"Now There's a Gentleman": RIP Bill Hunter

Not many actors' deaths can be followed by statements like "it's the end of an era", but Bill Hunter is most certainly one whose career can stand up to such statements. It's hard to find a more iconic Australian actor than Bill Hunter, a man whose resume reads like a role call of some of the greatest films this nation has ever produced. With his booming voice, imposing figure and assortment of beards and moustaches, he lent himself to portraying the sort of cops, soldiers and larrikin characters that he so frequently played. Throughout roles in Australia (2008), Backroads (1977), Crackerjack (2002), Gallipoli (1981, AFI Award winner), Heatwave (1982), In Search of Anna (1978), The Last Days of Chez Nous (1992, AFI Award nominee), Mad Dog Morgan (1976, AFI Award nominee), The Man from Hong Kong (1975), Road to Nhill (1997), The Square (2008) and Tom White (2003), amongst many other films and acclaimed TV work, he proved to be the sort of actor that even those who can't find a nice word to say about Australian cinema could agree was a legend of the field.

Philip Noyce, who directed Hunter in Heatwave and the towering Newsfront, recently described him as defining the Australian male identity of the twentieth century. Not only that, his work ethic typified the idea of the working Aussie actor. Unafraid to take a role in anything, including films from first time directors (Philip Noyce, Stephan Elliot, Alkinos Tsilimidos, PJ Hogan, Baz Luhrmann) and television series of questionable quality. To show how much he continued to work up until his death at age 71, Hunter has three movies set for release over the next year: Red Dog, The Wedding Party and The Cup, in which he plays famed horse riding coach Bart Cummings in what I can foresee as nabbing him his seventh and final AFI Award nomination. His identifiable voice was also always in high demand, having provided vocal duties on Finding Nemo (2003), The Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole (2010) and television commercial work that, in a sad twist of the knife, I have seen several times since his passing on Saturday night.


Bill Hunter filming The Cup in 2010
For a man that resembled the rough and burly look with a love for beer that Australians were typically known for, it is surprising then to note the three film that introduced Hunter a new generation of film lovers. I distinctly remember seeing Hunter for the first time in the unofficial camp-campier-campiest trilogy of Australian films from the early 1990s; Strictly Ballroom (1992), Muriel's Wedding (1994) and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), the latter two duel-handedly reviving the public's obsession with ABBA, so he has that to be proud of! As the grotesquely villainous "Bill Heslop" and "Barnie Fife" in PJ Hogan's Muriel's Weddding and Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom, his authoritative presence was a much needed jolt to films that were overflowing with young and first timer talent.


Strictly Ballroom | Muriel's Wedding (with Toni Collette)
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
However, personally, it was his role as the lovable outback mechanic "Bob" in Priscilla that is the most startling of his career. It can't be stated enough that in 1994 Bill Hunter - the Bill Hunter - played a man who falls in love with a transgendered woman. I rewatched Stephan Elliot's brilliant comedy last night and it continues to make me, quite literally, laugh and cry through the whole gamut of emotions. Hunter and Terrence Stamp's "Bernadette" are the heart of the movie, if you will, and their final scene where we realise they might in fact attempt to give a relationship a go is a real heartbreaker. As Bernedette says, a real gentleman is hard to find, and she found one!

I love The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert so much that I routinely label it my favourite Australian film ever made. However, if I had to pick the best? Well, I'm not sure I could go past another Bill Hunter film, Newsfront (1978). A movie that is routinely cited as one of the, if not the, greatest Australian film ever made really is just superb in every way. Hunter's performance, for which he won the AFI Award for lead actor, is just one part of it.


Bill Hunter and Chris Haywood in Newsfront
Hunter was an actor of such status that many on Twitter called for the Australian film industry to be cancelled since his presence was pretty much mandatory. Joking or not, the industry will obviously keep chugging along, but Hunter's passing will leave a sad hole in it and one that won't be replaced. RIP.

The A-Z of IDAHO

Today is IDAHO - International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, don't ask me why they changed T and O in the acronym, okay? - and it's such a valuable day that will sadly no unrecognised in mainstream media. Tell that gay man or woman in your life, or the transgendered friend or family member, that they're important and valued.

Living in Australia right now can be quite sad for GLBT people since we have a Prime Minister and an opposition leader who seem to be battling each other to make the most homophobic statements possible. Hell, our PM is an athiest who "lives in sin" with her boyfriend, and yet she comes out saying that she doesn't believe in gay marriage because Australia has deep Christian roots. To Prime Minister Gillard I say "fuck off!"

I don't really have much to say on the matter because, well, I talk about gay issues quite a lot. Instead of making you read a whole lot of blather about what it means to be gay, I have collected a bunch of film trailers for films that deal with GLBT issues and that have personally affected me in some way. Some of these movies are tough and tragic, others are sweet and magic. So, just like the real world, I suppose. I recommend all of them and if you haven't sought out much in the way of gay cinema then I suggest you avoid the lame comedies that fill the "specialty interest" section of your local DVD retailer (Another Gay Movie, The Fluffer, Eating Out 7), but instead look at some of the daring, groundbreaking, thrilling, funny, touching and wonderfully made movies that have been made by some fabulous talent. The films below aren't necessarily my favourites, but they are great films, some of which don't get discussed enough in this world where A Single Man is the new go-to movie for gay cinema watchers.


The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert | Bear Cub


The Celluloid Closet | The Deep End


The Edge of Seventeen | Far from Heaven


Gypsy '83 | Heartbeats


I'm the One that I Want | Just a Question of Love


Kaboom! | Last Exit to Brooklyn


My Beautiful Laundrette | Newcastle


Orlando | Paris is Burning


Querelle | The Rocky Horror Picture Show


Shortbus | The Times of Harvey Milk


Urbania | Velvet Goldmine


Welcome to the Dollhouse | X2


Yossi & Jagger | Zus & Zo

Boys vs Girls

Screen Australia, it has been announced, are helping to fund a new Aussie film called Satellite Boy. It's a story of a young Aboriginal boy set in the far north who tries to save his land in the Kimberley region from being developed. One of it's producers is David Jowsey who is behind the much buzzed Mad Bastards.

It got me thinking about how often Australian films about about "boys", "men" and other versions of the word. Rarely, if ever, will a film's title reference the female gender equivalent. Outside of using a character's name - Beautiful Kate, Muriel's Wedding, Amy, Lillian's Story, Alexandra's Project, Thank God He Met Lizzie - titles for films about women are usually something less gender-related. Would you know Me Myself I, The Jammed, The Well, The Tree and Radiance were about women if you weren't already aware?

Curiously, even a movie like My Mother Frank has to turn its title into something androgynous. Meanwhile, La Spagnola means "The Spanish Woman", but unless you know a bit of Spanish you wouldn't know it.

Take a look.



Compare to these, which were the only female descriptor titles I could think of. Does the gay film with "queen" in the title count? And, yes, I am aware that is the book cover for Black Chicks Talking, but the subsequent documentary never got a poster, it would seem.


Is there a reason for this?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not implying there's underlying sexism here - although perhaps there is, I just think it's curious. Would we ever get a film named The Girls are Back? Not sure we would, to tell you the truth. How about The Nothing Women or Bra Gi..., er, scrap that last one.

And, of course, this isn't just relegated to Australian cinema, but to go any further would seriously damage my health. So let's just leave it, shall we?

When Xavier Goes to Xanadu

What does one make of Stephan Elliott?

I haven't seen his debut feature, Frauds, but I have meant to. I mean, it stars Phil Collins and Hugo Weaving! He even inserted the poster into his followup, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Personally, I would rank Priscilla as not only one of the absolute greatest Australian films of all time, but would also rank as probably the second funniest movie I have ever seen (the best being, obviously, Flying High!) Naturally, he had lofty heights to reach after that one, but unfortunately he followed it up with Welcome to Woop Woop. Even more unfortunate was that he followed that car crash of a movie with, well, a crash on the ski slopes that nearly killed him.

He returned with Easy Virtue a couple of years ago that was a mildly pleasing effort made better by Jessica Biel's best performance yet. I, along with everyone I know who fell privy to knowing of its existence, his next project was supposed to be Black Oasis and it's eventual production hell status remains of the most bitterly disappointing film developments of the last several years. Oh how amazing Black Oasis would have been.

He's back now prepping a new Australian film titled A Few Best Men that sounds more than little bit like The Hangover Down Under, but with today's casting announcements, my enthusiasm - as well as having some remaining faith that Elliott is able to make a ball-busting hilarious film again - has gone through the roof. The roof of a roller disco, that is! From Encore Magazine

The cast of Stephan Elliott’s A Few Best Men will include Xavier Samuel, Kris Marshall, Kevin Bishop and Olivia Newton-John as the mother of the bride.

“I’m thrilled Olivia Newton-John is part of the cast; Dean Craig has written a fantastically entertaining script, and it’s especially exciting to partner Stephan Elliott with Olivia who is a true music and film icon. Olivia will be playing a role that will show her in a light she’s never been seen before and it’s going to turn heads and win new fans,” said producer Gary Hamilton.

Holy shitballs, folks!


"I thought we were filming this is the outback, not the mystical Mt Olympus!"
I have been known to find Xavier Samuel, ahem, a nice screen presence and it will be nice to see him in a comedy that's not Twilight: Eclipse. But, of course, the real news here is Olivia Newton-John. I trust she won't be shooting ping pong balls out of her hoo haa like Julia Cortez in Priscilla. Still, the prospect of seeing Livvy on screen is quite an exciting prospect. Sure, she's never been the best actress, but hopefully Stephan Elliott - a director not adverse to musical sequences - gives her a song to sing and we can all stop caring.


"Ping pong balls out of my what now?"
I can't say I'm familiar with Kevin Bishop or Kris Marshall outside of a few roles they've been in that I, obviously, didn't take much notice. I hear Bishop, especially, has his fans. We'll see whether it all goes down a treat some time in 2012. Let's revisit two of my absolute favourite Olivia tracks, shall we? Yes, we shall!


"Xanadu (film version)" | "Twist of Fate"

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

I watched William Friedkin's controversial 1980 gay S&M thriller Cruising the other night and felt compelled to write about it. I can't begin to imagine what it was like to be gay (openly or not) in 1980, and there are moments in this film that are, without a doubt, hopeless in their representation of gay culture. I do, however, think there's something to be said about several things like the way the Paul Sorvino character (and several other peripheral police characters) are actually quite empathetic towards the gay men and how Al Pacino's undercover cop seems so nonchalant about the whole thing was surprising. Even as Friedkin's camera roams the gay bars that are its primary setting for the early half of the movie, it doesn't do so with fear-mongering angles and overdone hysterics. I'd like to see a piece of gay cinema made in 2010 that is this frank and open in its displays of homosexual sexual acts. You just don't find many movies starring the likes of Al Pacino that feature fistings and rimjobs, ya know? Or, for that matter, a modern day movie in which a star of Al Pacino's fame and stature is shown hog-tied to a bed by a gay lover. You just wouldn't. Tasteless Cruising is, but its brashness ultimately becomes one of the film's most eye-popping and fascinating aspects. Just how far will they go and so forth?





If Cruising were made today then it wouldn't be the gay men protesting it like they were in 1980 - read on and you'll discover that, these days, gay men will champion anything that is remotely "omg homos on screen!!!" - but it would be the conservative "tea party" thing calling it disgraceful, immoral and yelling to anyone who'll listen (aka Fox News) that the filmmakers are "pushing the homosexual agenda" onto audiences (audiences that have paid their money for a ticket so you must assume they want this so-called "agenda" pushed onto them). Technically, the film is well-lensed by James Contner that obviously recalls similar milieu found in Taxi Driver, and Jack Nitzsche's music is menacing yet fun. Of course, the central idea that a perfectly heterosexual man cannot enter the gay "scene" without reconsidering his sexual preference, and, furthermore, become a violent serial killer because of it, is an inherently homophobic one, but Cruising is far from the most damaging that gay cinema has to offer. I tend to think movies like Another Gay Movie are far worse, but maybe that's just me.


In fact, my main criticisms towards the film have very little to do with the homosexual stuff and more to do with the fact that just a very messy film with plot strands that start and get unceremoniously dumped, with a lead character that doesn't seem to know what he's doing and a good chunk of the actors are woeful. Some of the early sequence in the gay club, to my eyes, felt like wildly exaggerated portrayals of gay life, but what would I know about the New York gay scene of the 1970s? As for Al Pacino? He spends far too much time towards the beginning doing his mumble routine, but he actually ends up getting out without tarnishing his reputation, and hey he was certainly nice to look at "back in the day". I get what it was trying to do and it's a better movie than I remember Friedkin's The Boys in the Band being, but I saw that other 1970s bookend title too long ago to really remember. Cruising? It's probably better to look at it as a mood piece, as a moment in time that we'll never see again and if you can't like it for its politics then you have to at least admire it somewhat for having the balls to even attempt what it was doing. B-



As I was link hopping around I came across this list of "The Top 50 Favorite Gay Films!" at AfterElton. Obviously, such a list - voted for by readers - on such a website as AfterElton is a dubious one to begin with, but reading over the list is quite... and I don't want to sound hyperbolic here, but... depressing. Cruising is not to be found on the list, understandably, but just look at the list and tell me honestly that half of these titles don't make you want to vomit all over your monitor.

50. Priest
49. The Wedding Banquet
48. Redwoods
47. The Celluloid Closet
46. Velvet Goldmine

At this stage I thought it was an incredibly strong list of contenders. Sure, I have never heard of Redwoods, but those other four are blistering, powerful works of cinema. Alas, never underestimate the dog shit taste of online gay film watchers.

45. Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Also, never underestimate gay people's ability to clutch onto anything that has even the slightest ounce of gayness about it. Really, AfterElton readers? Scott Pilgrim? The movie isn't even interested in the bisexual nature of Ramona since the female ex is given such incredibly short shrift by the filmmakers. And Keiran Culkin's Wallace does not a gay movie make (no matter how good he actually is.)

44. Jeffrey
43. Edge of Seventeen
42. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
41. The Bubble

Another nice mini-segment of movies. I'm not going to question how The Bubble made it and other foreign-language gay cinema like Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education or Miguel Albaladejo's Bearcub, but at least they chose something that wasn't about plucked circuit boys!

40. Mambo Italiano
39. Eating Out

Now, Eating Out makes my blood boil. It's one of those films that only gay people could like and the only reason they would is because it's about gay people. Of course, it's "about" gay people in the most superficial ways. Never mind the fact that its terribly written ("my life is so not Sex and the City right now" is a quite I seem to remember), acted, shot and is amateur hour compared to even the most unsophisticated of arthouse cinema. But, hey, it features hot boys with big muscles so it must be good! Throw in some obvious pathos about "finding yourself" to appeal to those who don't want to appear completely shallow and ta da! I guess we should be thankful that Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds didn't make the top 50, too! Or how about Another Gay Movie? I'm surprised that wasn't top 10 let alone not on the entire countdown!

Mambo Italiano? I'd rather not go there.

38. The Trip
37. Making Love
36. Yossi & Jagger
35. Boy Culture
34. The Birdcage
33. The Boys in the Band
32. Love Songs
31. All Over the Guy

Apart from two or three of this combo, these all seem like films that I would think interchangeable with so many others. What places Don Roos' All Over the Guy above Don Roos' The Opposite of Sex, I wonder. Is the latter too lesbiany (to steal a phrase from Henrie Stride.)

30. My Own Private Idaho
29. Parting Glances
28. C.R.A.Z.Y.
27. Shortbus

An admirable selection here, but these are the sort of titles I would expect to see ranked much higher on the list if this were an actual, legitimate list of the best gay cinema. I haven't seen Parting Glances though, should I?


26. Philadelphia

See, now here is where I call umbrage on this list. As a gay person I am supposed to hate Cruising, but like Philadelphia? As misguided as parts of Cruising are at least it has the guts to be out there. "We're Here / We're Queer" and what have you. Philadelphia, on the other hand, is more like "We're Here / But Well, We'll Stand Over There and Maybe You Won't Notice That We're Queer... But We ARE Here! Sort of! Maybe!"

25. Summer Storm
24. I Love You Phillip Morris
23. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
22. Angels in America
21. The Broken Hearts Club
20. My Beautiful Laundrette

Let it be known that My Beautiful Laundrette, one of the three finest gay films of all time - not to mention Hedwig and Angels in America - are ranked below...

19. Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom

Okay then. Glad we got that settled. Granted, I've never seen this Jumping the Broom movie (the title alone gives me hives), but surely Brother to Brother (starring Anthony Mackie of The Hurt Locker) is a better examination of homosexuality within the African American community? I'd be interested to know how I Love You Phillip Morris managed enough votes, but Kevin Kline in the hilarious In & Out did not. Is that movie too old/not old enough. Is it not gay enough because Kevin Kline doesn't have anal sex with someone (but merely quotes Barbra Streisand)? Hmmm. That's not a knock to Phillip Morris, mind you, it is a hilarious film, I'm just curious is all.


18. Just a Question of Love
17. Prayers for Bobby

Don't ever underestimate gay people's willingness to enjoy TV movies about parents' guilt over not accepting their child's homosexuality. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE!

16. Patrik, Age 1.5

I have never seen this Swedish film, but I'm curious if the voters just haven't seen Bearcub? It seems much higher profile than this and it's a really lovely movie. I guess I should be thankful they didn't choose Breakfast with Scot though, right?

15. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
14. Torch Song Trilogy
13. Longtime Companion
12. Mysterious Skin

Priscilla is one of the funniest movies ever made (I'd probably rank it only behind Flying High! actually) and I adore Torch Song Trilogy for being everything that something like Mambo Italiano is not. Mysterious Skin... well, I don't want to jump to assumptions, but if the lead character of Joseph Gordon-Levitt was played by someone who wasn't as attractive I can't imagine it would rank as high. That's how cynical I am about these sort of lists from websites such as AfterElton. Amazing film that it is, do we really think the sort of AfterElton readers that can rank some of these upcoming top ten titles as high as they are would watch a movie as tough and unrelenting as Mysterious Skin if the eye candy wasn't so sky high? I mean, Gods & Monsters isn't even on this list! And I suspect it's because of, as Dame James so eloquently put it on Twitter earlier today:

Gods & Monsters was about an old guy. EWWWWW. Who wants to watch that?

Indeed.

(He was being sarcastic in case you were wondering...)

11. Trick

In the subgenre of "Attractive Man with Big Muscles Falls for Attractive Man with Bigger Muscles", Jim Fall's Trick is actually pretty decent. There's more there than just "here are some gay people acting gay, which means the gays will like it." I'd much rather watch this one again (fast forwarding through the Tori Spelling garbage, obviously) than, say, Latter Days. I do query though how Edge of Seventeen didn't rank as high as this one since it's actually quite good with some good performances, excellent 1980s sense of place and soundtrack and plenty of pathos (same should be said for Gypsy 83, which didn't make the list at all).

10. Get Real
9. Big Eden
8. Were the World Mine

Get Real I haven't seen since I was actually in high school so the whole plot of Outsider with a Crush on the Jock Who OMG Turns Out to be Gay plot didn't feel as cliched. Of course, I remember it being a bit better than the usual fare, so perhaps it wouldn't be terrible on a revisit. As for Were the World Mine? I happen to think it's one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Absolutely dreadful in every conceivable way that it makes even Another Gay Movie look like Shakespeare (a language that this film murders with fairy dust).

7. Maurice
6. A Single Man
5. Latter Days
4. Beautiful Thing
3. Shelter

As for A Single Man, I'm on record as saying that it is not a particularly good movie, nor do I think Latter Days does enough outside of it sexually-repressed-religious-boy fantasy to warrant a placement so darn high, but Beautiful Thing was lovely, wasn't it? I remember watching it in my room late and night with the volume right down so my parents couldn't hear it. It's one of the few young gay romance movies where the characters aren't supermodels. Whod've thunk it?!

2. Milk

Okay, I wouldn't go that far, but it is a good a movie. I would've liked to have seen The Times of Harvey Milk rank this highly actually since I think that Oscar-winning documentary from 1984 is even better than Gus Van Sant's dramatic take on the subject matter. But, hey, at least this movie is on the list!

1. Brokeback Mountain

Naturally. I'm not going to complain about this being no. 1 since it's very nearly a masterpiece, although I tend to not even think it's the best gay film of 2005 (that would be Mysterious Skin), but it's a powerful piece of cinema and Heath Ledger forever immortalised himself with this performance. Ang Lee very almost bookended the countdown, actually, what with his The Wedding Banquet making no. 49 on the list.

I know it's a lot to ask that general readers should actually have taste, but as much as I have issued with AfterElton, surely even they can tell the difference between a film such as Eating Out or Latter Days and one such as Paris is Burning (a documentary masterpiece) or Neil Jordan's groundbreaking The Crying Game, two titles that I find absolutely disgraceful and flat out embarrassing at the exclusion of. And whither Y Tu Mama Tambien, Urbania and Humpday. And if they were going to choose movies with such tenuous connections to homosexuality such as Scott Pilgrim Vs The World then I can't figure how something like Far From Heaven or Billy Elliot couldn't make it.


I should just thank my lucky stars I didn't have to read that The Fluffer or O Fantasma had made the list. I already shave my noggin, but I think if I'd seen them listed I would have torn a few more chunks of what little hair I do have up there. What horrible films they are.

I'd like to see a list such as this for the female side of gay cinema, which I find curious was made ineligible (or, so I imagine - could anyone seriously not rank Bound or Heavenly Creatures if they were allowed?) I'm interested to hear what you guys think so speak up in the comments!