Gay Sex in the 70s (2004)
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71% of critics liked it
(28 reviews) -
57% of users liked it
(979 ratings)
In 1969, the Stonewall riots in New York City sounded the opening bell of the Gay Pride movement in America, and for many gay men it offered an opportunity to come out of the closet and live their lives in the open for the first time. As the gay community sought to define itself, it's not… More In 1969, the Stonewall riots in New York City sounded the opening bell of the Gay Pride movement in America, and for many gay men it offered an opportunity to come out of the closet and live their lives in the open for the first time. As the gay community sought to define itself, it's not surprising that sex, once furtive and approached with no small amount of fear and shame, suddenly became openly and publicly celebrated and sought after, and in a handful of American cities, the gay scene became the center of a wildly celebratory orgy that lasted until 1981, when the discovery of AIDS led many men to reexamine their sexual habits. Filmmaker Joseph Lovett, himself a gay activist who produced one of the first major investigative stories on AIDS to be broadcast on American television, interviewed a number of men who survived the '70s for his documentary Gay Sex in the '70s, which offers a sometimes witty and sometimes rueful look back at the discos, bathhouses, underground clubs, and gay-friendly resorts which dominated the social and sexual scene of the day, as well as the stories of the men who sought to declare their new identities through sex. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Joseph Lovett, Joseph F. Lovett
- Written By
- Larry Kramer
- Genres
- Documentary, Special Interest
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Nov 4, 2005 Limited
- Studio
- Lovett Productions
Critic Reviews
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John Hartl, Seattle Times
... lacks the authority of such gay documentary classics as "Word Is Out" and "Before Stonewall," which were far more inclusive.
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Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
An engrossing piece of social history, a lively, astonishingly well-documented excavation of that period between June 1969 and June 1981 when gay men in New York experienced a bacchanalian burst of sexual liberation.
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Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle
The faces of that movement are what sell this story -- with enthusiasm, not regret.
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Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Despite the retrospective sensationalism, Lovett's 70-minute documentary is a sobering anti-erotic cautionary tale.
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Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune
... Lovett's tribute to a bygone era feels like it might resonate deeper if context and character overpowered story upon story of sexual excess.
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