Gaydar (US 2002)

The Gist: 

Randy comes across the ultimate yard sale find, a “gaydar” gun that can tell if a person is gay or straight. Something that would come in handy in figuring out the facts about Jack, the cute man at work that everyone, gays and women alike, has a huge crush on. 

Comments:

A comedy short film where gaydar, the ability to tell if someone is gay or not, is not only real, it’s a goofy looking handheld appliance.  

There’s appearances by Charles Nelson Reilly and Jim J. Bullock, and the lead Terry Ray is amusing as our childish fey lead. In truth there’s not much to the story, just goofy silly fun.

Women:

Yes

People of color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Larry LaFond
• Writers: Larry LaFond, Terry ray
• Actors: Terry Ray, Bryan Dattilo, Charles Nelson Reily 
• Short film
• 20 minutes
• IMDB

Homo Heights (US 1998)

The Gist:

Gay icon Malcolm (Quentin Crisp), beloved by all the people of Homo Heights (an apparent all queer city) is not so secretly a prisoner of Maria Callous (Stephen Sorrentino), drag queen leader of the gay mafia.  

Malcolm wants to leave, womanizer Clementine (Lea Delaria) wants her old girlfriend Stella back. Stella wants her new girlfriend Blanche to be less annoying. Nerdy reporter Tootsie wants a scoop. 

Comments:

This is an odd duck of a movie. It is a high camp comedy that despite the implications of those adjectives is not merely loud and obnoxious, but also at times fairly calm and subdued. 

Calm being the result of casting of Quentin Crisp, who was in his late eighties at the time, and filled his his scenes with softness and muted elegance as he more or less plays himself, quoting Oscar Wild and acting somewhat bemused by everything around him as his character waits calmly to leave the earthly plane behind. 

Despite sounding like an odd combo, some of the best scenes here involve Crisp and Delaria playing off each other. There seems to be a genuine fondness between them. Stephen Sorrentino as Maria Callous is also amusing as the drag queen mafiosa. 

There's not much to the story, at least to the main story of holding Malcom against his will. While there's a bit more to the Clementine romance subplot, actual plot seems besides the point here, which is letting Quentin Crisp just be his fey self, interspersed with humorous scenes of lesbian dramedy and gangster drag queens.

The movie is quirky and doesn't entirely work, bouncing back and forth from loud and wacky to smooth and creamy, and yet I'm really fond of it. 

Women:

Yes

People of color:

A couple of drag queens 

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Sara Moore
• Writer: Sara Moore
• Actors: Quentin Crisp, Lea DeLaria, Stephen Sorrentino 
• 92 minutes
• IMDB

First Period (U.S. 2013)

The Gist: 

A girl set on having a great 16th birthday party next weekend is faced with a problem. Her family has just moved into town and she doesn't know anyone yet, so she only has five school days to become popular at high school. A prospect that Heather, the current reigning most popular girl in school is not exactly thrilled with. 

Comments: 

The movie is a farce of 80's high school comedies with the protagonist and her new best friend, the school's 'freak' girl both being played by men. There's also the school's mean girls who are both named Heather, pretty much all the speaking roles played by people who haven't been teenagers in quite some time, insane teachers, lots of 80's "valley talk," the near lack of adult roles, the near lack of actual classes, and other high school movie cliches amped up and played for laughs. 

While there are some problems and minor issues, the movie more or less succeeds at being a camp high school farce. Thing is I didn't particularly like it. A case where my tastes don't align with the majority, because poking around online it looks like that for the most part people enjoy the movie and think it's really funny, cute and engaging, while I was largely indifferent to it. 

My lack of enjoyment aside, if you're into high school movie farces, or like campy, wacky movies with male actors playing women, then it may be worth checking out. 

Women: 

Yes 

People of Color:

Yes

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Charlie Vaughn
• Writer: Brandon Alexander III
• Actors: Brandon Alexander III, Dudley Beene
• 100 min
• Note: While there are some gay characters in the movie, it's the adult male actors playing teenage girls camp aspect that gets it included in lists of LGBT movies. 
• IMDB

Vegas in Space (US 1991)

The Gist:

The Empress Nueva Gabor's girlimium gems have been stolen! Gems that are vital to the continued safety of Vegas in Space, capital of the planet Clitoris! Captain Dan Tracey and his crew are sent to discover the culprit, but as it is a women only world, they must first change their sex in order go undercover as showgirls from Earth to solve this mystery and save the planet. Not an easy task considering the number one suspect is Veneer, the Queen of Police. 

Comments:

As is probably clear from the plot description, this is a very camp movie. More specifically, a very low budget, day glow Barbarella aesthetic, drag queen, comedy homage to bad sci-fi B-movies. Apparently the movie has a reputation of being so bad you must absolutely watch it. Thing is, I don't think it is terrible. Rather it lives right on the edge of bizarre and great. 

From what I can tell, people look at the bright artificial colored fake fur covered sets, the wacky rambling over the top story, all the roles played by both men and women done up in drag, rude humor, the use of both color and black and white sequences, varying acting skills, the very basic idea of a planet of women who all act like mad drag queens instead of actual women, and especially the city of Vegas in Space itself,  a model consisting of a perfume bottle covered table with little plastic flying saucers and rocket ships on string waving above, as proof that the movie is a schlocky mess. 

I look at the same and see a very intentional point of view created by drag artists with the desire to perform and bring their dreams to life, shaped by the constraints of a very low budget. A budget low enough it took a couple years to film and even longer to finish the post production work, so that it is more of a product of an early 80's San Francisco performance art mind set than the 1991 release date would suggest. The time from filming to release was long enough that some of the cast died from AIDS related causes before it was finally screened. 

Despite my liking it and thinking it successful at what they were trying to do, I do admit it is a very strange beast of a movie, and not something everyone would enjoy. However, it's worth seeing if you like camp or drag or want a look at what drug fueled, sleep deprived drag artists would do in 1980's San Francisco when given access to a camera. 

Women:

All the women are played by both women and men, so regardless if we are talking about character or the actor playing the role, the answer is yes.

People of color:

Maybe? I'm not really sure. Many of the roles involve heavy, bright green or other loudly colored makeup, so it's not really clear.

Gratuitous nudity:

Not exactly, there are a couple of breasts on display, but appropriately enough given the movie they are are obviously fake. The intent seems to be not so much gratuitous as intentionally outrageous.  

• Director: Phillip R. Ford
• Writers: Philip R. Ford, Doris Fish
• Actors: Doris Fish, Miss X, Ramona Fischer, Lori Naslund, "Tippi"
• 85 min
• Color, and Black and White
• Note: The director has the story of the making of the movie as a one entry blog. It's an interesting read and includes lots of photos and videos.
• IMDB

Outrageous! (Canada 1977)

The Gist: 

In late 1970's Toronto, Robin Turner is frustrated with his life and bored with his job as a hairdresser. His best friend Liza moves in with him after she releases herself from a mental institution. As she tries to deal with life outside the institution she encourages him to do what he longs to do, to perform onstage as a female impersonator. 

Comments: 

The movie has an interesting origin, based on "Making It," a short story by Margaret Gibson, which in turn was based on her real life, from when she and Craig Russel were roommates. Craig Russel being the lead actor. In effect he is playing a fictionalized version of himself a few steps removed from his real life as a famous female impersonator known for his skill at 'becoming' famous celebrities such as Tallulah Bankhead, Mae West, and Betty Davis, and singing instead of lip syncing. 

The movie is very "grimy big city dirty" 70's in feel and despite being billed as a comedy, is somewhat dark, perhaps not surprising given the story deals with mental illness, frustrations of life, and is set during winter where everything seems bleak and covered in grey dirty slush. 

The time period makes it pre-AIDS, but despite it's late 70's post Stonewall setting, it is in many ways pre "gay lib" in feel as well, at least in the scenes set in Canada. There seems to be a more active 'gay life' during the New York scenes, but while in Toronto things are more repressed. At one point a character, a hair salon owner, says a line to the effect that he would lose business if the clients knew one of their hairdressers was gay, or even worse a drag queen. A statement that barely makes sense today. 

Despite my repeated description of it seeming a dour story, it is a good movie and an interesting look at life several decades ago and as such shows ways that things have improved or not both for gay life and for people dealing with mental illness. 

Even if none of that sounds interesting to you, if nothing else, it's worth watching for scenes at the end of the movie featuring Craig Russel's act, which is rather fun, though understandably a bit dated in references. 

Women: 

Primarily the roommate, but a few others as well

People of color: 

Not really

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Richard Benner
• Writers: Richard Benner, Margaret Gibson
• Craig Russel, Hollis McLaren
• 96 min
• IMDB

Can't Stop The Music (U.S. 1980)

The Gist:

Heterosexual songwriter Jack (Steve Guttenberg) needs to put together a band to showcase his music. His heterosexual female roommate, former supermodel Samantha (Valerie Perrine) decides to help. Newly arrived in New York, heterosexual lawyer Ron (Bruce Jenner), wanting to woo Samantha, helps as well. Together they gather a group of eclectic heterosexual men and form the famous heterosexual disco music singing group, the Village People.

Comments: 

The movie is a very campy musical made during that brief time in 1980 when people thought the 80's would be 70's sexual liberation continued to a disco beat, not realizing everything was about to change. The story is dumb/silly, the acting ranges from bad to worse, it's all manner of terrible. So terrible that it swings into fun to watch territory.  

One of the things I find interesting about it is that everyone in it is straight. Well, maybe not the Leather Man, but ostensively all the other men are intended to be hetero. Quite a feat, considering the movie is about the Village People (although in truth they are only minor characters in their own movie). 

Despite doing things like writing hit disco songs about the YMCA, being utterly uninterested in his supermodel best friend, or any woman at all, other than his mother that is, Jack has a line about chasing stewardesses, proving he is straight. The "Construction Worker" dreams of fame and women (abet in a musical dream sequence). The "Indian," who spends his time half naked, "gets it on" with Samantha's female best friend. Heck, the main focus of the movie is the hetero romance between Ron and Samantha. 

People sing, they dance, they hang out nude in the hot tub of the YMCA, and yet they are all straight. Which oddly enough, makes everything even gayer, because this is the freaking Village People after all, who are so uber-gay that they negate all attempts at heteronormalizing all characters present.

Despite the throw away lines and plot points assuring the audience that all the male characters are safely straight, they all end up feeling like they're one day shy of coming out of the closet. Had there been a sequel it would have featured Jack, his boyfriend, and the now divorced Samantha attending the wedding of her ex-husband Bruce Jenner and the Leather Man (who was impossible to stuff into the closet in the first place).

It's a silly movie with outlandish numbers, a few Village People songs, and worth a watch if you like bad campy movies. 

Women:

Yes.

People of color:

Yes.

Gratuitous nudity:

Technically yes. During the YMCA routine there's brief flashes of naughty bits.

• Director: Nancy Walker
• Writers: Bronte Woodard, Allan Carr
• Actors: Valerie Perrine, Bruce Jenner, Steve Guttenberg, and assorted Village People: Ray Simpson, David Hodo, Felipe Rose, Randy Jones, Glenn Hughes, Alex Briley
• 124 min
• IMDB