[font=Century Gothic]"Resident Alien" is a documentary about Quentin Crisp(1908-1999), a flamboyant writer and performer who moved to New York City at the age of 73. What he was most famous for is writing an autobiography, "The Naked Civil Servant", his account… More
[font=Century Gothic]"Resident Alien" is a documentary about Quentin Crisp(1908-1999), a flamboyant writer and performer who moved to New York City at the age of 73. What he was most famous for is writing an autobiography, "The Naked Civil Servant", his account about being a gay man in England when homosexuality was still illegal there. A movie was made of the book in 1975(which I have yet to see...) which not only helped Crisp's fortunes but also the young actor who portrayed him, John Hurt.(Hurt also appears in the documentary along with Sting, Screw magazine publisher Al Goldstein, gossip columnist MIchael Musto and a host of others.)[/font]
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[font=Century Gothic]Quentin Crisp holds a controversial place in gay rights history. On the one hand, he was a pioneer in that he courageously flaunted himself years before any kind of identifiable movement. Later, his passive attitudes which emanate from an earlier age clashed with the confrontational post-Stonewall generation. And his feminine persona was sometimes seen as being stereotypical.[/font]
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[font=Century Gothic]Afterword: Quentin Crisp had always been a huge fan of the movies so it is ironic that the first time I heard about him was when he was featured in the film "Orlando"(1993) as Queen Elizabeth I. This performance occured after this documentary was filmed.[/font]
