The Celluloid Closet (1995)
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96% of critics liked it
(24 reviews) -
86% of users liked it
(3,733 ratings)
Based on Vito Russo's groundbreaking 1981 work of film history, The Celluloid Closet gathers clips from dozens of mainstream Hollywood films to illustrate how the movies have dealt explicitly -- and more importantly, implicitly -- with gay and lesbian themes. Layered between the clips are… More Based on Vito Russo's groundbreaking 1981 work of film history, The Celluloid Closet gathers clips from dozens of mainstream Hollywood films to illustrate how the movies have dealt explicitly -- and more importantly, implicitly -- with gay and lesbian themes. Layered between the clips are interviews with filmmakers whose works have touched on that subject. The popular films of the Golden Age could only hint at homosexuality and often portrayed gays as simpering characters, objects of scorn or merriment, or insidious villains. With the strictures of the old Production Code loosening, bolder presentations were possible, but often over the objections of studio executives who feared a public backlash against a film that dealt with a long taboo subject. Among the films discussed are Philadelphia, The Children's Hour, Making Love, Rope, and Spartacus. Gore Vidal, Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, and director John Schlesinger are among the film's strongest interview subjects. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi
- Directed By
- Jeffrey Friedman, Rob Epstein
- Genres
- Documentary, Television, Gay & Lesbian
R,
- In Theaters
- Mar 15, 1996 Wide
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Makes it clear Hollywood wanted it both ways: It benefitted from the richness that gays added to films, but didn't want to acknowledge their sexuality.
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James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Top-notch entertainment, not only because it's enjoyable, but because it argues its case with an effectiveness that would impress even a top-notch, homophobic attorney.
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Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic
It's interesting to see how gay and lesbian themes began to be treated openly in films, but it's fascinating to see how -- earlier -- those themes were used subtextually in films that make no overt reference to the real subject.
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Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
Even if The Celluloid Closet ... isn't quite the most perfectly political piece of filmmaking that you'd expect (or hoped) it would be, it's still a pretty convincing argument and, what's more, likably entertaining.
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Rob Nelson, City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
How ironic that a movie about the dangers of the closet would so confine one's freedom of interpretation.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
- Antonio Banderas
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Quentin Crisp
as Interviewee
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Antonio Fargas
as Interviewee
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Whoopi Goldberg
as Interviewee
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Farley Granger
as Interviewee
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Harry Hamlin
as Interviewee
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Shirley MacLaine
as Interviewee
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Susan Sarandon
as Interviewee
- Sharon Stone
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Jay Presson Allen
as Interviewee
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Mart Crowley
as Interviewee
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Tony Curtis
as Interviewee
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Harvey Fierstein
as Interviewee
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Tom Hanks
as Interviewee
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Arthur Laurents
as Interviewee
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Daniel Melnick
as Interviewee
- Ron Nyswaner
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Jan Oxenberg
as Interviewee
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Barry Sandler (II)
as Interviewee
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John Schlesinger
as Interviewee
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Lily Tomlin
as Narrator
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Gore Vidal
as Interviewee
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Paul Rudnick
as Interviewee
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Joseph Breen
as Interviewee
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Susie Bright
as Interviewee
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Richard Dyer
as Interviewee
- Stewart Stern
- Armistead Maupin
