Written by Mart Crowley
Directed by William Friedkin
Michael: "What's so fucking funny?"
Harold: Life. "Life's a goddamn laugh riot."
Five years ago when Netflix did a remake of this movie and filled it up with Ryan Murphy alumni, I watched it and enjoyed but I knew that I owed myself the chance to check out the original version. It only took fifty five years since it's released to do such a thing.
The premise was simple. It was Harold's (Leonard Frey) birthday and his friend organised a party. Mostly it was Michael (Kenneth Nelson) doing the heavy lifting in that sense but that didn't mean that other friends Emory (Cliff Gorman), Donald (Frederick Combs), Larry (Keith Prentice), Hank (Laurence Luckinbill) and Bernard (Reuben Greene) all didn't contribute to the evening.
A birthday party, even for someone as highly critical and fussy as Larry should've been a joyous occasion. Instead it was an event that descended into chaos, fist fights, name calling and our gays (with one token "straight" man) bringing out the absolute worst in one another.
Getting to the straight guy in question, that was where Alan (Peter White) slotted into proceedings. He was an old friend of Michael's and it seemed like his marriage to the unseen Fran was on the rocks. Alan took an instant dislike to the more effeminate Emory and it wasn't long before Alan's past dalliances with men surfaced.
The first half of the movie set up the tension but the second half seriously upped the ante with a game of telephone. Yup, ringing the person you loved the most ended up making the few people who took part in the game feels worse about themselves rather than better. Michael's own little mind games blew up in his face by the end of this movie.
Michael was the main focal point of the movie and there wasn't a single person who didn't get some pithy comment or analysis from him. Even the sweet but dim witted Cowboy Tex (Robert La Tourneaux) wasn't spared Michael's acid tongue but he also bore the least of it too.
What of the birthday boy himself? Harold was there as a counter to Michael. He knew Michael's game because by his own admission he played the game better than Michael could himself. His barbs were just as funny and he got a hot cowboy for his birthday, so if anything, Harold was the only one to really enjoy the night.
- William Friedkin directed this movie a decade before he'd take on the more divisive Cruising (1980).
- There's an actual sequel to this play from Mart Crowley called The Men From The Boys that features these characters. Someone needs to adapt that.
- Apparently this was one of the first mainstream movies to use the word "cunt" and it's said quite a lot in the film.
- Michael had been trying to quit drinking and smoking, only to resume both as the night went on while Hank was stated to be bisexual. Harold and Donald were the only two not to play the telephone game.
- Standout music: Martha and the Vandellas Heat Wave and Harpers Bizarre Anything Goes.
- Chronology: 1968, Upper East Side, Manhattan in New York, predominantly set in Michael's apartment.
Now I loved the 2020 version but it really does go without saying that this version of The Boys In The Band would be the superior version. There's certain dialogue that made me since but the performances were sublime along with Friedkin's direction. I loved this from start to finish.
Rating: 10 out of 10
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