The Best Movies About Gays

For me, seeing "Milk" was a transformative experience because:

• It restored my belief that Hollywood can make quality pictures that have broad appeal.
• It reminded me how powerful an actor Sean Penn can be when given a role worthy of his talents -- his performance here is nuanced, fearless and undeniably Oscar-worthy.
• It depicted with enormous impact what it meant to be gay 30-plus years ago, the progress we've made since in terms of society's openness towards homosexuality, and the painful, courageous steps through which it was all achieved.

I'm certainly old enough to recall the Harvey Milk/George Moscone assassinations, but predictably my memories of the incident had faded over time. Not only did this film bring it all back to me in one potent rush, but I discovered that my grown kids had absolutely no awareness of Harvey Milk, and knew precious little of his groundbreaking crusade.

Thus I realized that I not only loved this movie, I felt grateful for it.

It also put me in mind to examine outstanding gay-themed films beyond the more evident mainstream titles: "Philadelphia" (1993), "Brokeback Mountain" (2005), and from TV, "Angels In America" (2003).

Here in chronological order are just a few of my personal favorites (excluding lesbian-themed titles, due to space constraints):

Fox And His Friends (1976)- Gay carnival worker Franz "Fox" Biberkopf (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) loses his job when the police arrest his lover and close up the fairground show that employs him. Strapped for cash, Fox picks up Max (Karlheinz Böhm), an older, cultured man who helps him out. Soon, Fox is introduced to all of Max's classy friends, including one scheming fellow who sets out to seduce and fleece him. One of writer-director Fassbinder's most affecting entries, "Fox" considers the class struggle in terms of the exploitative relationship between a naive, blue-collar outsider and his predatory bourgeois lover. Fassbinder himself delivers a tragic, moving performance as a gay man swindled out of his winnings and self-esteem, a scenario partly based on the director's own experiences. Over three decades after its initial release, "Fox" remains a bold, compelling work.

La Cage Aux Folles (1979)- Nightclub owner Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) and his long-time lover, Albin (Michel Serrault), a female impersonator, live a fabulous life in the sunny island paradise of St. Tropez. But when Laurent (Remy Laurent), Renato's son from a previous relationship, announces he's engaged to be married, Renato agrees to pretend he and Albin are a straight, heterosexual couple, so as not to frighten off the future in-laws, who are planning a visit. Only problem is, old habits die hard. Campy and outrageously off-kilter in the tradition of the best Hollywood comedies, "La Cage" thrives on the credibly affectionate performances of Tognazzi and Serrault, brilliant as the flamboyant Albin and his drag-queen alter ego, ZaZa. Adding to the fun is Michel Galabru, playing the stiff father-in-law-to-be who heads an organization called the Union of Moral Order!

Victor/Victoria (1982)- In 1930's Paris, struggling chanteuse Victoria (Julie Andrews) teams up with gay colleague Toddy (Robert Preston) to execute a daring masquerade: Victoria will become Victor (offstage), and then will cross-dress for her onstage act. In effect, she'll be a woman playing a man playing a woman. Victoria/Victor pulls it off, and his/her act captivates the City of Lights. When American King Marchand (James Garner) comes on the scene, he finds himself drawn to Victor, which distresses him greatly. Blake Edwards's musical triumph and a late-career showcase for real-life wife Andrews, this dazzling picture employs the venerable talents of tunesmiths Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse, not to mention reuniting Garner and Andrews almost twenty years after they made "The Americanization of Emily". The late, great Robert Preston nearly steals the film as Toddy. Now, that's entertainment.