Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Special Know Your LGBT History

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Special Know Your LGBT History - Fame

Due to forces beyond my control (long, long, looooong story), I now have no electricity in my apartment. Unfortunately this means there most likely will be no posting until tomorrow around lunctime (at least let's pray).

And I bet something juicy is going to happen while I'm gone.

Damn, I hate that.

But why let it all be bad. I now present a special Tuesday night edition of Know Your LGBT History.

As you all know, I usually do this Friday afternoons, but this is a special condition where I need something to make me smile. And what better than one of my dreamboats featured in this segment.

Fame (1980) is one of my favorite movies. It told the story of a group of students attending the New York School of Performing Arts, giving us an insight into their lives and hope for success.

I saw the movie during my first year in college and instantly fell in love the young man in the clip below, Montgomery McNeil:

The irony is that the first time I ever saw the actor who portrayed Montgomery (Paul McCrane) was in the movie Robocop. He was the bad guy who got turned into toxic waste.

Anyway, if you haven't guessed it yet, Montgomery is gay and he does come out to everyone:

Okay, sue me but I didn't like the scene. And I didn't like what the movie did to the character. He didn't die or get beaten up which is good. But he did nothing. Not one thing. He just sat back and observed as his friends fell in love.

Hell, they could have at least given him a love interest.

But they did give actor McCrane a chance to add two songs to soundtrack of the movie. One which he sings on camera. It's a hearbreaker:

13 comments:

Unknown11:20 PM
Is that the same Paul McCrane we all knew and hated (as Romano) on "ER"?
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Bill S3:56 AM
I was a teenager when I saw "Fame" for the first time, and although I was disappointed that he didn't get to have a boyfriend, it still meant a lot to see a gay teen in a feature film. Up to that point, I don't think I EVER saw any gay teens in any medium-it was as if we didn't exist at all. For what it's worth, I think the movie drops hints that Montgomery was attracted to Ralph. There's a scene in which they're in a dressing room together, and Ralph is shirtless, and the way Montgomery rests his head on Ralph's shoulders...there's just something sweet about that scene. I actually found that relatable. I wasn't out in high school, and I did have a crush on one of my male friends. I was actually incredibly pissed off at the way his character was de-gayed on the tv version. I haven't seen the recent big-screen ramake. Is it as bad as it looks?
Paul McCrane also played a gay teen in "The Hotel New Hampshire"(1984) He was still adorable.
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BlackTsunami7:52 AM
I made it a point to boycott the big screen remake. The original movie had vitality that can never be duplicated.
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BlackTsunami7:56 AM
The very one and the same, Shawna. LOL. and he was also the guy on the X-Files who could regenerate his body from cancerous tissues.
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Bill S1:15 PM
...but couldn't regenerate his HAIR. :)
I loved him on "E.R." Rocket Romano was a great villian. And his swansong was probably one of the most memorable on the show (crushed by a falling helicoptor!)
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Unknown1:45 PM
"and he was also the guy on the X-Files who could regenerate his body from cancerous tissues."

Thanks, I'd almost managed to forget about that episode. >.< Creepy!
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BlackTsunami2:11 PM
He's still hot. If anyone knows of a movie out there in which he does a nude scene, let me know. LOL
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Lightning Baltimore9:43 AM
Wow . . . I never saw the movie. but I hated those two scenes.

"I have problems" -- nice, makes him sound mentally ill, not to mention ashamed.

The other scene was much worse, though. Super smart therapist tells him it was a "life choice?" He tells his friends that it's funny that gay used to mean happy because he never is? And and makes it sound like he's ok with that?

I'm surprised they didn't have the tragic homosexual commit suicide by the end of the flick.

It's nice that a film from that long ago had a gay teen, but, based on those two scenes, seeing it at 17 (when it came out) would've been yet another reason to stay in the closet.
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BlackTsunami10:14 AM
So true Mr. HCI,

but ISN'T HE SO CUUUUUTE!
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DC HAMPTON JACOBS11:31 AM
The movie was OK, but "Fame" was my favorite TV show of the 1980s. I loved the characters played by Erica Gimpel, Jesse Borrego, Nia Peeples and Loretta Chandler. There was a castmember who was Gay in real life (the late Gene Anthony Ray) and at least one other . . .
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Anonymous8:15 AM
Ugh, I remember the pallid, pathetic, weak-looking gay male character in Fame, supposedly the one, single discernibly gay male in NYC's Performing Arts High School. His self-hatred was illustrated beautifully where he said to a room full of classmates that being gay didn't mean he would be unhappy, just that he would never be happy (or words to that effect). And at the end of the movie, he's part of the decline of the mouthy, obnoxious New York Puerto Rican kid (no stereotypes in Fame!), always vocally homophobic, who at the end of the movie is bombing as a comedian as he gets involved with drugs (coke or speed), and starts to let the gay kid put his hands on him familiarly after screwing up one stand-up gig. This was gross in part because why would any self-respecting gay guy want to get involved with a loudmouthed bigot, but also, it showed slipping into homosexuality as a part of the Puerto Rican guy's decline and fall. Which was the association of homosexuality with decadence, a popular idea among straight people in the 1970s, and one that homophobic director William Friedkin also resorts to in The Boys in the Band with the shelf breaking and the things on it falling on the rain-soaked patio during the horrific gay birthday party.

The homophobia wasn't a major thread in Fame, but it does make the movie less fun to watch. All the great musical theater moments don't obscure that.
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BlackTsunami2:52 PM
"pallid, pathetic, weak-looking" - u r so mean. I thought he was cute. LOL.
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Erin5:21 AM
I thought he was attracted to Ralph, too. And his songs are some of the best in the movie, so I'm glad to see the character get some recognition. I'm loving your series of LGBT History posts; got here from She Blogged By Night and will probably spend a large portion of the morning reading your blog.
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