Welcome to Screen Gems, our weekend dive into queer and queer-adjacent titles of the past that deserve a watch or a re-watch.
The Inebriated: Arthur
Sir John Gielgud appears on just about every list of the Greatest Shakespearean Actors of All Time, often near the tip-top. How ironic, then, that his biggest success in Hollywood would come in a slapstick comedy about drunkenness, opposite a loony comic and a gay icon.
Arthur casts Gielgud as Hobson, the snooty butler of Arthur Bach, the titular character. Though a grown man, Arthur acts more like a drunken 10-year-old, reveling in his inherited billions of dollars and constantly boozing as he stumbles around New York City. As his family pressures him to marry an upper-crust woman named Susan (Jill Eikenberry), Arthur crosses paths with the beautiful, if working-class, Linda (Liza Minnelli), and sparks fly. Arthur must choose between Susan, who will allow him to keep his inheritance, and a relationship with Linda, which will mean forfeiting his wealth.
Though Dudley Moore scored an Oscar nomination for his very funny portrayal of Arthur, Gielgud took home the golden statuette for his performance as the oh-so-dry witted Hobson. And no wonder: he just about steals the movie. Minnelli also gets one of her best screen roles as Linda, and part of the movie’s fun comes from watching her interact with Moore and try (at times, unsuccessfully) to contain her laughter. Gielgud is far more successful in keeping his stone-face, which makes him all the funnier. Arthur also features an Oscar-winning contribution from gay songwriter Peter Allen (Liza’s ex-husband…cough), who collaborated with Christopher Cross, Burt Bacharach and Carole Sayer for the song “The Best You Can Do.” Trust us, you’ve heard it: it’s that song about the moon & New York City.
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Goofy, sweet, and downright hilarious, the success of Arthur proves that the contribution of queer artists (and their icons) can always raise the game on an otherwise standard comedy. Dudley Moore makes Arthur funny. Liza Minnelli and John Gielgud make it classic.
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amanwithanedge
great movie and great theme song.
Josh447
I just watched this another time about a month ago. It’s one of the funniest movies of all time. Great pandemic relief for sure.
missvamp
that is one of my fave movies.
ognibb
I still crack up whenever I think of Hobson’s classic deadpan comeback: “I’ll alert the Media…”
Josh447
Then there’s “try not to speak”,
baggins435
When Arthur is in the bath and Hobson asks “Do you want me to wash your dick?”
James26
Liza Minnelli is a heterosexual female. She is not a “gay icon.” Neither she nor the roles she played have anything to do with being gay. She might be an icon for effeminate men, who see themselves as quasi-women and thus relate to her on some pathological level. But if that is the case, then she is better referred to as a “fem icon.”
emp23an
Have you actually ever met Liza Minnelli? I have, and regardless of how fem or butch you may think you are she is a gay icon all the same. Just as Liz Taylor was a gay icon. They’re not just women and they’re not just actresses. Before she passed, Liz Taylor forced the US Government and President Regan to finally acknowledge that AIDS was not just a ‘gay’ disease and founded anfAR because of her friend Rock Hudson. Liza has helped raise much needed funds for various charities including amfAR. She may not be a gay icon to you, and that’s fine, but those of us who survived the 1980s and 1990s do. The insinuation made by referring to her as a ‘fem icon’, is not only inaccurate, but it’s also homophobic. I suggest you think about getting your internalized heterosexism in check – it’s unbecoming and ultimately, isolating.
mrbaze
First day on the planet? Of course she is an icon to the gay community. We totally get that she is probably hetero, by the way. Assuming she is an icon to “effeminate men” or “quasi-women” speaks volumes about your damaged and fragile masculinity and nothing about fem,. butch and all in between who admire er.
James26
@emp23an So Liza Minnelli is a “gay icon” because she “helped raise much needed funds for various charities including amfAR”? Really? This is all about some fundraisers for “various charities” 40 years ago? lol. I doubt it. There’s lots of Amfar fundraisers right now, not 40 years ago. There was a mega-celebrity fundraiser in 2018 which raised over $200 million. Why aren’t those straight celebrity donors all “gay icons”?
No sir, Minnelli is an “icon” not to men who are exclusively attracted to other men – which is the meaning of “gay men” – but rather to men who see themselves as akin to women, and who therefore draw inspiration from women, not men. Pitiable failures at manhood, they cope with themselves by pining over a womanhood, which they will never have.
Dave_Bailey
This flaming heterosexual says that you may be a little out of touch with the gay community.
Josh447
If you Google Judy Garland gay icon, you’ll see just how far off base you are.
James26
@josh447 Since you bring up Judy Garland, here’s a story. About two years ago, I found myself at a party with an old guy who was blabbing on about Judy Garland. So I asked him, “What is the deal with you and some gay men and Judy Garland? Why do you look up to this straight female actress, who publicly mentioned gay people maybe once in her entire life?” And he said, “Well, we look up to her because she was self-destructive, died young, and had troubled relations with men.” And I thought (but did not say out loud): “This is the most f__ked up thing I’ve ever heard. Those are all reasons why you shouldn’t look up to someone, not reasons you should. If Garland had any impact on you at all, it should be as a negative example, a lesson of how not to be.”
But I now can see how, in the perverse, inverted world of the effeminate man, their attachment to her makes sense. They are self-destructive, often die young and have greatly reduced prospects for dating men, since effeminacy is so widely reviled among gay and bisexual prospective mates. So in the spirit of “misery loves company,” that old man and others like him relate to that dead, self-destructive female.
The best thing that gay and bi men can do for ourselves is overthrow “gay culture” as it has been created and imposed on us by damaged men like the one at the party and the writers at Queerty. Overthrow it, destroy it and replace it. As men and boys, we should look up to healthy, strong, accomplished men, not self-destructive dead women and their daughters.
James26
@Dave_Baley I certainly hope I am! I would be worried if I were in sync. What is a “flaming heterosexual”?
Cam
Yes James, we’ve seen you under this screename on other threads attacking out of the closet LGBTQs or allies.
Being Judy Garland’s daughter, having a gay father, marrying two gay men and doing a ton of musicals and broadway albums I think can safely put her on the list.
But by all means tell us who YOUR icons are. We’re dying to hear.
jniceny
I am a gay man, and I don’t identify as a quasi-woman, but I do consider Liza to be a “gay icon”.
Besides her AIDS charity work back when the majority of Americans didn’t approve of homosexuality and many saw AIDS as God’s judgment on gay persons, she is the daughter of Judy Garland, starred in Cabaret and countless Broadway musicals, and is a one-of-a-kind singer, entertainer and personality. The two times I’ve seen her perform live, her singing gave me goosebumps.
4 gays say she’s an icon, 1 says she isn’t. If we define “gay icon” as “someone who is considered an icon among gay men” or “someone who is considered an icon by the LGBT+ community”, then I think no more proof is needed that she’s a “gay icon”.
jniceny
James26, may I suggest you read Vito Russo’s “The Celluloid Closet”, or watch the movie, and watch the documentary “Before Stonewall.” The fact that we live during a time where there are entertainers and public figures who are openly LGBT+ is because of the courage and tenacity of those who worked for tolerance, acceptance, visibility, civil rights, and equality.
We stand on the shoulders of giants.
JoshGL
The amount of cocaine consumed on that set among cast and crew is legendary. Sir John was appalled.
David Reddish
Where’s the rest of this moose?
dvlaries
“Yes it’s been a distinct pleasure meeting you. Usually one has to go to a bowling alley to meet a woman of your stature.”
“Arthur, I see no reason for prolonging this unless you’re planning on knocking over a fruit stand later today. Good luck in prison.”
“Wouldn’t it be funny if he called me?”
“Steal something casual…”
Str8 Up Gay Man
Thank you for filling in the rest of the scene. God, that is so funny. I haven’t laughed a lot like the everyone else but boy it feels terrific. Thank you.