The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 29, 1980, Page Page 8, Image 8
Homosex
By David Baker p
Gamecock Film Critic ^
As far as advance publicity goes, s;
I? rinrllrin 'c P r i i o i m rt ic in n
tv tillc?ill i i i^uimii o v^r uioiri^ 10 111 v/
the same league with Francis Ford d
Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Last S
summer, the Cruising set
repeatedly had to be shut down
because gangs of militant New
York gays, apparently inspired by tl
the writings of Village Voice c
columnist Arthur Bell, whiled fi
away their afternoons by b
screaming insults and throwing b
things (bricks, bottles, etc.) at p
mnvipmakprs whom thev thoueht tl
to be hard at work making a b
violent anti-gay movie, certain to o1
bring harassment to e^ch and P
every homosexual in the known O
world the minute it reached the.
nation's theatre screens. C
q
Columns began to pop up in w
Hn?onc r\f nnhlinntiAnc T
UV/CV.UO vi puunvatiuuo, u uiu 1
York Magazine to Variety to Time, h
either supporting the demon- C
strations against the film or s
supporting Friedkin's right to
make it. Thankfully, the vast fi
majority of the articles concerning I
Cruising fell into the latter r
category, with only a few, mostly tl
underground, publications having
the courage (or should I say h
ignorance) to go against the rights w
guaranteed by the First Amend- v
ment. b
SUPPOSEDLY, MANY scenes r
in Cruising had to be looped ? that
lO, "OVt LI It UldlU^Ut- ItXUlUCU 111
the studio ? because of the ravings t
of the protestors. But even this did r
not keep Friedkin & Co. from i
bringing the film in on schedule 1
and, if memory serves, under c
budget. Now that Friedkin has i
completed the film, however, the t
gays who protested its being made s
are protesting its being shown. t
Most of them, one must assume, c
are protesting the film without \
having seen it, for Cruising in no t
u/av ripalR with thp mainstream of I
g&ylife. Friedkin, in fact, has included
a title card saying that the !
The talented Glenn Phillips o
Wednesday night.
sto., i :
Pacinos
utility out
icture deals almost exclusively
'ith the fringe world of
adomasochistic gays who hang
ut in leather bars, looking for'
angerous thrills (as the Paul
orvino character says in the film,
It's a world unto itself").
WITH SUCH a statement staring
lem in the eyes, one must conlude
that the people who1 want the
Jm removed from theatres
ecause 01 a possiuie ami-guy
acklash are every bit as pomous,
recalcitrant and fanatical as
le legion of misguided Bibleeaters
who raised such a ruckus
ver the showing of Monty
ython's Life of Brian this past
ctober.
Yes, friends, if you want to see
ruising, you'd better do it
uickly, before some crackpot
'rites a letter to good ole Strom
hurmond and he, in turn, picks up
is illustrious telephone and has
'ruising banned forever from the
creensof S.C., God save us all!
Now that today's sermon about
reedom of speech is outofthe way,
can get down to the business of
eviewing the film that's causing
11
nt; uunauunuo. j
Cruising is, to say the least, a
ard film to sit through. It's filled
/ith more than enough sex and
iolence to qualify for an X rating, t
ut, miraculously, it has been t
[raded merely an R (after a 2'^-4 i
ninute sex scene was deleted). j
THERE ARE numerous shots in ho
nnnninrt half.hmir nr ca nf lilfro. 4
iiv/ vp^uiki5 nan uv/ui vi ov/ ui uiiio- |
nacho men kissing one another as J
f their only sustenance was <
urking somewhere past each |
)ther's tonsils. In more than one <
nstance, the same type of muscle- <
)ound leathermen can be glimpsed <
Emulating fellatio and anal in- ;
ercourse. One sequence of shots
;ven shows a man greasing his fist
vhile another man writhes in anicipation
of his inserting it Godtnows-where.
The first time one sees Cruising,
hese images are so strong that one
^I
n JHH
Bqrry Newman - GAMECOCK
>/? lead guitar at the Spur
itars in Friedkin's
of the clo!
Al Pacino, as Steve Bun
William Fried kin's controvei
las a hard time concentrating on
he truly excellent murder
nystery that makes up a full 90
percent of the film.
AL PACINO, in a role not unlike
the one essayed by him in Serpico,
leads the cast as rookie policeman
Steve Burns. A wave of ghastly
lomophobic killings ? including
several decapitations and similar
iismemberments ? has been
sweeping over New York's rugged
S-and-M gay scene and Steve is
recruited to act as a decoy because
his build, hair and eye color are
similar to those of the victims. If
he's successful in trapping the
killer, Capt. Edelson (Sorvino)
tells him, he'll be awarded the gold
badge of a detective, something
Glenn Ph
butfaik
By Michael Gooding
Gamocock Staff Writer
The Glenn Phillips band
provided the Golden Spur with
some very talented instrumental
rock & roll Wednesday night, but
lacked good audience response,
partiaHy due to the fact that there
were no vocals.
The band, whose home is in
Atlanta, is made up of four
members: Glenn Phillips, guitar;,
Dana Nelson, keyboards; Bill
Grea, bass; and Doug Landsberg
on the drums, all of whom
demonstrated masterful control
over their respective instruments.
PHILLIPS IS an excitingguitarist,
and is as adept at power rock 'n*
roll as he is at slow blues, as are
the other musicians in the band,
but the overall combined affect
was somewhat mediocre. The band
1C tiaht tolan(a/1 on/1
?u vi^uv, VU1V1HVU, CIIIVI CApUI lUlltUU ,
but their music seems to have no
real meaning or direction.
Nelson said they are rarely
concerned with direction. Phillips
and Grea write the songs, and in
practice, each member combines
their different instruments to fit
the mood of the song, thus creating
a natural direction, she said. "Our
direction changes ail the time,"
Phillips added.
*
'Cruising^
sets, into tl
is, and Richard Cox, as Stuart /
rsiat'Cruising.'
that usually takes years of hard
work to earn.
To get in the position where he
can be most effective, Steve
changes his name and moves into a
predominantly homosexual
apartment building in Greenwich
Village. He begins to hang out in
leather bars and, eventually,
starts picking up men whom he
suspects might be the killer.
SUCH A RAPID and deep involvement
in homosexual' life
causes Steve to question his own
sexual identity. Pacino's emoting
in the scenes involving Steve's
sexual confusion make this performance
his best work since
1 rv?-?r- tn _ _ nv i ^ T *4
s uog uay /\jicrnoon. i can i
think of another actor who can
illips displa
i to capture
THE BAND members are not
particularly worried about the
missing vocals either. "We're
never satisfied with the band, but
we have not wanted to add vocals,"
Phillips said. "If we stop and think
about vocals, then it will be contrived,"
Grea added, which is not
the type of image they want to
display, he said.
Their performance in the Spur
was met with limited enthusiasm
and mixed reaction by the small
crowd. Phillips' guitar work was
easilv the hieh rioint nf thp r*?r
formance, and he managed to
work some of the crowd into a
frenzy as the show climaxed near
the end of their second set. There
was just enough demand to bring
them back for two encores, in the
second Phillips and Grea provided
tho Koat h\/ nlatiind o L'hn\ml
vaav WVUV MJ M QIIWWI.
The most notable song of the
evening came midway through the
first set. The song was named
"Phoebe," after a girl who sang
with Phillips and Landsbere on
their first album together, Swim in
the Wind. The song began with a
slow, pacey, introduction from the
keyboard section, with Grea
providing some very smooth leadwork
on the bass guitar. Phillips
then took the lead and built the
tie theatre
SSHSflUHHHIB
; '.. .^j'^^SgfrQ;?j ^ . - ZrZ~ j
Richards, in a scene from \
I
convey so much feeling in a single
expression or who can maintain
such a sense of confusion for the
length of time Pacino does here. If
the movie itself was a bit more
palatable, he'd certainly receive
an Oscar nomination in 1981.
The driving pace Friedkin keeps
throughout the film (it's only 106
minutes long) also contributes
heavily to its strong visceral impact,
though Friedkin's script,
based on Gerald Walker's 1970
novel, is a bit too reminiscent of
John Carpenter's Halloween in its
Puritanism. The only people who
are murdered are those who "ask
for it" by leading a life of
promiscuity.
The film's only other liability is
See 'Cruisingpage 9
ys talent,
crowd
song into an exciting example of
rock & roll.
Phillips originally played in the
Hampton Grease Band, a group
who made their name in the late
sixties-early seventies era. A
double album called Music to Eat
was recorded Dy tne urease Band
on the Columbia Records label.
This band broke up in 1973, when
Phillips then recorded a
homemade solo album with Grea.
Virgin records in England
bought the rights to the album and,
after this, Landberg joined the
band and they recorded the aforementioned
Swim into the Wind
album, also on Virgin records.
Nelson joined about a year and a
half ago, and they began touring on
the East Coast and in the Midwest.
Phillips said they hope to tour on
the West Coast soon, and are attempting
to record a new album
but, "record companies are a lot
ugnier tnan tney used to be" he
said.
The Glenn Phillips Band,
brought to USC by Contemporary
Sounds, is not for everybody, but if
one is interested in talentpH in
strumentation and are not overly
concerned with meaning and
lyrics, then they should provide
adequate entertainment for the
evening.