02/27/2007
Critic: "Gay Panic" Sinks Travolta Flick Wild Hogs
Sounds like the new movie Wild Hogs digs up some of the same tired gay jokes:
"But it isn't long before the humor reaches a lowest common denominator level, much of it, strangely enough, centering on the theme of homosexual panic. From the quartet's disturbing encounter with a gay motorcycle cop (funnily played by the normally macho John C. McGinley) to the endless gags revolving around Travolta's discomfort with Macy's physical familiarity and throwaway bits like an effete male singer performing a Pussycat Dolls song, the film approaches a level of offensive stereotyping not seen since Cruising*."
It's nice to see that critics are voicing their disgust more and more at gay stereotypes they view as offensive. Of course, seeing John Travolta and William H. Macy getting physical is enough to cause anyone to panic.
*Coincidentally, Cruising, a movie which its director notes "split the gay community", is getting a re-release on DVD this fall, with a premiere in Cannes.
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Posted 1:00 PM EST by Andy Towle in Film, John Travolta, News | Permalink
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I guess it "split" the gay community in the sense that it ran a knife down some poor trick's back. I know there are plenty of "anti-gay" (not as in homophobic, but as in "oh, not everything homophobic is homophobic, y'allz!") gay people who think Cruising wasn't negative, but I don't see the logic. The film explicitly equates gay sex with violence/murder (the knife-in-the-back scene is so overt it would be laughable if it weren't so damn unsettling) and the cop gets so immersed in the "dark" world of the cruisers and of the man who kills them that the movie ends with the suggestion he has turned gay and probably homicidal. I always saw it as a take on the idea that gay hunting for sex is, well, hunting. With prey and carcasses and eat what you shoot 'n' stuff. Others will embrace it, but I hate Cruising's guts and don't plan on picking it up. Sidenote: HONCHO Magazine did a special insert at the time "The Men Of CRUISING" with photos of some sell-out clones who appeared in the movie. Now THAT I can embrace and laugh at.
Posted by: Matthew Rettenmund | Feb 27, 2007 1:21:33 PM
"You made me do that."
Posted by: John | Feb 27, 2007 1:42:55 PM
I work in Hollywood and you wouldn't believe how homophobic the studio executives are. Yes, there are a lot of gays in Hollywood, but their main job is to make money for the studios, not portraying gays well. These studio executives want to appeal to middle-America, which they believe are all homophobic rednecks. That's why films like Wild Hogs get made.
Posted by: Big Dave | Feb 27, 2007 1:46:15 PM
Seeing Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen in the previews told me everything I needed to know about this turkey.
I wonder if Travolta kisses his Nanny in it?
Posted by: mark m | Feb 27, 2007 2:03:28 PM
This movie is stupid and a waste of time, but really, is this any worse than Norbit? From what I can see Hollywood is an equal-opportunity exploiters. This is news?
Posted by: dc-20008 | Feb 27, 2007 2:07:02 PM
I stopped giving Hollywood any credence when they gave Gwenyth Paltrow the Best Actress Oscar for "Shakespear In Love" and snubbed "Brokeback Mountain" last year.
Posted by: Cory | Feb 27, 2007 2:15:05 PM
I don't think Cruising was an anti-gay film. I see it as a gay psychological horror film. Some of it is realistic to a time and place. Other parts like the implication that Pacino goes crazy and starts killing too because of his self-homophobia are just paranoid fantasies come true like in any horror film. I can see how people could see it that was negative, especially at the time it was released, being the only mainstream gay film out at the time.
The Color Purple got flack for showing black characters doing wife beating, etc. I cheer on the new dvd. Director Freidkin likes very dark themes in his films. Do you put down Kubrick or Lynch's films because he has a misanthropic viewpoint?
Posted by: Steve | Feb 27, 2007 2:18:16 PM
I hope this isn't off topic, but why doesn't John Travolta come out about his son, Jett, who has autism? He could help so many people. I remember how happy he was when Jett was born, but...
Posted by: john | Feb 27, 2007 2:53:46 PM
JOHN: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it may have something to do with Travolta's scientology beliefs, in that he rejected western medicine and treatment in helping his son.
Posted by: Cory | Feb 27, 2007 3:05:12 PM
No, "Crusing" wasn't anti-gay, but it was anti-queen (ain't that what y'all "main stream" gay guys want?) It broke almost every known stereotype of gay men. When I saw it back in nine-eighty something, I was l bewildered--I'd never heard of gay people like those in the film. I don't know a damn thing about Leather or S&M, but "Cruising" was fascinating and rather well done as a film. PACINO was magnificent--as always.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Feb 27, 2007 3:12:54 PM
Cruising: first Hollywood movie with a fisting scene (in a sling, no less!). That's gotta be worth something. :)
People seem to forget that William Friedkin also made The Boys in the Band a decade before Cruising.
Posted by: John C | Feb 27, 2007 5:54:19 PM
Hang on...PACINO was in a fisting movie??!
LMFAO!!!! This I gotta see...
Posted by: atheist | Feb 27, 2007 6:00:38 PM
Cruising is rad. Come on, those scenes of leather bars in the 70s, where else can you see that? And the "first Hollywood movie with a fisting scene?" What are the others?
Posted by: werdna | Feb 27, 2007 6:15:00 PM
Other Hollywood fisting scenes? Er, well that moment in The Passion of the Christ went by pretty quickly.............
Seriously, Cruising does capture a moment in gay history even if you find the film as a whole unpalatable, pre-Aids NYC. Friedkin was taking pretty much the documentary-style approach he did in French Connection so much of it is filmed in real bars with the real clientele of the time. And there's fun stuff like Powers Boothe in an early role explaining the handkerchief codes to a mystified Al.
Posted by: John C | Feb 27, 2007 7:49:57 PM
DISCLAIMER: Haven't seen "Wild Hogs" and don't intend to. My comment is, perhaps unfairly, based solely on the Hollywood Reporter review for which Andy has provided a link.
John Travolta is allowed to remain in the closet if he wants to (although masquerading as heterosexual is repulsive). But he is not allowed to be in films that include "offensive stereotyping" that "[centers] on the theme of homosexual panic."
Then again, I don't believe in Lafayette Ronald Hubbard's intergalactic walrus theory, so what do I know?
Posted by: JOE 2 | Feb 27, 2007 9:36:39 PM
"Cruising" has its merits. Remember when it was made, and one marvels it was made at all. Horror flick story line aside, it does capture a slice of gay history few know about: masculinist homosexuality. The gruesome plot didn't appeal to me, but the portrayal of rugged, butch gay men (real owners and patrons of the NYC leather bars of the era) clued me (17 years old at the time) into the fact that there were other likeminded males like me -- being a drag queen or a hairdresser wasn't requisite for being gay.
Posted by: Pitbull | Feb 27, 2007 10:12:56 PM
it's about time they released "cruising" on dvd. they need to do the same with "personal best."
Posted by: sean | Feb 27, 2007 11:15:05 PM
Hmmm. Travolta. Wasn't he the one who The National Enquirer claimed had an affair with macho porn stud Paul Barresi? admittedly, Barresi told the tabloid he'd met Travolta in 1982 when the actor followed him into an L.A. health club then later retracted the story. But the retraction came only after Barresi did so with assurances from Travolta's attorney that the matter could be brought "to a soft landing" if he issued a retraction.
Maybe it never happened, but then again...
Posted by: Will Brady | Feb 28, 2007 12:20:27 AM
Some of you homos can be awfully uptight for people who take it up the ass.
Posted by: Jesus Christ | Feb 28, 2007 1:47:50 AM