Don't listen to the negative reviews

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The acting in this movie is really good.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Looking at "The Boys in the Band" today is a depressing experience and not because it's about a group of self-loathing homosexuals being very nasty to each other, (you do have to put it into an historical context), but because several members of the cast have died from AIDS-related illnesses. Of course, the film does present us with every gay stereotype there is and what once appeared liberating, now might seem offensive. On the plus side, it is superbly played, (by the original NY cast), which makes the loss of so many feel all the more tragic. It also has some of the best dialogue ever written for an American play. Viewed today it is a period piece and while you may find a lot of it hateful you have to bear in mind it was groundbreaking, coming as it did at a time when homosexuality was not as freely visible on screen as it is today.

If The Boys In The Band (TBITB, for short) was really supposed to be an accurate depiction of what happens at a party consisting of only gay men, then it sure looked to me like these unhappy campers didn't know how to have a good time (sober or drunk) when they were in each other's company. They really didn't.From hurling vicious insults, to hateful bitching & bickering, to basking in self-pity, to shoving each other around, to deep-rooted resentment & bitterness - Believe me, TBITB did not paint itself a pretty picture.Below are several quotes taken directly from this decidedly sordid homosexual soap opera. If these sorts of comments appeal to you, then, perhaps, TBITB will, indeed, entertain you to pieces - If not - Then you can always choose another movie to watch."There's nothing more boring than a queen doing a Judy Garland impersonation.""Who would want to be a flaming, little sissy like you?""Show me a happy homosexual and I'll show you a gay corpse.""Just the same, old, tired fairies.""You remind me of an old maid, school teacher."(Get the picture?)*Note* - This sort of chit-chat went on and on and on, non-stop, throughout the entire course of the story.Personally, I believe that if director William Friedkin (who 3 years later directed The Exorcist) had thrown a few lesbians into the mix at Harold's birthday party, then that, I'm sure, would've helped heaps to alleviate some of the brutal pettiness and irksome monotony that prevailed from TBITB's swishy beginning to its trite and tearful finale.

A Magic Mirror For All of Us...Right from the start ,I beg the readers of this to drop all the labels,like "gay", "straight","neurotic","social outcast","religious phony", etc.The film is about ALL OF US, irrespective of our social status, sexual identity, religious beliefs,and that is the reason it will never be outdated,though it was made exactly forty years ago.REAL TALENT NEVER AGES!Like the famous British film "Victim", it speaks not only of homosexuals and their problems, but of the right of any human to be himself,of the right to be accepted and respected.Otherwise, we cannot ramble of Democracy, and little by little we will get back to the times of Hitler, Stalin and Mao, when one ended up in a concentration camp, if he dared to behave or even think differently.This is a strong social message not to forget."The Boys in the Band" also has a great humanitarian charge: it makes us think ,why we can't take a little step to better understand each other,take responsibility for our own actions,accept different from ours lifestyles without hysterics,overcome petty jealousy and possessiveness.Th film speaks of our loneliness in this world, inability to communicate.But the problem (as well as its solution ) is within us , not without. I can't but applaud the makers of the film for their bravery, both social and artistic (today,in the Age of Political Correctness Inquisition we have no such films in Hollywood).Let us just remember those of the film's actors who are not with us any longer and wish the very best to those who are still alive and kicking!

There seems to be a common theme in reviews of this film. Are the characters true to life or not? Are they cliché or not? Well, they're both. Let's not forget: clichés are clichés for a reason! My problem with this film is not whether or not I will be tripping over Michaels at the local gay bar or should I live in fear that I may bump into a Harold (because having just watched the film, I have to tell you I'd rather eat dirt than have to sit five minutes with that insufferable turd) in the 'gaybourhood' but rather that the whole thing seemed forced. The actors did a splendid job with what they were given but the dialogue is overly melodramatic. The direction is heavy-handed. These things companied with the maudlin 'telephone game' that is the second half of the film force the whole project to collapse under its own weight. I appreciate that the film stood for something in it's day and it doesn't fall into the two worst pitfalls of gay cinema (see my review of Poster Boy) although that's mostly due to the era; however, the film borderlines on the ludicrous in the last half. The beginning- not so bad.