Cruising for Tricks and Treats

If you ever wanted to dress up like Al Pacino as Cruising's undercover detective Steve Burns for Halloween, now's your chance. A hanky for your back pocket (choose the appropriate color and positioning from this handy NSFW chart) and a bottle of poppers (sold separately) are all you need to complete this risk-taking ensemble. And don't forget to practice your dance moves.

For more lost costumes of yesteryear, be sure to check out this INSANE fashion show held by the geniuses over at Kindertrauma.

Gay to a "T"

TLA Video has more then just the latest DVDs for sale; they also offer a wide array of gifts and clothing, such as this collection of T-shirts bearing the logos from five popular gay films.

Buy all of them, and you can wear a different one every weekday, or you can use them like an updated "hanky code". You know ... remember what Powers Booth taught Al Pacino in Cruising. You wear the following when you are looking for:

• A male escort: Boy Culture T-Shirt
• A nude chorus boy: Naked Boys Singing T-Shirt
• A randy Mormon: Latter Days T-Shirt
• A guy wearing a bad wig: The Trip T-Shirt
• Richard Hatch: Another Gay Movie T-Shirt

Click on the above links to buy the shirts directly from TLA Video.

Link via Xmission.com.

The Latest on DVD: Leather and Polyester Edition

Two throwbacks to times of more questionable fashion choices are amongst this week's latest DVD releases:

Featured Titles:

• Cruising- After all the talk and debate, it is finally here in a deluxe "Leather Daddy" edition. OK, not really.
• Brothers & Sisters: The Complete First Season- On the heels of Sally Field's deserved Emmy win, this set not only includes every episode you've seen, but even one you haven't.
• Grindhouse Presents: Death Proof- The Quentin Tarantino half, in a two-disc special edition.
• Saturday Night Fever: 30th Anniversary Special Collector's Edition- White polyester suit not included.

Classics Corner:

• Deliverance- A new Deluxe Edition. Also available in HD-DVD and Blu-ray, so you can now see every pore on Ned Beatty's body.
• Anne of the Thousand Days/Mary, Queen of Scots- A royal double feature, these costume epics star two Oscar-nominated actresses: Geneviève Bujold and Vanessa Redgrave, respectively.
• The Threepenny Opera- Beware Mack the Knife in this Criterion edition of G.W. Pabst's version of the Kurt Weill musical.
• Robinson Crusoe on Mars- Daniel Defoe's classic gets a sci fi twist in another Criterion release.
• Alligator- OK, this one is more camp then classic, but it does feature Robert Forster and a big rubber gator.

What Else is New:

• Pittsburgh- Jeff Goldblum stages The Music Man with Ed Begley Jr. and Illeana Douglas in this offbeat documentary.
• The Gymnast- Lesbians in the air ... and in love.
• Zoo- Uh ... I'm just going to quote Imbd's plot outline on this one: "A look at the life of a Seattle man who died as a result of an unusual encounter with a horse."

What's on TV:

• Smallville - The Complete Sixth Season- Last year, Superman-to-be Tom Welling was almost out-super hunk'd by Justin Hartley's Green Arrow.
• The Best of Rocky and Bullwinkle: Vol. 2- More wackiness with moose und squirrel.
• Josie and the Pussycats: The Complete Series- Yeah, I know, now I got the theme song stuck in my head too.

Special Editions and Box Sets:

• The Roger Corman Collection- Includes eight of the cult director's drive-in classics, including Bloody Mama, A Bucket of Blood and The Man With the X-Ray Eyes.
• Wall Street: 20th Anniversary Edition- Greed is good, even two decades after the fact.
• Flashdance: Special Collector's Edition- What a feeling. Take your passion, and make it happen.
• Troy - Director's Cut- Available in a two-disc edition or an "ultimate collector's edition", as well as on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, so you can now see every pore on Brad Pitt's body.

Click on the individual titles to purchase them from Amazon.com.

Link via AfterElton.com.

Who's Cruising Who?

A lot of movies are talked about long after they come out, but those are usually good ones. Cruising, the notorious gay killer thriller written and directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino, is not a good movie by any means. Yet, here we are, 27 years later, still talking about it.

The controversy surrounding the making of the film places it in a unique place in gay history. However, aside from occasional airings on pay cable or dusty VHS tapes, it has mostly stayed buried since its box office failure back in 1980. More people have heard about Cruising then have actually seen it, and the coverage the book and film The Celluloid Closetgave it pretty much damned it in the eyes of most, sight unseen. Friedkin rarely discussed it, and as far as Pacino was concerned, he never made it (for example, it was conspicuously absent from his recent AFI tribute).

Nevertheless, the film did develop a sort of "cult" following through the years, largely due to its scarcity. It was even unofficially "remade" as a comedy, two years after it was first released, as the even more dreadful Partners. (If you really want a laugh though, skip that one and watch Boy Toys, a scene-for-scene "remake" of Cruising ... using Ken dolls. Warning: lots of gratuitous fashion doll nudity and violence.)

So now that Cruising is making its long-delayed DVD debut this Tuesday, a lot of people have been talking about it even more; Friedkin himself is particularly chatty about it. Some say it's worth another look, while others naively wonder what all the fuss was about; this being the internet, there are diverse opinions ranging from the clinical and balanced to the superficial and dismissive.

However, if you read one article about Cruising, make sure it is this superlative piece from Entertainment Weekly contributing writer Mark Harris. Harris covers all the bases regarding the film's infamous makings and deconstructs it with not just a critical eye, but with the eye of a gay man. He also calls to task Friedkin and producer Jerry Weintraub, who (in the DVD extras) try to frame the movie as "a work of art ahead of its time". Yeah, right. If anything, Cruising was a product of its time, not a victim of it.

UPDATE: For his typically laugh-out-loud take on something other then Top Chef, be sure to check out Steven Frank's irreverent look at Cruising over at After.Elton.com.

Click here to pre-order Cruisingon DVD from Amazon.com. Click here to buy Cruisingposters from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com, AFI.com, YouTube.com, eBAR.com, Cinematical.com, NYBlade.com, SFBayTimes.com, VillageVoice.com, BrightLightsFilm.com, SFBG.com, NewNowNext.com, AfterElton.com and EW.com.

There's No Business Like Show Business

Rounding up the latest scoop on exciting DVDs coming your way soon:

Show Business: The Road to Broadway- This documentary takes a rare look at the creation of a Broadway show. Focusing on the 2003-2004 season, the film covers such gay-friendly shows as Avenue Q, Taboo and Wicked. Available October 16.

Warner Directors Series - Stanley Kubrick- What Kubrick fans have been waiting for: two-disc special editions of 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut and Full Metal Jacket. No official word though if never-before-seen deleted scenes will be included. Available October 23.

Looney Tunes - Golden Collection, Volume Five- Bugs, Daffy, Porky and the whole Warner Brothers gang are back with even more classic cartoons. Visit TV Shows on DVD for a full contents list. Available October 30.

John Waters: This Filthy World- A candid look at the sultan of trash cinema, John Waters. Includes dishy bits on Kathleen Turner, Tab Hunter and Divine. Available October 30.

Cruising- This controversial film's long-delayed DVD release will be preceded by a special screening at the Castro Theatre this Friday. Meanwhile, fans of the movie can find a like-minded soul over at Film4, or you can head over to Slate to find out how Cruising star Al Pacino got typecast as ... Al Pacino. Available September 18.

All the DVDs covered here are currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com. Click on the individual titles to purchase them now.

Links via Playbill.com, Cinematical.com, FilmBabble.blogspot.com, TVShowsOnDVD.com, SGN.org, SFGate.com, CastroTheatre.com, Channel4.com and Slate.com.