My Top 10 All-Time Favorite Gay Themed Movies

This is a post I have thought about doing for quite some time.  I think it might be the kick off to something I will do on a regular basis.  Before I get started, I would like to extend an invitation to you, please share with me your favorites.  If you do not have a top 10, share as many as you’d like.  Feeling shy?   Then email them to me.   Just as long as you share with me!  Don’t feel like you have to write up a whole big thing, because I know firsthand how daunting of a task this is.  Just titles will suffice.

These are my top 10 all-time favorite gay themed movies.  I posted this on Facebook awhile back and ever since then, I have thought back on the list of movies I’d chosen.  For better or worse, my list has not changed.  However, I wanted to write a little bit about why like each one of these movies.  I have included a brief description and the cover for reference.

 

10 – The Man I Love

This is a combination coming out and first love story. The swimmer and diver Lucard is interested in attractive Martin. The film follows the characters' coming out with all its difficulties, the bitter-sweet pleasures of first love and the dreadful moment when one comes down to reality and realizes that one's beloved friend has a hard way to go yet. The positive message the film tries to transmit is the somewhat common motto "Live each day of your life as if it were your last."

I like watching the struggle between these two characters, one who is unsure with himself and the other who is too sure with himself when it comes to being gay.  Watching these two work out their differences and not just simply falling in love, makes this a believable film to watch. 

 

9 – Defying Gravity

 

Griff wants to maintain just a superficial relationship with his all-gay boyfriend, who gets seriously wounded in a gay bashing.

The concept of three best friends and two of them falling in love was so well done in this movie.  The fear and conflict these characters go through as they work to understand themselves and others around them is interesting.

8 – The Broken Hearts Club

In the palm-shaded oasis of West Hollywood, we meet Dennis, a promising photographer. As he prepares to celebrate his twenty-eighth birthday, he laments, ' I can't decide if my friends are the best or worst thing that ever happened to me.' The gang includes Benji, the punkish innocent with a penchant for gym bodies; Howie, the psychology grad student who thinks too much and lives too little; Cole, the charismatic actor who accidentally keeps stealing everybody's guy; Patrick, the cynical quipster, and Taylor, resident drama queen, who, until recently, prided himself on his long-term relationship. Providing sage advice and steady work is Jack, the beloved patriarch whose restaurant is a haven for them all. When tragedy strikes the group, their friendships are put to the test.

There are so many likable characters in this movie!  Just about every gay stereotype is represented and this is a group of friends I think anyone would appreciate having around.  I’ve always liked how good this movie makes me feel when I watch it.

7 – The Trip

When 19-year-old gay-rights activist Tommy and 24-year-old Alan first meet in 1973, they find themselves on the opposite sides of the political coin. Despite their many differences, they form a loving long-term relationship. In 1977, during Anita Bryant's crusade, an anti-gay book Alan wrote years before it gets published without his consent. The book destroys Tommy's credibility as a well-known activist, resulting in Tommy and Alan's break-up. Seven years later, Alan is given a second chance, a reunion with Tommy and the opportunity to set things right.

I like how these two meet and eventually fall in love, then they grow apart and keep finding their way back to each other.  The part with Allan and Tommy in the car reduces me to tears every time.

 

6 – Newcastle

“Newcastle” is a coming-of-age/family drama/surfing movie. 17-year old Jesse lives in the shadow of his older brother Victor's failure to become surfing's Next Big Thing. Even when he's in his natural habitat of magnificent surf breaks, his blue-collar future is brought home by the coal barges that constantly line his horizon. Jesse has the natural skills to surf his way out of this reality and onto the international circuit but can he overcome his equally natural ability to sabotage himself? A momentous weekend away with his mates that includes first love and tragedy leads him to discover what's really important, and also to the performance of a lifetime

I originally saw this movie because the guys on the cover looked hot.  The eye candy in the movie are all pleasant to watch… Especially during the surfing camp out they go on!  Although there is only one gay character in the movie, I have only seen it on gay category lists.  It is simply an enjoyable coming of age movie about two brothers who are completely different from one another.

 

5 – Beautiful Thing

In a suburb of London, young Jamie is escaping sport hours, to avoid being the victim of his comrades. Young Ste, his neighbor, is beaten by his father, and comes to sleep overnight. They discover new feelings, sleeping in the same bed.

This was the first gay themed movie I ever saw and loved.  So much of what these two boys experience and feel were feelings I was struggling with and coming to understand at the time.  I can remember wishing I would find someone like these two had found each other.

 

 

4 – Priscilla: Queen of the Desert

The usually menacing British actor Terence Stamp does a complete turnaround as Bernadette, an aging transsexual who tours the backwaters of Australia with her stage partners, Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Adam/Felicia (Guy Pearce). Their act, well-known in Sydney, involves wearing lots of makeup and gowns and lip-synching to records, but Bernadette is getting a bit tired of it all and is also haunted by the bizarre death of an old loved one. Nevertheless, when Mitzi and Felicia get an offer to perform in the remote town of Alice Springs at a casino, Bernadette decides to tag along. The threesome ventures into the outback with Priscilla, a lavender-colored school bus that doubles as dressing room and home on the road. Along the way, the act encounters any number of strange characters, as well as incidents of homophobia, while Bernadette becomes increasingly concerned about the path her life has taken.

I first heard of this movie after seeing "To Wong Foo..." and just as the person who suggested it thought, this was a much better movie!  The idea of three gay guys taking a road trip across country is amusing in itself.  Then throw in they are drag queens and it is a hell of an adventure.  Each of the characters are lovable and fun to watch.  Bernadette you can tell has done and seen everything and although now a woman, she can still hold her own.  Mitzi what keeps them together.  Adam either cracks me up or drives me nuts each time I watch this movie.  It is filled with bloody Abba songs that stick in my head long after the movie ends.

3 – Trick

“Trick” is a shy musical comedy composer searches in vain for someplace to bed down with a sexy go-go dancer in this sweet-natured romantic comedy set in Manhattan. College student Gabriel wants to compose musical comedies; Katherine, his muse and confidante, wants to star in his productions. On the way home from the bar, Gabriel notices Mark, one of the dancers from the club, catnapping in the subway. One mumble-mouthed come-on later, the men attempt to consummate their attraction to one another at Gabriel's tiny apartment, only to find themselves frustrated by pets, roommates, and a visit from Katherine. The couple's attempt to find a suitable boudoir leads them from one location to another; along the way, they discover that their attraction might extend beyond a single afternoon's ardor.

I love how Mark and Gabriel spend the whole evening trying to find a spot where they can hook-up and along the way get to know each other.  The part in the diner where they hold hands puts a smile on my face and gets my heart racing every time. It is neat seeing two very different people interested in each other and getting to know each other until they fall in love.

2 – All Over The Guy

"All Over The Guy" is a contemporary romantic comedy about the quest to find the "one" when "the one" doesn't know he's the "one." It explores the unlikely pairing of two 20-somethings thrown together by their respective best friends in hopes of igniting their own romance. They do everything they can to NOT fall in love, but finally they overcome the dysfunction of their parents and surrender to their hearts.

I love watching Eli and Tom run hot and cold together throughout this movie.  They seems well matched and then they seem like they have nothing in common.  Eli is a sweet likable guy and time is flawed, but my favorite character.  There best friends falling in love keeps Eli and Tom being pushed to be together.  I love the concept of this movie and how it unfolds.  Not only is this movie great, but it has many songs I enjoyed in it!  Unfortunately, there is no soundtrack, but you can find a list of the songs from the movie online.

 

1 – Shelter

Love brings together two men who aren't sure where to fit a relationship into their lives in this romantic drama. Living in the oceanfront working-class community of San Pedro, Zach (Trevor Wright) is a young man in his early twenties who has been forced into the role of emotional anchor for his dysfunctional family; his mother his dead, his father is too ill to work, his sister Jeannie (Tina Holmes) is too busy partying to look after her five-year-old son Cody (Jackson Wurth), and Zach is the only one with the wherewithal to hold down a job and keep the rent paid. He's sacrificed his dream of attending CalArts in order to help Jeannie raise Cody. Between cooking at a diner and looking after Cody, Zach has little in the way of spare time, but as often as he can he heads to the beach to indulge his passion for surfing. While hanging out with his surfing buddy Gabe (Ross Thomas), Zach meets Gabe's brother, the struggling homosexual writer Shaun (Brad Rowe), who has taken a break from Tinseltown while rebounding from a dysfunctional relationship. Shaun goes surfing with Zach one day, and the two discover they're powerfully attracted to one another, and a flirtation turns into a love affair. As Shaun has to explain to his girlfriend why he no longer wants to be with her, Zach tries to make Jeannie and his father understand why he's come out of the closet.

Something about Zach struggling with his feelings and Shaun being patient as he figures out what he wants that I love. Their relationship is not perfect, but they are both there for each other.  Each time I watch this movie I am reminded that there is someone special out there for all of us.  Shaun is so good with Cody, taking him in just as Zach had.  The idea of an artist and a writer falling in love I think is such a wonderful thing!  This movie does have a soundtrack to buy the great songs in it.