Dear fellow cineasts, what I have in store for you today is CLAY FARMERS, a little-known independent US drama movie directed by A.P. Gonzalez in 1985 (even though it is often falsely said to be from 1988, which was when it was released).
If you’re interested to see what ‘Brokeback Mountain’ might have looked like had it been shot some 25 years before Hollywood was ready to invest in a Gay Interest movie big time, go ahead and hit your download button.
I may sound pathetic, but I just can't let such a milestone of gay cinematography go down the drain so unnoticed.
The film holds a remarkable rating of 7.8/10 on imdb.com (www.imdb.com/title/tt0094883/), even though the current basis of 42 votes is not quite as representative as you’d want it to be.
I have to admit that it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen the film, so please forgive me for relying on reviews stolen from www.gayinterestfilms.blogspot.com instead of digging into my own faded memories.
As far as the picture quality goes, expect something like a good old battered VHS tape rather than anything close to HD standards.
Sorry, non-English speakers, but for a production like this there are no subtitles available anywhere on the net.
Plot:
CLAY FARMERS is a lavishly photographed story of repressed homosexual feelings and child abuse, set in an all-American rural environment. Two young farm workers must come to terms with their feelings for each other and a small town's hostility toward them.
Mike, a young hired hand in California is working a small farm with a close friend, Dan. Mike is content on the farm and obviously attracted to handsome Dan. Dan seems to be attracted to Mike as well, but he's more of a drifter than a farmer. He longs to finish out the contract and move on to a big city, perhaps with Mike in tow. Gary, a young kid from the next farm over, befriends them during their daily chores. Gary lives with his abusive father, a stepmother and a stepbrother. Gary is drawn to the camaraderie of the young farmhands, in part to avoid his problems at home. When an innocent session of skinny-dipping is misconstrued by the boy's father, the young hired hands soon find themselves unjustly suspected of wrongdoing in a suddenly hostile anti-gay small town environment.
Review:
To give this movie some justice, we need to step back and realize that it was a gay-oriented film made in the 1980s and obviously on a shoestring budget so they had to work with some huge limitations. But that being said, they did a magnificent job with them.
The acting of the two main characters Dan and Mike, in my opinion, was excellent. I genuinely cared about what happened to them because I cared about their characters in this movie, which is more than I can say for most of the movies I've ever watched. And they were both kind of hunky and cute, which I know is superficial, but hey, I notice these things in movies, and if you're reading this review, then you probably do, too.
I am surprised that Todd Fraser (Dan) never did anything else after this movie. Some of the townsfolk characters were a little flat, but that didn't detract from the overall movie because they were not the main focus of the movie anyways.
Dan and Mike's "crush" on each other was, quite frankly, very believable, and as often happens with gay crushes in the real world, they are short-lived and intense, but tend to go nowhere. So I had no problem with the way they portrayed that aspect in the movie. Been there, done that! So, I know how it feels and can identify with them on that issue.
So, in short, this very "indie" movie has a solid, believable, and interesting story, and the two leading characters provide some decent "eye candy" which is always nice to have.
There is some nudity, and there are some definitely homo erotic scenes of the two of them being more than what most people would call just friends.
If you are interested in a good gay movie then definitely give this one a try. It is far better than most of the other gay movies I have seen.
Feels it's really so long ago, but why gay's road is always so long to go?! Thanks for sharing!作者: WillY 时间: 2010-2-17 19:06
If you are interested in a good gay movie then definitely give this one a try. It is far better than most of the other gay movies I have seen.
就听你的吧！作者: 伊妹 时间: 2010-2-17 20:41
不錯喔作者: odis 时间: 2010-2-18 02:28
非常好的影片。作者: ljd711226 时间: 2010-2-18 10:27
貌似真的与断背山差不多作者: asda300 时间: 2010-2-18 21:27
农场情事多作者: kenny2004 时间: 2010-2-18 23:36
although it looks old.. but still seems a good and touching movie作者: afongonill 时间: 2010-2-19 08:20
