The Gay Deceivers (U.S. 1969)

The Gist:

In the late 1960's Danny and Elliot avoid the draft and the Vietnam war by claiming they are homosexuals. When it appears that the army is checking to see if they were lying, they move into a "gay" apartment complex, setting up a situation where they attempt to juggle girlfriends and normal life on the one hand, and acting like effeminate queens on the other. 

Comments with spoilers (then again the movie is over 40 years old):

I had first heard about the movie when I read Vito Russo's The Celluloid Closet where three things are noted about it:

1. It's homophobic. (And it is, misogynistic as well)
2. The actor playing the manager of the "gay" apartment complex tried to downplay the worst aspects of the homophobic humor. (It's debatable just how much of a positive effect he had, though in his favor, he is one of the better things about the movie and is almost more than just a walking stereotype)
3. There's a final joke about why the army was keeping tabs on them. (The army is full of homosexuals you see, and doesn't want straight men like Danny and Elliot in it)

These three notes aside, what I found most interesting about the movie is that it's a cautionary tale.

The boys start off the movie with straight white male privilege up the wazoo. Danny has a golden future laid out for him, a fixed path from law school to marriage to a corner office in a big law firm, while Elliot is a laid back oversexed gigolo where everything he wants is handed to him on a silver platter by rich women. 

However, the rules of male heterosexuality are inflexible, with no allowances for deviation. As soon as the stink of homosexuality touches them, their lives are wrecked. Over the course of the movie they loose their girlfriends, family, and employment. Even their sex lives dry up due to their charade. 

As far as family and friends are concerned all the boys did was move into a ridiculously decorated one bedroom apartment with "outrageous" neighbors, yet this is evidence enough to condemn them as deviants. Even when they come clean and admit it was all an act, they aren't belived, because again, the straight and narrow path is very narrow. 

When Elliot loses his job as a lifeguard (because homosexuals cannot be trusted around children) this is shown as wrong, not because discrimination against gay people is wrong, but rather because he is actually straight. Then again, this just reinforces the attitude that they were asking for trouble when they started their ruse. 

Despite all of that, it is arguable that the movie isn't that bad for it's portrayal of homosexuality. At least not too bad in context for the time period it was made. All the gay characters are silly queens yes, but no one is a psychopathic murderer or ends up dead, which was progress. 

Even if my reactions and thoughts about the homophobia displayed are all an oversensitive overreaction and the movie is just a "playing gay" comedy, I don't know that I'd recommend watching it. For a comedy, it's not that funny. At least not by modern standards since the majority of jokes fall along the lines of "Isn't it Hilarious that Homosexuals Want to be Women?"  

On the other hand, if you're good at watching things in context of the time they were made, or want to see it as an example of historical representations of homosexuality in movies, it would be an interesting watch. 

Women: 

Mothers, girlfriends, lovers, but only in the "real" world. The homosexual world is female free. 

People of color:

None

Gratuitous nudity:

There are a couple of sort of risqué shots. Actually, it may be interesting that the more "handsome" of the two leads is treated as a sex object. Did playing gay turn him into a woman as far as the 'camera' was concerned, or was his inability to remain fully clothed a "bone" of sorts for women (or gay men?) in the audience?

• Director: Bruce Kessler
• Writers: Abe Polsky, Gil Lasky, Jerome Wish
• Actors: Kenvin Coughlin, Larry Casey 
• 97 min
• IMDB