Some of My Best Friends Are...

Some of My Best Friends Are... is a 1971 drama film written and directed by Mervyn Nelson and starring Fannie Flagg, Rue McClanahan, and Candy Darling.

Some of My Best Friends Are...
Directed byMervyn Nelson
Written byMervyn Nelson
Produced byJohn Lauricella
Martin Richards
StarringFannie Flagg
Rue McClanahan
Candy Darling
CinematographyTony Mitchell
Edited byRichard Cadenas
Angelo Ross
Music byGordon Rose
Distributed byAmerican International Pictures
Release date
  • October 27, 1971 (1971-10-27)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Premise

edit

On Christmas Eve 1971, in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, a group of gay men and lesbians meet at the mob-owned Blue Jay Bar to talk about their lives and relationships.

Cast

edit

Reception

edit

Vincent Canby, in an unfavorable review, called the movie "a second-rate spin-off from 'The Boys in the Band,'" with "hammy performances and a sentimental screenplay that sounds as if it had just been let out after 30 years in a closet"

When most of the characters in a movie are as full of dopey sentiments, as well as of self-hatred and of self-exploitation, as the movie that contains them, it's almost impossible to differentiate between an intentional second-rateness and serious moviemaking of no great quality. It's impossible, that is, until it becomes obvious that Mervyn Nelson, who both wrote the screenplay and directed the film, shares with his characters not only a large amount of boozy self-pity, but also the sort of romanticism that permits characters to define themselves—without irony—in the clichés of old-fashioned Hollywood soap opera. **** Better performances might possibly have given some life to such lines and situations, but under Mr. Nelson's solemn direction, they sound like parodies of real emotions.[1]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Canby, Vincent (October 28, 1971). "One night in a Gay Bar". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  • White, Dave (18 December 2007). "Where the Boys Aren't". The Advocate. p. 64.
edit