Susan Granger’s review of “Making the Boys” (First Run Features)
“History is so important,” says director Crayton Robley, whose documentary reveals the behind-the-scenes story of Mart Crowley’s controversial “The Boys in the Band,” which premiered off-Broadway in 1968, when the majority of homosexuals were still in the closet and homophobic Americans felt uncomfortable talking about the topic.
Robley interviews many of the pivotal players in the evolution of the first-ever gay play and making of the 1970 movie. When Crowley worked as Natalie Wood’s assistant, he became part of Hollywood’s gay community with Roddy McDowell, Rock Hudson, Sal Mineo and Tab Hunter, as shown in Malibu home movies. In a sitcom he wrote for Bette Davis, Crowley intended for Paul Lynde to play the part of her gay, wisecracking sidekick, but the network cast a woman instead. Encouraged by Natalie and her husband, Robert Wagner, Crowley then started writing about the trials and travails of being gay. Miraculously, his then-revolutionary play got produced – and Edward Albee, Larry Kramer, Tony Kushner, Terrence McNally, Paul Rudnick, Dominick Dunne and William Friedkin (who directed the film version) recall their often-ambivalent reactions to it.
But those who participated in original production didn’t fare well. Many became addicts and most died of AIDS-related illnesses, including Robert La Tourneaux, who played The Cowboy, and became a real-life hustler. Two of the surviving cast – Peter White, who played Alan, and Laurence Luckinbill, who played Hank – recall the subsequent prejudice they faced in Hollywood as a result of their participation in the film. Mart Crowley later worked as a producer on 14 episodes Robert Wagner’s TV series “Hart to Hart” (1980-82).
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Making the Boys” is an engrossing, insightful 8. Producing partners Douglas Tirola and Susan Bedusa were both raised in Westport and work under the banner 4th Row Films. This documentary will have a one-night screening on Wed., March 16, at the Avon Theater in Stamford at 7:30 pm, after which Doug and Susan will conduct a panel discussion, along with director Crayton Robey and author Mart Crowley.
