The end of an era. The beginning of a movement. Hailed by critics and audiences alike, GAY SEX IN THE 70s director Joseph Lovett focuses his story on New York City between 1969 and 1981, using remarkable present-day interviews and stunning archival footage to take viewers back to days just after Stonewall. Lovett takes us back to the piers, the trucks, the Central Park rambles, the back rooms, and the baths. It was a time where repression and fear were replaced by a sexual explosion, where shame became joy. In recreating the gay story of the 70s, Lovett shows that AIDS was not the only legacy of this period.A fun romp through the explicitly sexual world of New York’s Christopher St. during the gay rights era, director Joseph Lovett’s documentary, Gay Sex in the ’70s, consists of still photos of old haunts interspersed with interviews with the men who inhabited them, such as Roger McFarlane, Barton Benes, Tom Bianchi, Alvin Batrop, and Arnie Kantrowitz. Covering June 1969 to June 1981, Gay Sex in the ’70s traces the history of pre-AIDS public sex through Stonewall, to the rise of gay culture as we know it today. Incorporating politics with debauched anecdotes of men cruising the piers, fornicating in the backs of trucks, and attending discos, bathhouses, and S&M clubs, the film is entertaining and educational. Some footage of legendary dance clubs, such as Les Mouches, Flamingo, Paradise Garage, and Studio 54, make this a good movie to watch even for straight disco aficionados. In fact, this film could have benefited from more historical live footage, as it relies too heavily on its interviewees. As a result, Gay Sex in the ’70s at times suffers from sentimentality. But its friendly exploration into what one man called “the golden age of brotherhood and liberty” leaves a comforting feeling, as if listening to reminiscences from granddad. –Trinie Dalton
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October 17, 2010
#1
Review by Dymon Enlow
Rating:
The title is a little misleading since it only tells the story of gay sex in New York City in the 70′s, but oh well I still enjoyed the film and tripped out on all the archival photos and video especially the gay docks and St. Mark’s Baths! That was crazy!
My main beef though is there just wasn’t enough meat to the story. Yea, everybody is having sex, sex, sex nonstop, but hearing about it over and over got kinda repetitive. I wish there had been some interviews with somebody other than just the sex participants like city officials or doctors to look at the story from a different perspective. Also a brief introduction would have been nice, people mentioned “stonewall” a few times but I have no idea what that is. It was never explained. Still worth watching.
For those out there keeping score: numerous rear nudity, brief frontal nudity and no penetration.
October 17, 2010
#2
Review by Dorrie Wheeler
Rating:
The documentary Gay Sex in the 70s examines the lifestyle and culture of gay men from 1969 to 1981–the dawn of the AIDS era. The documentary was produced by former ABC Producer (20/20)Joseph Lovett. Gay Sex in the 70s is an excellent film.
The film primarily focuses on the disco era. Various gay men describe their lives and how things happened during that era. There is also a great deal of archived footage incorporated into the film. From back rooms at clubs to wild scenes in semi trucks at the docks things were definitely wild and free during that era.
Gay Sex in the 70s is a great historical film. The saddest part of the film is when the early 1980′s are discussed. The dawn of the AIDS era really impacted the gay community in a major way. One man shows a pile of pictures of all of his friends who died from the disease. Another man tells a story about how one of his patients called him when he was hospitalized for what he was told was a strange cancer. One great thing the film captured is how the gay community really took a handle of things and worked hard to promote awareness about the disease before the government or any other group got involved.
Gay Sex in the 70s is a film I highly recommend to historians and people interested in gay/lesbian culture.
I for one am someone who knew nothing about this era, so I found this film very enlightning.
October 17, 2010
#3
Review by G. Mitchell
Rating:
While I was only a kid during the 70s, this documentary provides a fascinating, bittersweet snapshot of the “golden age of gay sex,” i.e. after Stonewall and before full-blown AIDS – along with Friedkin’s “Cruising,” this doc shows us what NYC must have been like if you were young, hot, and single – and even if you weren’t you could score, too. Hard to believe that this time period is only two decades ago, but it seems like a distant world, a long-lost era so alien from out contemporary culture. I wish the film had made an attempt to also cover other area around the nation like SF, LA, etc. but this insider glimpse of NYC nostalgia makes you pine for “the good old days” even if, in tragic hindsight, we know they could literally kill you.
October 17, 2010
#4
Review by Paul Stitelman
Rating:
I was there, and I found this film accurate. I have less nostalgia about the period though because, though it was a period of unrestrained hedonism it was also a period of transition and upheaval. In a very short time we went from total anonymity to visibility, and the experience was jarring for those in the gay community that took part and those looking on. This was not quite underlined in the film. While it was true that sex was lying around waiting to be picked up, this came at a price. The price was intimacy. Liberation came to mean being able to be promiscuous without shame; this had its upside. However, by and large, it didn’t seem to diminish loneliness or desperation for a lot of people, and for many others it barred connection. The film portrayed the times honestly, and it was good to see the survivors as well as to remember those who didn’t survive.
October 17, 2010
#5
Review by Steve Askinazy
Rating:
This film serves a valuable purpose by covering a topic that is mostly ignored by other chroniclers of Gay History in the 70′s, However it has its own biasis and leaves one surprisingly gaping hole. The subjects interviewed are all knowlegeable and generous in sharing their personal recollections, and through their stories it’s possible to get a glimpse of this otherwise blacked out area of gay culture. Unfortunatley the viewer might be led to believe that EVERYONE was using drugs back then. This is not so. While drugs were certainly prevelent at the trucks and the baths and the back-room-bars, and the abandoned piers, many people chose not to partake. In fact it was possible to frequent these places regularly, engage in sexual acts with mulitple partners, and still avoid partnering with people who were high or intoxicated. It was also possible, after spending hours sampling from a vast tapestry of different partners, to end the evening in the bed of a carefully selected mate, or to bring him home to your own apartment. I did these frequently, always sober, and (almost) always with sober partners. The other glaring omission of the film is the lack of any mention of Subway “Tea-Rooms”. It is amazing that none of those interviewed talks about it. I am sure that they all must have had ample experiences in them. Younger people today find it hard to believe that subways stations even ever used to have bathrooms. But once upon a time every single subway station, in every borough, was required to have a bathroom that was working and accessible 24 hours. And what’s more, Gay sex was going on all day long in every single one of them. Until the late 60′s it cost a dime to enter them. Then, a law suit required the City to make them free. In the early 80′s, in the face of the early AIDS hysteria, Mayor Koch closed them all down, together with the bath houses. And we all mourned. submitted by Steve Ashkinazy