When I was coming out as a gay man in 1970 Boys in the Band was the first film that I saw that dealt with being gay. I watched the film more than ten times between 1970 and 1985. The story of the gay men portrayed in the movie resonated with me. Shortly after the release of the film the gay community began to frown on the themes of self-hatred and internalized homophobia. This new version is a revelation that takes the period piece elements of the Mart Crowley classic and without updating or reimagining the play, enables the viewer to embrace these flawed characters through the lens of 2020 marginalization of the “other”. The cast headed by Jim Parsons is an abundance of riches. And of course, looking back at my life over the last fifty years brings full circle the pain and glory of surviving of AIDS, coming out, Same Sex Marriage, Gay rights and deaths of lovers and friends. I thought I could handle the emotional rampage of the story until the Martha and The Vandellas’s song Heat Wave played and the players formed a line and danced. I dissolved into a blubber of tears and only by the end of the two-hour film did I recover from my train wreck catharsis.

The Boys in the Band | Official Trailer | Netflix – YouTube

The Boys in the Band (2020 film) – Wikipedia