It's the Blue Jay Bar at Christmas time, and the regular patrons (gay men and a few straight women) gather to swap anecdotes and insults. A.I.P.'s paltry, low-budget answer to "The Boys in the Band", written and directed--both poorly--by Mervyn Nelson, is so wretchedly filmed (with dim lighting and gloppy photography, static staging, flabby editing and amateurish performances) that any document on the rise of gay-themed films in 1970s cinema need not even mention this entry. It has attained some interest in the last two decades for featuring a number of future TV stars (Fannie Flagg, Rue McClanahan, Gary Sandy and Gil Gerard), none of whom kept this title on their resumes for long. There's nothing wrong within this milieu in 'letting it all hang out,' but first Nelson needed something to say. The picture has no enlightening attributes, no insight into why some straight women prefer to hang out with gay men, nor the slightest hint of verisimilitude when it comes to the 'colorful' characters (they seem to exist just to put each other down). Gay audiences who buy into the trap that homosexuals are only happy when they're flocking together--and yet still miserable because they can never attain what they want--have been watching too many melodramas on the late show. * from **** (for Gerard's subtle performance, which looks Oscar-worthy compared to those of his co-stars).

I typed the script for SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE right after grad school at UCLA for Mervyn Nelson. Moved to NY on 8/15/69 (missed WOODSTOCK at the airport) and eventually found a life in NY. When Mervyn made the film I had already been friends with Candy Darling through an incredibly interesting workshop Mervyn ran. Also in the class were Sylvia Sims, Thao Panglis (soap star) and Eric (Hank) Estrada.I was in a fantasy scene in the film, and found the whole shooting process a great deal of fun, especially with people like Fanny Flagg and Rue McClanahan around. It opened, disappeared and was never heard of again, unless Marty Richards knows who owns it now. I think as a piece of history in gay films, this should not be forgotten. The NY Times got it right in their initial review. Sad, sad, sad.....but it laid the ground for WILL AND GRACE and BROTHERS. SO WHERE CAN I GET A COPY OF IT?

I saw this at the London Lesbian and Gay film festival a few years back and it was the highlight of the festival for me. Similar to Boys in the Band, it deals with a large colourful cast of characters who are regulars at a local gay bar. These include Gil Gerard (who went on to be Buck Rogers) as the straight-acting hunk who everyone wants, Rue McClanahan (Blanche from the Golden Girls) as a spiteful fag-hag and Candy Darling (of the Warhol factory), playing a sensitive transvestite, who after being beaten up by a sexually-confused lout asks "Has anyone seen a contact lens?" The title theme "Where do you go" is suitably haunting and there are some excellent funny lines in this movie - I can't understand why it hasn't come out on DVD yet. Well worth seeing if you get the chance.

This film now plays a lot of gay film festivals..billed as.... " The movie you love to hate"! Of course it now looks very politically incorrect. But there was a time that it really was like this. I know..I was there! P.S. It's so much fun to see so many people who went on to greater things. Michael Bluegrass