Out the Movies is a bi-weekly newsletter about lgbtq+ film for AF+ subscribers written by Drew Burnett Gregory.
“The two girls stood in front of that big wide window in broad daylight and began blatantly and passionately embracing and kissing each other. In defiance of their eviction, they were doing their thing so everybody in the bar could see them. It was a rift I was witnessing right there and then between these two separate worlds: the brazen girls outside who were the very essence of liberation and those vintage guys at the prevent who were sitting there somewhat shell-shocked by something they’d never seen before.”
This is not an excerpt from a lesbian pulp novel. It’s an excerpt from Al Pacino’s recent memoir Sonny Boy. To the famous actor, this expression of queerness was a declaration of a changing time. To him, it was akin to the revolutions happening on the streets and at the cinema.
The 1970s are often discussed as a golden age of American cinema. The Hollywood studio system — and its Hays Code — had been destroyed and in its place were a collection of radical auteurs. Books like Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls helped to mythologize this era as a grand
Revisiting Al Pacino’s Queer films in honour of Celebration Month
By Tilly Long, Second Year, English
Famous for intimidating roles in gangster movies, Al Pacino’s most curious choices are often overlooked, namely those centered around LGBT+ issues.
Al Pacino is best known for playing Italian mobsters, from Michael Corleone in The GodfatherTrilogy (1972-1990) to Tony Montana in Scarface (1983).
However, my favourite act of his is Sonny Wortzik in Dog Sunlight Afternoon (1975). Directed by one of cinema’s most influential voices, Sidney Lumet, the plot navigates Sonny’s frantic attempts to rescue his failed bank robbery.
Although it may not emerge to be an LGBT+ film at first glance, there are clues. In Brooklyn, New York, on August 22, 1972, there was a fourteen-hour standoff between the police and the real Wojtowicz, whose motive was to pirate enough money to settle for his lover’s sex change.
Pacino’s performance is remarkable for a number of reasons. It took place in the same year The Godfather: Part 2 (1974)had gained him an Oscar nomination.
Pacino’s genius is to slowly un-menace his character, to the signal where his own hostages start to care for hi
This ’80s Al Pacino Thriller Turned Into One of the Most Hurtful Movies Ever
The '80s brought many cruelties for the queer community: the Reagan Administration, AIDS, demonization, televangelist Jerry Falwell proclaiming "AIDS is God's punishment for homosexuals," and gay bashing abounding. It was hell. But the beginning of the decade also brought cruelty in the form of film. Cruising was released on February 8, 1980. The film, starring Al Pacino as an undercover cop, Steve Burns, probing murders in New York's S&M gay subculture, was a thorn in the community's side upon its release. From the timing of its release to the message of hopelessness it leaves viewers with, a film supposedly delving into New York's same-sex attracted underworld became one more thing the gay group had to endure. And perhaps the greatest sting of the movie is that it's still reverberated to this day. Because despite victories for the LGBTQIA+ community in the decades since Cruising emerged, despite Marriage Equality, despite better treatment and prevention of AIDS, and despite far more gay inclusion, this bloodlust for lgbtq+ suffering still exists. Somehow, 19
Al Pacino Admits the Feature “Cruising” Was “Exploitative” of Gays
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After decades of remaining silent, Al Pacino has finally admitted that the 1980 movie Cruising, in which he starred, was “exploitative” of the gay community.
The 84-year-old actor makes the uncovering in his memoir, Sonny Boy, noting that he was so uncomfortable with how director William Friedkin’s production portrayed gay people that he never used the money he earned from the film for his personal gain.
“I never acknowledged the paycheck for Cruising,” Pacino writes. “I took the money and it was a lot, and I put it in an irrevocable trust fund, meaning once I gave it, there was no taking it back. I don’t know if it eased my conscience, but at least the funds did some good.”
The feature, adapted from Gerald Walker’s 1970 novel, caused uproar among segments of the gay and lesbian society at the time it was released. Pacino’s traits, a New York Town police detective, goes undercover as a gay guy with the intent of catching a serial killer who has been targeting gay men.
