Saturday Night now out on DVD!
Saturday Night at the Baths has just been released on DVD and is available through TLA Video (www.tlavideo.com) for $24.99. Enjoy! After reading your comment, I might have to buy it and check it out!
I saw it was finally out! Like I said it is a "B" movie but all I remember is it affected me so much when I was a teen in the 70's! I'll definately buy it and watch it again to see how I react to it 30 years later! A lot has changed and we've come a long way.... And even after I watch it again, I may think how could I have given that movie a nine out of ten...I will always remember the joy it brought me when I was a kid and how it helped me deal with my sexual identity! It's a big part of my history and really helped me accept me for who I was in a time when society saw us as mentaly ill! For that fact alone, it makes it a classic! Thank God times have changed!
shareIs it anything like The Ritz? Or is it more along the lines of A Very Natural Thing? I'd like to see it, regardless - but I'm just curious how "campy" the whole thing is. Isn't it kind of a BI-sexual thing?
sharebut I'm just curious how "campy" the whole thing is. Isn't it kind of a BI-sexual thing?
It's not all that campy; and even though the lead character, Michael, is involved with a woman, the entire focus of the film is on him and his budding relationship with the entertainment director at the baths, the real Don Scotti. Actually the female, Ellen, is very supportive and encourages Michael to be open about gay things. (I'm not sure if she actually knows how open Michael already is in his fantasies or anything about his past.)
I think I said this before in another thread; but the real value of the film is not so much the story but a look back at a time 30 years ago, after Stonewall, when things had started to change somewhat and to give the viewer a peak inside the Continental Baths. share
It does sound better than I thought. I just always thought that it was in the realm of The Gay Deceivers. Have you seen THAT? Now THAT's camp! LOL
shareI just always thought that it was in the realm of The Gay Deceivers. Have you seen THAT?
You're making me remember my childhood! Yes, I do remember it, sort of. Wasn't it 2 cops pretending to live as a gay couple and one of them (John Hurt?) was actually gay?
Well Saturday Night at the Baths is actually meant to be much more serious than The Gay Decievers. Of course, from today's vantage point, it looks a little different, I'm sure, than it did in the mid-70's. share
[Wasn't it 2 cops pretending to live as a gay couple and one of them (John Hurt?) was actually gay? [/quote]
No... but you're making yourself a BIT younger by thinking that it WAS! LOL The movie you're thinking of is Partners (1982), which was really awful, too. MAYBE more awful than The Gay Deceivers.... actually, I'm thinking that Partners is definately worse than The Gay Deceivers (1969) with the story of two STRAIGHT Vietnam dodgers who pretend to BE gay so they are automatically rejected (but of course!) and end up living next door to this "flamboyant" gay guy... oh, you'd know if you saw it! I mean, I definately take into account the time in which it came out... so, it's moderately entertaining even still.
The movie you're thinking of is Partners (1982), which was really awful, too. MAYBE more awful than The Gay Deceivers.
Thanks for setting me straight. LOL
I actually went to the IMDB article on The Gay Deceivers and read the only two reviews that are available. It does sound corny; but from the reviews, it does delve into some serious territory as well. The two guys evidently set out to get out of Vietnam by convincing the draft board that they are not gay, not realizing that their 4F status and the reason behind it would keep them from getting a security clearance needed for many jobs in that era. (It sometimes takes a realization like this to make me understand how far we have come since then.)
Another interesting thing I learned is that it is available on DVD in Canada. I will never understand how that happens. Recently I found that Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle was available on DVD in Canada and ordered it from amazon.ca. It's not available here in the USA. Strange! share
The two guys evidently set out to get out of Vietnam by convincing the draft board that they are not gay, not realizing that their 4F status and the reason behind it would keep them from getting a security clearance needed for many jobs in that era.
No, they're both STRAIGHT! Here's a description that I got (and it's the movie that I saw):
Danny and Elliot have no intention of giving up their swinging heterosexual lifestyles... that is, until Colonel Dixon starts spying on them. To throw him off the trail, Danny and Elliot move into an all-gay L.A. apartment comlex where there lives are turned upsie down.
MOST of the movie is very STRAIGHT-oriented. The unusual thing is that the "twist" at the end (hope I don't spoil it for you) is that the Colonel is not who HE appears to be.
There's a gay neighbor, who I suppose you could say turns in a really nice performance.... but he's such a flamer! I don't have anything against that, mind you (to each his own....and I've had some friends who....), but his lines are so campy that it's hard to take him serious. I think the two straight guys learn some "lessons" or such from him, though right now I can't think what they were.
I love seeing "gay" movies from earlier times. The way the whole thing started was me reading the book The Celluloid Closet, and then I also saw the film. It's VERY interesting how this whole thing has evolved. TRULY, the success of Brokeback Mountain is the pinnacle example of how far we've come. share
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was it filmed at the real continental baths?
Yes, it was. That's the major factor that makes it so interesting. share
Do you see any "action" going on??? As if! I'm sure as a "period piece" it holds some fascination... and I would like to see it! I think I'll go check into the message board for Gay Sex in the 70's.... bet you that film will give us ALL a pretty good idea of how fake a film like Saturday Night at the Baths is.
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