The Celluloid Closet

Infobox_Film
name=The Celluloid Closet


caption = The movie poster for "The Celluloid Closet".
imdb_id=0112651
writer=Vito Russo
Rob Epstein
Jeffrey Friedman
Sharon Wood
Armistead Maupin
starring= Lily Tomlin (narrator)
director=Rob Epstein
Jeffrey Friedman
music=Carter Burwell | distributor=TriStar Pictures
released=15 March 1996
runtime=107 min.
language=English
movie_series=
amg_id = 1:135065
producer=Rob Epstein
Jeffrey Friedman
budget= |

"The Celluloid Closet" (1995) is a documentary film directed and written by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. The film is based on the 1981 (revised 1987) book of the same name written by Vito Russo, and on previous lecture and film clip presentations given in person by Russo 1972-82. Russo researched the history of how motion pictures, especially Hollywood films, had portrayed gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters. It was given a limited release in select theatres, including the Castro Theatre in San Francisco in April 1996, and then shown on cable channel HBO.

The documentary interviews various men and women connected to the Hollywood industry to comment on various film clips and their own personal experiences with the treatment of LGBT characters in film. From the sissy characters, to the censorship of the Hollywood Production Code, the coded gay characters and cruel stereotypes to the progress made in the early 1990s.

Vito Russo wanted his book to be transformed into a documentary film and helped out on the project until he died in 1990. Some critics of the documentary noted that it was less political than the book and ended on a more positive note. However, Russo had wanted the documentary to be entertaining and to reflect the positive changes that had occurred up to 1990.

DVD

In 2001, the DVD edition of the documentary includes a crew audio commentary, a second audio commentary with the late Russo, an interview Russo gave in 1990, a link to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation website, and some deleted interviews put together into a second documentary titled "Rescued From the Closet".

Impact

Russo was one of the first people to persuade gay and straight people to examine the role that popular culture plays in shaping our attitudes about sexual orientation and gender identity.Fact|date=October 2007 It started a genre of research that examines how movies, television shows, comic books, and video and computer games depict LGBT people.

Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) gives an award called the Vito Russo Award to openly gay or lesbian people within the Hollywood film industry who advance the cause of fighting homophobia.

Credits

The following people are interviewed for the documentary.
* Lily Tomlin (narrator)
* Tony Curtis
* Susie Bright
* Arthur Laurents
* Armistead Maupin
* Whoopi Goldberg
* Jan Oxenberg
* Harvey Fierstein
* Quentin Crisp
* Richard Dyer
* Jay Presson Allen
* Mrs. Gustav Ketterer
* Gore Vidal
* Will H. Hays
* Farley Granger
* Paul Rudnick
* Shirley MacLaine
* Barry Sandler
* Mart Crowley
* Antonio Fargas
* Tom Hanks
* Ron Nyswaner
* Daniel Melnick
* Harry Hamlin
* John Schlesinger
* Susan Sarandon

Films

List of film excerpts in "Celluloid Closet".
*"The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (1994)
*"Advise and Consent" (1962)
*"Another Country" (1983)
*"A View from the Bridge" (1962)
*"Basic Instinct" (1992)
*"Ben-Hur" (1959)
*"The Boys in the Band" (1970)
*"Boys on the Side" (1995)
*"Bride of Frankenstein" (1935)
*"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969)
*"Cabaret" (1972)
*"Calamity Jane" (1953)
*"Car Wash" (1976)
*"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958)
*"The Children's Hour" (1961)
*"The Color Purple" (1985)
*"Cruising" (1980)
*"The Crying Game" (1992)
*"Desert Hearts" (1985)
*"The Detective" (1968)
*"Dickson Experimental Sound Film" (1895)
*"Dressed to Kill" (1980)
*"The Fan" (1981)
*"The Fox" (1967)
*"Freebie and the Bean" (1974)
*"Fried Green Tomatoes" (1991)
*"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953)
*"Gilda" (1946)
*"Go Fish" (1994)
*"The Hours and Times" (1991)
*"The Hunger" (1983)
*"In a Lonely Place" (1950)
*"Johnny Guitar" (1954)
*"The Living End" (1992)
*"Lianna" (1983)
*"Longtime Companion" (1990)
*"Lover Come Back" (1961)
*"Making Love" (1982)
*"Midnight Cowboy" (1969)
*"Midnight Express" (1978)
*"My Beautiful Laundrette" (1985)
*"My Own Private Idaho" (1991)
*"Next Stop, Greenwich Village" (1976)
*"Night Shift" (1982)
*"Parting Glances" (1986)
*"Personal Best" (1982)
*"Philadelphia " (1993)
*"Pillow Talk" (1959)
*"Poison" (1991)
*"Rebecca" (1940)
*"Rebel Without a Cause" (1955)
*"Red River" (1948)
*"Rope" (1948)
*"The Silence of the Lambs" (1991)
*"Some Like It Hot" (1959)
*"Spartacus" (1960)
*"Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959)
*"Sunday Bloody Sunday" (1971)
*"Swoon" (1992)
*"Tea and Sympathy" (1956)
*"Teen Wolf" (1985)
*"Thelma & Louise" (1991)
*"Torch Song Trilogy" (1988)
*"Vanishing Point" (1970)
*"Victim" (1961)
*"Walk on the Wild Side" (1962)
*"The Watermelon Woman" (1995)
*"The Wedding Banquet" (1993)
*"Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" (1974)
*"Windows" (1980)
*"Wings" (1927)
*"Wonder Bar" (1934)

See also

* List of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films
* Production Code
* Doom Book
* lavender marriage

References

*imdb title|0112651