uses the word inoccuously in discussion, I will not. The same should be true for everyone across the board. Unfortunately some really shallow idiots want to censor anything without realizing 1) it only heightens the power of that word and 2) whatever new term you use will become as offensive if it's used negatively.

It's not what you say, it's how you say it.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] moviechatterer (13258) 3 years ago

"I agree about the stereotypes, but O'Neal's homophobia was kinda the point; he was a homophobic that had to overcome his old-fashioned prejudice in order to solve the case and becomes a better person in the process."

yup , classic "better person" storyline
10 years later "Green Book" did exactly the same

[–] fiatlux-1 13 years ago

I ordered this film on DVD a short while back, and while it still is rather funny and appealing in its own way...it is indeed very dated and also kind of mean-spirited. Is this really the way homosexuals were viewed then, such as in the police station when they are arrested? I was born in the mid '70s, so I wouldn't have known much about it when this was made in 1982.
And for God's sake did people, gay or straight, REALLY hop into bed with each other that much? Tell me its only dramatic licensing!

It just seemed a bit too rife with stereotypes, even for a comedy.

"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

[–] sitedecinema 12 years ago

"You can feel his hostility and at one point even refers to John Hurt with the "F" word. While I understand this is 1982 mentality I was a bit offended."
As if the F word were not still widely used nowadays by gay bashers...

[–] franzkabuki 12 years ago

"Even refers to John Hurt with the "F" word".

Even with... THE "F" WORD! ANOTHER DREADED "F" WORD! But how can this be, is it not so SHOCKING! Such a terrible, vile thing... it could never happen IN REAL LIFE! I mean... it´s... the-the-the... "F" WORD!!!

Whatta disgusting age of hysterical, idiotically pedantic political correctness this seems to be over in America, so that even some as-hole of a cop in a 30-year old movie (all Ryan O´Neal´s characters are always as-holes, more or less) is called out for using language that is perfectly fitting for the character he plays.

Also, the "fairy jokes" - even though all obvious, broad and in pretty bad taste - are the only humor in this sorry-ass picture that´s actually funny(that... and the mere sight of Redmond Barry wrapped up in heavy leather). Otherwise it´s an awfully dull picture that periodically seems to forget whether it wants to be a comedy or a police procedural or something else entirely. Mostly, it´s so flat and bland I´m amazed someone actually bothers to take any issue with it.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] vilafire 8 years ago

I think it says a lot about how far we've come in a short amount of time for you to write such a post. I will caution that maybe casting the actor in a negative light is as unintentionally misguided as what the filmmakers did.