chronological list of LGBT-themed films, 1916-1989, with notes
by Radu_A | created - 15 Aug 2013 | updated - 03 Jun 2019 | PublicSince quite a few people seem to use this list for reference, I'm revamping and upgrading it into two halves. It's got a long way to go so bear with me. I'm only listing films with a recognizable LGBT angle, not exploitative ones or those where it's a matter of interpretation (for instance, Hitchcock's "Rope" can only be interpreted as gay-themed if one knows the real-life case by which it was inspired - and in "Spartacus", you got to catch on to what oysters are supposed to mean). I'm gradually including more titles so feel free to come back every once in a while.
I couldn't add the following titles even though they're on IMDb: "Nights in black Leather" (1973) is narcissist Peter Berlin's most famous blue movie and very telling as to how ancient certain fetishes are. "Köçek" (1975) is a transgender love story in Istanbul (!) with a big Turkish star of the time, Müjde Ar. The order is by year of original release, so if something seems to be missing, it may be at a different spot. And I can't reply to messages here since I'm off Facebook since November 2016.
You will have noticed that more and more content on this site is either artificial or paid for, which makes me increasingly hesitant to contribute or modify content. I may therefore protest-delete my profile in the near future, so if you use this list for reference, you might want to save a back-up.
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1. Vingarne (1916)
69 min | Drama
An adaptation of Herman Bang's 1902 novel "Mikaël." A sculptor befriends a young painter who becomes his model. Their friendship is thrown into turmoil when they both fall in love with the same woman.
Director: Mauritz Stiller | Stars: Egil Eide, Lars Hanson, Lili Beck, Albin Lavén
Votes: 192
There's a very good review here which sums up the many reasons why this can count as the first gay-themed film ever, but you'll be hard pressed to find the subtext from what remains. Dreyer's "Michael", based on the same source, is much more ambivalent.
2. Different from the Others (1919)
Not Rated | 50 min | Crime, Drama, History
Two male musicians fall in love, but blackmail and scandal makes the affair take a tragic turn.
Director: Richard Oswald | Stars: Conrad Veidt, Leo Connard, Ilse von Tasso-Lind, Alexandra Willegh
Votes: 1,490
First ever gay-themed film starring Conrad Veidt (of 'Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' and 'Casablanca' fame). Conceived by sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld to push for legalization, it led to the reintroduction of film censorship in post-WWI Germany.
3. Salomé (1922)
Not Rated | 72 min | Biography, Drama, History
Salome, the daughter of Herodias, seduces her step-father/uncle Herod, governor of Judea, with a salacious dance. In return, he promises her the head of the prophet John the Baptist.
Directors: Charles Bryant, Alla Nazimova | Stars: Alla Nazimova, Nigel De Brulier, Mitchell Lewis, Rose Dione
Votes: 1,161
Was infamously filmed with an all-gay cast, even though that is a matter of contention. Quite obviously very camp, with a number of performers in drag.
4. Michael (1924)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama, Romance
Triangle story: painter, his young male model, unscrupulous princess.
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Walter Slezak, Benjamin Christensen, Nora Gregor, Alexander Murski
Votes: 2,046
Carl Theodor Dreyer's adaptation of gay writer Herman Bang's novel could be regarded as the first gay-themed narrative film. Contributed to harsher censorship laws banning the subject for decades.
5. Sex in Chains (1928)
107 min | Drama
A young man is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a term in prison. There he forms a close relationship with his cellmate and upon his release his wife is concerned as to how prison has changed the man she married.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: William Dieterle, Gunnar Tolnæs, Mary Johnson, Paul Henckels
Votes: 316
first film about gender confusion in jail considers homosexuality an affliction and could thereby pass strengthened censorship laws
6. Mädchen in Uniform (1931)
Passed | 87 min | Drama, Romance
At an all-girls boarding school, Manuela falls in love with a teacher, to terrific consequences.
Directors: Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich | Stars: Dorothea Wieck, Hertha Thiele, Emilia Unda, Hedy Krilla
Votes: 3,745
first film to touch female homosexuality in a surprisingly overt way and allowing for genuine emotions; could pass German censorship laws because only male homosexuality was penalized. The remake of 1958 is more famous but also more ambivalent.
7. Call Her Savage (1932)
Passed | 88 min | Drama
Sexy Texas gal storms her way through life, brawling and boozing until her luck runs out, forcing her to learn the errors of her ways.
Director: John Francis Dillon | Stars: Clara Bow, Gilbert Roland, Thelma Todd, Monroe Owsley
Votes: 905
There is a brief scene of what would be the first gay bar in film in this pre-code melodrama. You can find it on Youtube and don't have to watch the whole thing, as there's no connection to the plot.
8. Lot in Sodom (1933)
Not Rated | 28 min | Short, Drama
Lot in Sodom is a sensual depiction of the Sodom and Gomorrah story filled with sinewy and semi-clad bodies, delirious bacchanales devoted to physical pleasure, and a searing, cataclysmic ... See full summary »
Directors: James Sibley Watson, Melville Webber | Stars: Friedrich Haak, Hildegarde Watson, Dorthea House, Lewis Whitbeck
Votes: 699
released on DVD with 'Salomé' (1923), 'Lot in Sodom' has clear gay subtext, although it is essentially an experimental retelling quite faithful to the Biblical story.
9. Laura (1944)
Passed | 88 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.
Directors: Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price
Votes: 51,501 | Gross: $4.36M
with the production code, gay subtext vanished, but many '40s crime films feature presumably homosexual villains, few as obvious as Clifton Webb's Waldo Lydecker, who unlike others isn't portrayed in a defamatory way.
10. Fireworks (1947)
20 min | Short, Drama, Horror
A dissatisfied dreamer awakes, goes out in the night seeking a 'light' and is drawn through the needle's eye. A dream of a dream, he returns to bed less empty than before.
Director: Kenneth Anger | Stars: Kenneth Anger, Gordon Gray, Bill Seltzer
Votes: 2,905
homoerotic experimental no-budget film led to Kenneth Anger's arrest on obscenity charges and, eventually, a Supreme Court ruling declaring the film to be art.
11. Thirst (1949)
Not Rated | 83 min | Drama
A needy couple in a bad marriage travel back to Stockholm after a trip to Italy. Meanwhile, a widow resists seductions from two different persons - her psychiatrist and a lesbian friend.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Eva Henning, Birger Malmsten, Birgit Tengroth, Hasse Ekman
Votes: 2,831
Bergman often touched female homosexuality, but rarely as overtly as in this early piece.
12. Caged (1950)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A gentle, naive, pregnant 19-year-old widow is slowly, inexorably ground down by the hardened criminals, sadistic guards, and matron at a woman's prison. Will she be the same person when her sentence is up?
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby, Hope Emerson
Votes: 4,718
It's a difficult choice to include the first and campiest "women in prison" flick as it's chock full of Lesbian stereotypes and equals homosexuality with depravity. Still, it is part of history, and after re-watching it after a number of years, I think anyone with an interest in queer film should watch it for an individual opinion.
13. Song of Love (1950)
Not Rated | 26 min | Short, Drama, Fantasy
Two prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
Director: Jean Genet | Stars: Bravo, Jean Genet, Java, Coco Le Martiniquais
Votes: 3,711
Jean Genet's only film is the first explicitly homoerotic and was consequently banned from exhibition, most notably in the US in 1966, where it was dismissed as obscene.
14. Olivia (1951)
88 min | Comedy, Drama
Late nineteenth century in a finishing school for young girls near in France, the principal, the fascinating Miss Julie, sows confusion in the heart of the newcomer, Olivia.
Director: Jacqueline Audry | Stars: Edwige Feuillère, Simone Simon, Marie-Claire Olivia, Yvonne de Bray
Votes: 733 | Gross: $0.01M
similar to 'Girls in Uniform', but involving more mystery
15. The Bullocks (1953)
Not Rated | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
A character study of five young men at crucial turning points in their lives in a small town in Italy.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Alberto Sordi, Franco Fabrizi, Franco Interlenghi, Leopoldo Trieste
Votes: 19,921 | Gross: $0.10M
While this film is famous for a lot of reasons, it also features the first obvious homosexual hook-up attempt.
16. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
PG-13 | 111 min | Drama
A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus
Votes: 98,005
Many '50s films are said to contain homosexual cyphers as the subject wasn't raised. Sal Mineo as Plato is perhaps most obvious given his real-life homosexuality, but at the time the role made him an idol for (female) teens.
17. Tea and Sympathy (1956)
Approved | 122 min | Drama
A new senior at a boy's prep school, finds himself harassed by the machismo culture of his classmates and the unfeelingly behavior by his father, only being treated with decency by his roommate and with affection by the coach's wife.
Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Deborah Kerr, John Kerr, Leif Erickson, Edward Andrews
Votes: 3,218
interesting for making it clear that in the '50s, being gay was viewed maybe not as the ultimate sin, but an affliction worse than death
18. Bewildered Youth (1957)
91 min | Drama
Klaus is a young man in post-war Berlin. He is drawn to his friend Manfred and, under the encouragement of their acquaintance, Dr. Winkler, explore the underground world of gay clubs and ... See full summary »
Director: Veit Harlan | Stars: Paula Wessely, Paul Dahlke, Hans Nielsen, Ingrid Stenn
Votes: 255
every possible stereotype on homosexuality is exploited here by a disgraced Nazi director desperately craving attention. Still, the aged homosexual luring culturally talented young men into his web of sin is oddly fascinating... John Waters would probably call this the ultimate gay bash 'n trash movie.
19. Mädchen in Uniform (1958)
91 min | Drama
In a strict Prussian boarding school for girls, sensitive student Manuela von Meinhardis develops a forbidden love to one of her teachers, the compassionate Elisabeth von Bernburg.
Director: Géza von Radványi | Stars: Lilli Palmer, Romy Schneider, Therese Giehse, Blandine Ebinger
Votes: 1,763
remake of the 1931 film tones the Lesbian aspect down but is perhaps more cult for Lilli Palmer's performance.
20. Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
Approved | 114 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A surgeon is assigned the case of a young woman whose aunt wants her lobotomized to cover up a family secret.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, Albert Dekker
Votes: 17,226 | Gross: $13.90M
while the most overt of Tennessee Williams's stage adaptations in its content owing to Gore Vidal's screenplay, it's the pinnacle of depicting homosexuality as a perverted affliction, and was in fact passed by the MPAA for that very reason.
21. Come Dance with Me! (1959)
91 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Handsome dentist Herve Dandieu, temporarily separated from his new, delectable wife Virginie by a lovers' tiff, is picked up by sexy dance teacher Anita Flores...object blackmail. Sensing ... See full summary »
Director: Michel Boisrond | Stars: Brigitte Bardot, Henri Vidal, Dawn Addams, Darío Moreno
Votes: 737
One of French veteran comedy writer Gérard Oury's weaker outings, it does have Brigitte Bardot waltz into a late 50s gay cabaret and could be refreshingly open-minded for the time, but the ending ruins it.
22. The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960)
PG | 123 min | Biography, Drama, History
A chronicle of Oscar Wilde's libel suit against the Marquis of Queensberry and the tragic turn his life takes because of it.
Director: Ken Hughes | Stars: Peter Finch, Yvonne Mitchell, James Mason, Nigel Patrick
Votes: 1,120
first of many films to focus on Wilde's sodomy conviction, it is surprisingly faithful to the trial's records given the time.
23. The Children's Hour (1961)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Romance
A rebellious student at a girls' school accuses two teachers of lesbianism.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, Miriam Hopkins
Votes: 18,418
William Wyler's remake of his earlier adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play (which erased the homosexual element) marks the first 'A' picture in which gay bashing is portrayed as a social evil - while still holding it to be an affliction.
24. A Taste of Honey (1961)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama
A pregnant teenage girl must fend for herself when her mother remarries, leaving the girl with only a new male friend for support.
Director: Tony Richardson | Stars: Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Robert Stephens, Murray Melvin
Votes: 6,366
'kitchen sink' adaptation of Shelagh Delaney's play features the first clearly positive (i.e. non-tragical) depiction of a gay character in his relationship with Rita Tushingham's main protagonist.
25. Victim (1961)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama
A closeted lawyer risks his career to bring a blackmailer to justice.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Sylvia Syms, Dennis Price, Anthony Nicholls
Votes: 7,210
first narrative film with homosexuality (with the first use of the actual word) and gay bashing (i. e. blackmail) as the central plot element, with a strong political message towards legalization.
26. Advise & Consent (1962)
Not Rated | 139 min | Drama, Thriller
The polarizing search for a new Secretary of State has far-reaching consequences.
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Franchot Tone, Lew Ayres, Henry Fonda, Walter Pidgeon
Votes: 7,514
A difficult choice to include in this list for me, but if I take "Caged", then this one's also a must. It's the first post-war film to show a gay bar, where the climax happens. But ouch - it's an uncomfortable movie to watch for queers. It takes the "Fate worse than death" approach to a whole new level and doesn't make sense in that regard. It's real-life gay (or bi) Charles Laughton's last film, the production was marred by conflict with real-life homophobe Henry Fonda.
27. Billy Budd (1962)
Approved | 123 min | Adventure, Drama, War
When a kind-hearted sailor is made to join an English vessel at war in 1797, he finds himself caught between devotion to his crewmates and obedience to their hated, cruel master-at-arms.
Director: Peter Ustinov | Stars: Robert Ryan, Peter Ustinov, Melvyn Douglas, Paul Rogers
Votes: 4,912
not the first and not the last adaptation but the least ambiguous owing to bisexual Charles Laughton's performance.
28. Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
Approved | 114 min | Drama, Romance
A man arrives in New Orleans searching for his former girlfriend, an artist who now works in a bordello.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Laurence Harvey, Capucine, Jane Fonda, Anne Baxter
Votes: 2,944
Capucine's last film before "The Pink Panther" as a bisexual prostitute in a abusive relationship with sugar-mommy Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Fonda as a nymphomaniac and Anne Baxter as a motherly Mexican leave little room for a hapless leading man. It's a bungled adaptation of Nelson Algren's completely different and even more convoluted novel. But it's relatively blameless, leading critics at the time to dismiss the film as lewd. Well, it's camp for sure.
29. Blonde Cobra (1963)
33 min | Short
An experimental short film that variously features singing and storytelling, touching upon topics such as nations, death, religion, sex, and evil.
Director: Ken Jacobs | Stars: Ken Jacobs, Jack Smith
Votes: 973
experimental cross-dressing super-8 movie added to the '1001 films you must watch before you die' list. Personally I don't see why.
30. Flaming Creatures (1963)
45 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
An experimental film that features graphic sexual imagery, an earthquake, and a lipstick commercial.
Director: Jack Smith | Stars: Francis Francine, Sheila Bick, Joel Markman, Mario Montez
Votes: 1,663
experimental film full of sexual ambiguity seized upon release in a NYC theater and banned for being obscene. Also on '1001 films you must watch before you die' list for whatever reason.
31. The Leather Boys (1964)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Romance
An immature teenager marries a young biker but becomes disenchanted with the realities of working-class marriage--and her husband's relationship with his best friend.
Director: Sidney J. Furie | Stars: Rita Tushingham, Colin Campbell, Dudley Sutton, Gladys Henson
Votes: 1,029
notwithstanding the misleading title which refers to bike gangs, there is an open gay angle in this kitchen sink classic.
32. Love Meetings (1964)
Not Rated | 92 min | Documentary
Director Pasolini traverses Italy in 1963 with camera and microphone interviewing people in public places about sex, marriage and gender roles.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Lello Bersani, Alberto Moravia, Cesare Musatti, Peppino Di Capri
Votes: 2,645
Oddly, Pasolini's only film in which he directly addresses homosexuality - in a broader context - is this fascinating documentary in which he asks people about their views on sex
33. Scorpio Rising (1963)
28 min | Short, Music
A gang of Nazi bikers prepares for a race as sexual, sadistic, and occult images are cut together.
Director: Kenneth Anger | Stars: Ernie Allo, Bruce Byron, Frank Carifi, Steve Crandell
Votes: 5,712
Anger's biker fetish experimental film caused controversy in spite of complete lack of subject matter and led to another obscenity trial, ruled in his favor. That doesn't make it any less non-sequitur.
34. Swastika (1964)
91 min | Drama, Romance
A childless housewife falls in love with a beautiful model.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Kyôko Kishida, Eiji Funakoshi, Yûsuke Kawazu
Votes: 1,123
Again a very misleading title (Manji refers to the Buddhist symbol) for perhaps the first openly erotic Lesbian love story.
35. This Special Friendship (1964)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, Romance
A tale of the tender relationship between a twelve-year-old boy and the upperclassman who is the object of his desire. All set in the rigid atmosphere of a Jesuit-run school.
Director: Jean Delannoy | Stars: Francis Lacombrade, Didier Haudepin, François Leccia, Dominique Maurin
Votes: 3,040
Adaptation of Roger Peyrefitte's novel features a first gay coming-of-age story featuring actual minors. Peyrefitte met his longtime companion on the set who was one of the extras (and 12 years old at the time).
36. My Hustler (1965)
79 min | Drama
Filmed on Fire Island, this two reel, 70 minute Warhol film covers the activities of the "Dial A Hustler" service, as an older man seeks a young hustler for a companion.
Directors: Andy Warhol, Chuck Wein | Stars: Paul America, Joseph Campbell, Genevieve Charbin Cerf, Dorothy Dean
Votes: 338
Primitive like most of Warhol's films, this one is probably the most contemporarily significant as it points out how long many gay assets and clichés have been around.
37. Winter Kept Us Warm (1965)
81 min | Drama, Romance
Its the 1960s at the University of Toronto. Doug is a well-liked senior with an equally popular girlfriend. Peter is a shy freshman, and new to the big city. Peter and Doug become best ... See full summary »
Director: David Secter | Stars: John Labow, Henry Tarvainen, Joy Fielding, Janet Amos
Votes: 170
Low-budget gay romance was lightyears ahead of its time and the first Canadian film invited to Cannes
38. With Beauty and Sorrow (1965)
106 min | Drama, Romance
Long before the events of the movie Ôki, who was approaching middle age, had a relation to 16-year-old Otoko. She got pregnant, but the child was stillborn. Their relation stopped at the ... See full summary »
Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Kaoru Yachigusa, Mariko Kaga, Sô Yamamura, Kei Yamamoto
Votes: 332
A Lesbian relationship is at the center of Shinoda's elegant Kawabata adaptation, meant to be symbolic rather than realistic. Still, compared to Hollywood at the time it's very daring.
39. The Nun (1966)
GP | 140 min | Drama
Suzanne is forced against her will to take vows as a nun and three mothers superior treat her in radically different ways. Suzanne's virtue brings disaster to everyone in this faithful adaptation of a bitter attack on religious abuses.
Director: Jacques Rivette | Stars: Anna Karina, Liselotte Pulver, Micheline Presle, Francine Bergé
Votes: 3,242 | Gross: $0.03M
A scathing portrayal of women's status in the 18th century and Rivette's most accessible film. The Lesbian mother superior played by Liselotte Pulver (most famous as James Cagney's secretary in "One Two Three") is a "fate worse than death" character, but convincingly so given Diderot's scandalous enlightenment novel. It's not really sympathetic to homosexuality but rather depicts Lesbianism as an inevitable result of confinement. The film was forbidden right after its Cannes premiere on the grounds of "hurting the sentiments of the Catholic population", and only released a year later in altered form.
40. Young Törless (1966)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama
In a boarding school, a student observes in passive disgust as his two friends manipulate, humiliate and torture a fellow student, justifying their every act.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: Mathieu Carrière, Marian Seidowsky, Bernd Tischer, Fred Dietz
Votes: 2,667
I'm at odds whether one can truly call this adaptation of Robert Musil's novella gay-related, it's more of a social portrait (read my review if you like), but it does highlight the psychological association of homosexual acts with (criminal) degeneration, and shows where this misconception may have originated.
41. Bike Boy (1967)
Unrated | 96 min | Drama
Joe Spencer, a member of a motorcycle gang, is taking a shower. After his bout with personal hygiene, Joe encounters Andy Warhol's "superstars," who engage him in conversation. The ... See full summary »
Director: Andy Warhol | Stars: Joseph Spencer, Ed Wiener, Vera Cruz, George Ann
Votes: 121
I'm not quite sure if one could count any of Warhol / Morrissey's outings as LGBT. They're usually ramblings of not particularly sympathetic narcissists, and this one's no exception. It does have some queer background talk ripe with stereotypes, but maybe that's just how the New York scene was just then.
42. The Boy and the Wind (1967)
104 min | Drama, Mystery
Young engineer on holiday gets involved with a boy having a strange relationship with the wind. Their close friendship arouses suspicion in the small town. When the boy disappears, the engineer is accused of murdering him. But the wind...
Director: Carlos Hugo Christensen | Stars: Ênio Gonçalves, Luiz Fernando Ianelli, Wilma Henriques, Odilon Azevedo
Votes: 201
Very obscure Brazilian one-of-a-kind supernatural social witchhunt drama is a very elegant allegory on perhaps less homosexuals as social outcasts - even though that does figure - but more the tendency to incriminate difference in general.
43. The Fox (1967)
PG | 110 min | Drama
Based on D.H. Lawrence's novella about two young women - sickly, chattering Jill Banford and quiet, strong Ellen March - who are trying, hopelessly, to run a chicken farm in Canada. A ... See full summary »
Director: Mark Rydell | Stars: Keir Dullea, Sandy Dennis, Anne Heywood, Glynne Morris
Votes: 1,279 | Gross: $18.75M
Made in the year the production code was abandoned, thus it's the first Anglophone film with masturbation and a detailed description of rape. A Bergmanesque character study which flirts with being a thriller. The ending prevents it from being a Lesbian love story.
44. Portrait of Jason (1967)
Not Rated | 105 min | Documentary, Biography
Black gay prostitute Jason Holliday is rigorously interviewed on his story and character, revealing nuanced truths about life and art.
Director: Shirley Clarke | Stars: Jason Holliday, Shirley Clarke, Carl Lee
Votes: 1,408
Shirley Clarke's famous monologue of a gay black hustler could be called the first gay-themed documentary. Albeit simple, it's definitely superior to Warhol's films of the period.
45. The Producers (1967)
PG | 88 min | Comedy, Music
A stage-play producer devises a plan to make money by producing a sure-fire flop.
Director: Mel Brooks | Stars: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, Kenneth Mars
Votes: 59,914 | Gross: $0.11M
Can be seen as 'anti-gay' because of the stereotypes, but then again Mel Brooks is all about stereotypes, and everyone gets roasted it his most famous film. As ludicrous as the gay characters may seem, they're proud and out and therefore a progress to the self-loathing gay characters up to then.
46. Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
Bizarre tale of sex, betrayal, and perversion at a military post.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Brian Keith, Julie Harris
Votes: 8,224 | Gross: $2.10M
Adaptation of Carson McCullers 1941 novel doesn't really succeed in dealing with the topic of repressed homosexuality as overtly as the novel does, but makes for interesting (i.e. odd) viewing since it tries so desperately to conceal what the story is all about.
47. Les Biches (1968)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama
Architect Paul Thomas insinuates himself into the relationship of two bisexual women living in a St. Tropez villa with tragic consequences.
Director: Claude Chabrol | Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacqueline Sassard, Stéphane Audran, Nane Germon
Votes: 3,562
Menage à trois between two women and a man is, like so much of Chabrol, sensationalist and perfectly photographed. Of course, the female couple is bi instead of Lesbian, and share and compete for the same man... a dirty old man's fantasy but stylish to the hilt.
48. Black Lizard (1968)
86 min | Comedy, Crime, Fantasy
Japanese sixties comedy featuring a cunning female jewel thief named Black Lizard who tries to kidnap Sanaye, a wealthy jeweler's beautiful daughter as part of a plot to steal the jeweler's... See full summary »
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Akihiro Miwa, Isao Kimura, Kikko Matsuoka, Jun Usami
Votes: 656
Camp classic starring writer Yukio Mishima's drag queen lover Akihiro Maruyama as the femme fatale cat burglar.
49. The Detective (1968)
Approved | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
While grappling with his wife's infidelity, an NYPD detective investigates the murder of a gay man, which he discovers is linked to official corruption involving sex and drugs.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Lee Remick, Ralph Meeker, Jack Klugman
Votes: 4,159 | Gross: $14.30M
Most gays will find the equation of corruption and homosexuality this film insinuates revolting, but it's a good look at the contemporary scene and how closeted and cliché everything was in Stonewall year.
50. Flesh (1968)
R | 89 min | Drama
A man desperate for money and no income, turns prostitute and interplays with a variety of clients and hustlers.
Director: Paul Morrissey | Stars: Joe Dallesandro, Geraldine Smith, Patti D'Arbanville, Candy Darling
Votes: 2,601
Not a gay-themed film per se, it's often included in anthologies owing to lots of full frontal nudity, a background of hustlers, and a scene involving the conversation of two drag queens. It is, however, 8mm quality, badly edited and barely watchable.
51. Gates to Paradise (1968)
89 min | Drama
In 1212, children from all over Europe lead a crusade to free Jerusalem from Turkish authorities. Nicholas and Stephen use all their might to defeat the enemy.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Lionel Stander, Ferdy Mayne, Pauline Challoner, Mathieu Carrière
Votes: 234
Not as overt as the novel but close enough in terms of the two male lead's relationship, surprising considering the historical setting.
52. The Killing of Sister George (1968)
X | 138 min | Drama
The life of a soap opera actress begins to unravel as she fears her character will be written out of the series.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Beryl Reid, Susannah York, Coral Browne, Ronald Fraser
Votes: 2,561
Robert Aldrich's adaptation of Frank Marcus' play is the first unmitigated look at a Lesbian relationship, albeit unfortunately taking an inevitably tragic turn.
53. Lonesome Cowboys (1968)
X | 109 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Five lonesome cowboys get all hot & bothered at home en the range after confronting Ramona Alvarez and her nurse.
Directors: Andy Warhol, Paul Morrissey | Stars: Viva, Tom Hompertz, Louis Waldon, Eric Emerson
Votes: 581 | Gross: $0.09M
Again, not really LGBT in my opinion but most people would probably consider it so. Again, it seems to me a rather unsympathetic display of exhibitionism by a bunch of addicts and naive pretty faces.
54. The Sergeant (1968)
R | 108 min | Drama
A story of a brilliant master sergeant with a great career behind him and transferred to yet another post, his attraction to a younger man eventually overrides him, to a point where his latent homosexuality, finally emerges.
Director: John Flynn | Stars: Rod Steiger, John Phillip Law, Ludmila Mikaël, Frank Latimore
Votes: 697
Finally got to see it. Features a great performance by Rod Steiger as a but unfortunately also a rather weak script.
55. Teorema (1968)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Mystery
A mysterious young man seduces each member of a bourgeois family. When he suddenly leaves, how will their lives change?
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Silvana Mangano, Terence Stamp, Massimo Girotti, Anne Wiazemsky
Votes: 15,282
While Pasolini never directed a truly gay-themed film in spite of his homosexuality - which would have been impossible in Italy - many of his films have allusions, this one being the most obvious.
56. Black Rose (1969)
90 min | Drama
When the enigmatic woman Ryoko (played by Mishima-discovered female impersonator Akihiro Miwa) arrives at the Black Rose Mansion to perform, not only do the gentleman patrons seem smitten ... See full summary »
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Akihiro Miwa, Eitarô Ozawa, Masakazu Tamura, Ayako Hôshô
Votes: 250
Second film starring Akihiro Maruyama as a femme fatale and perhaps the most ravishing portrayal of a drag queen (whose real sex is never mentioned) becoming total ruler of all men unfortunate enough to meet her.
57. Fellini Satyricon (1969)
R | 129 min | Drama, Fantasy
A series of disjointed mythical tales set in first-century Rome.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born, Salvo Randone
Votes: 17,192 | Gross: $1.14M
Chock full of gay allusions but uses those as a cheap shock element, therefore considered one of Fellini's few duds.
58. Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
The trials and tribulations of Eddie and other transvestites in Japan.
Director: Toshio Matsumoto | Stars: Pîtâ, Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshimi Jô, Koichi Nakamura
Votes: 7,283
First Trans-themed film instrumental to establishing an identity for Tokyo's gay underground in the '60s - i.e. the longest-running gay mag was called 'barazoku' = rose tribe, a long-standing synonym for gays.
59. The Gay Deceivers (1969)
R | 97 min | Comedy
Danny and Elliot avoid military service by pretending to be gay, but they have to act the part when the recruiting officer doesn't buy it.
Director: Bruce Kessler | Stars: Kevin Coughlin, Brooke Bundy, Lawrence P. Casey, Jo Ann Harris
Votes: 880
Rather silly romantic comedy with a gay angle and every imaginable stereotype, it's still somewhat interesting for real-life gay Michael Greer's landlord queen and a surprise ending.
60. Hunting Scenes from Bavaria (1969)
88 min | Drama, Horror
Abram returns to his small village and although his repairing skills are needed, people's suspicion about his sexual preferences make his life hard.
Director: Peter Fleischmann | Stars: Martin Sperr, Angela Winkler, Else Quecke, Michael Strixner
Votes: 756
One of the first New German Cinema films and also the first one to address the subject of gay discrimination.
61. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
R | 113 min | Drama
A naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver
Votes: 120,909 | Gross: $44.79M
Oscar-winning hustler portrait with gay subtext strong enough to earn the film an 'X' rating, prompting the MPAA to modify its standards. Its gay angle is so-so owing to the self-loathing aspect of Hoffman's character.
62. Staircase (1969)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Charles Dyer (Sir Rex Harrison) and Harry Leeds (Richard Burton) are a couple that have been living together for nearly twenty years. Both earn a living as hairdressers in the West End of ... See full summary »
Director: Stanley Donen | Stars: Rex Harrison, Richard Burton, Cathleen Nesbitt, Beatrix Lehmann
Votes: 962
Mostly vilified for its rampant display of stereotypes, but it's a captivating, if at times horrifying, experience for Burton's and Harrison's attempts at mimicking a relationship.
63. Women in Love (1969)
R | 131 min | Drama, Romance
Two best friends fall in love with a pair of women, but the relationships soon go in very different directions.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson, Jennie Linden
Votes: 8,564 | Gross: $1.03M
Ken Russell's confusing D.H. Lawrence adaptation highlights the relationship between the male leads, the film's most controversial scene contained the first mainstream shots of male genitalia.
64. The Boys in the Band (1970)
R | 118 min | Drama
Tempers fray and true selves are revealed when a heterosexual accidentally intrudes on a homosexual party.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Kenneth Nelson, Peter White, Leonard Frey, Frederick Combs
Votes: 5,897 | Gross: $7.63M
first film with exclusively gay protagonists is widely considered a milestone in queer cinema, still looks fresh in terms of physical language and banter, and underscores how much of a social development there has been since.
65. Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970)
Not Rated | 94 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Sloane, a manipulative lodger, joins Kath's household. Kemp recognizes Sloane as a murderer. Sloane kills Kemp. The story takes an unexpected turn regarding Sloane's fate, deviating from conventional justice.
Director: Douglas Hickox | Stars: Beryl Reid, Harry Andrews, Peter McEnery, Alan Webb
Votes: 744
mellowed down version of Joe Orton's famous play, but interesting (in an unpleasant way) for its queasy approach
66. The Music Lovers (1971)
R | 123 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Piano teacher Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky struggles against his homosexuality by marrying, but unfortunately he chooses a nymphomaniac whom he cannot satisfy.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Richard Chamberlain, Glenda Jackson, Max Adrian, Christopher Gable
Votes: 3,025 | Gross: $0.20M
often reviled for its idiosyncratic focus on the self-loathing aspect of Tchaikovsky's homosexuality (and how it drives his wife into nymphomaniac insanity), it still has Richard Chamberlain in his only gay-themed role.
67. Myra Breckinridge (1970)
R | 94 min | Comedy
After undergoing gender reassignment surgery, an aspiring actress travels to Hollywood, where she also wants to make a claim on her wealthy uncle's estate.
Director: Michael Sarne | Stars: Mae West, John Huston, Raquel Welch, Rex Reed
Votes: 3,455 | Gross: $8.72M
drivel with the tenacity to make one of the first male rape scenes in film one giant joke, still interesting to watch for the stereotypes and plot subtexts. And of course there's Welch as a glamour-obsessed post-op trans. Trashy but essential.
68. Something for Everyone (1970)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
In post-war Austria, young, handsome country lad Konrad Ludwig (Michael York) charms his way into a butler position at the castle of the widowed (and destitute) Countess von Ornstein (... See full summary »
Director: Harold Prince | Stars: Angela Lansbury, Michael York, Anthony Higgins, Heidelinde Weis
Votes: 1,086 | Gross: $0.30M
involves (once again) a manipulative bisexual young man sneaking his way into the upper class by sex - portraying homosexuality as high society depravity. Interesting because it feels so anachronistic.
69. Daughters of Darkness (1971)
R | 87 min | Horror
While passing through a vacation resort, a newlywed couple encounters a mysterious, strikingly beautiful countess and her aide.
Director: Harry Kümel | Stars: Delphine Seyrig, John Karlen, Danielle Ouimet, Andrea Rau
Votes: 7,052
The Lesbian vampire shtick is of course clearly exploitative and hardly an expression of sexual liberation, but this particular film is heavily symbolic and easily the classiest of the genre.
70. Death in Venice (1971)
GP | 130 min | Drama, Romance
While recovering in Venice, sickly composer Gustav von Aschenbach becomes dangerously fixated with teenager Tadzio.
Director: Luchino Visconti | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Romolo Valli, Mark Burns, Nora Ricci
Votes: 23,050 | Gross: $0.15M
Visconti's adaptation is arguably the most artistic rendition of Platonic homo-eroticism. Read Björn Andresen's remarks on the shoot on the title page, though - it wasn't easy to be the boy who played Tadzio.
71. The Decameron (1971)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, History
An adaptation of nine stories from Boccaccio's "Decameron".
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Franco Citti, Ninetto Davoli, Jovan Jovanovic, Vincenzo Amato
Votes: 12,106
features one humoristic gay-themed episode, but as always Pasolini carefully avoids any realistic approach to the subject.
72. Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971)
R | 102 min | Drama
The young, naive Smitty is sent to prison for six months; Cathy, his girlfriend, watches as he disappears behind the bars and barbed wire. He's assigned a cell with Queenie, a balls-out ... See full summary »
Directors: Harvey Hart, Jules Schwerin | Stars: Wendell Burton, Michael Greer, Zooey Hall, Danny Freedman
Votes: 568 | Gross: $0.18M
adaptation of John Herbert's play with strong homoerotic (rape) imagery and a great Michael Greer as prison 'Queeny' - a part which might have inspired the Rocky Horror Picture Show
73. Les amis (1971)
93 min | Drama
Teenager Paul has an affair with the older Philippe.
Director: Gérard Blain | Stars: Philippe March, Jean-Claude Dauphin, Nathalie Fontaine, Yan Epstein
Votes: 220
naturalistic description of a man-boy relationship which could be interpreted as disturbing these days, but in the 70s sensitivities were obviously different - that's probably pretty much what it was like, and - who knows? - still is in conservative societies.
74. It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives (1971)
67 min | Documentary, Drama
A harsh but deeply sympathetic sociological essay film about gay life in Berlin in a time of secrecy and oppression, with no diegetic sound and constant narration, following Daniel's unsatisfying immersion into gay society.
Director: Rosa von Praunheim | Stars: Bernd Feuerhelm, Berryt Bohlen, Ernst Kuchling, Volker Eschke
Votes: 574
Rosa von Praunheim's first and most famous take on gay life in West Germany just after it was decriminalized; the narrative text is still the most poignant critique of gay life after four decades - for that you'll have to forgive abysmal acting. His autobiography 'Sex and Career', which has much of the narrative script, is better.
75. The Murdered House (1971)
103 min | Drama
Newly wed arrives at her husband's family house, in the country. The heavy atmosphere of the house frightens her, and she takes refuge in her homosexual son-in-law's room, who is kept ... See full summary »
Director: Paulo César Saraceni | Stars: Norma Bengell, Tetê Medina, Carlos Kroeber, Nelson Dantas
Votes: 135
adaptation of one of those Latin American family chronicles which make such good reads, it's remarkable for portraying its gay characters as integral personalities rather than stereotypes (although there's a good deal of flamboyance)
76. Pink Narcissus (1971)
Not Rated | 65 min | Drama, Fantasy
An erotic poem set in the fantasies of a young male prostitute.
Director: James Bidgood | Stars: Don Brooks, Bobby Kendall, Charles Ludlam
Votes: 1,672 | Gross: $0.01M
Bidgood's glamour kitsch celebrating male beauty had a lasting influence on gay art, especially the photographers Pierre et Gilles.
77. Some of My Best Friends Are... (1971)
R | 110 min | Drama
A dramatic expose of the lives of a group of gays who meet in a New York City bar on Christmas Eve.
Director: Mervyn Nelson | Stars: Tom Bade, James Murdock, Paul Blake, Gary Campbell
Votes: 367 | Gross: $0.12M
bit of a time travel experience available on Youtube
78. Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
R | 110 min | Drama
The emotional intricacies of a polyamorous relationship between young artist Bob and his two lovers: a lonely male doctor and a frustrated female office worker.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson, Murray Head, Peggy Ashcroft
Votes: 7,070 | Gross: $0.54M
love triangle with a successful, less tragical gay character than in Schlesinger's previous film 'Midnight Cowboy'.
79. Villain (1971)
R | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In 1970s London, Scotland Yard orchestrates the downfall of mob boss Vic Dakin after he crosses the line by blackmailing Members of Parliament.
Director: Michael Tuchner | Stars: Richard Burton, Ian McShane, Nigel Davenport, Donald Sinden
Votes: 2,038
many people know of Burton's gay performance in 'Staircase', fewer know of his portrayal of a sadistic gay gangster. It's a horror show of clichés, yet oddly fascinates because of the abusive relation the principal characters have.
80. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama, Romance
A troubled fashion designer strikes up a romance with a much younger woman.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla, Katrin Schaake, Eva Mattes
Votes: 11,050
Fassbender's Lesbian love story could be criticized for a good deal of self-loathing, but artistically it's one of his best.
81. Cabaret (1972)
PG | 124 min | Drama, Music, Musical
A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.
Director: Bob Fosse | Stars: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Joel Grey
Votes: 59,432 | Gross: $42.77M
from a gay viewpoint, the brilliant adaptation of Isherwood's most famous book is more interesting for how much of the gay content had been left out, while Fosse still found ways to leave it in - namely through Joel Grey's Oscar-winning performance and Michael York's notorious 'confession'.
82. I Want What I Want (1972)
R | 91 min | Drama
A 20-something son of a military officer feels like a woman trapped in a man's body. When he can hide it no longer, he falls out with his ladies'-man father and leaves home. Now what?
Director: John Dexter | Stars: Anne Heywood, Harry Andrews, Jill Bennett, Paul Rogers
Votes: 165 | Gross: $0.36M
First serious Anglophone trans-themed film I'm aware of has the lead performed by Anne Heywood, Sandy Dennis' bi lover in "The Fox". She's not convincing as a man at all, so it starts very oddly, but by and by the theme is presented in an adequate, if somewhat stiff manner.
83. My Dearest Senorita (1972)
80 min | Romance, Drama
A 43-year-old woman living in a small town discovers that she is actually a man. Will she change her sex and suffer the reaction of a narrow-minded society?
Director: Jaime de Armiñán | Stars: José Luis López Vázquez, Julieta Serrano, Antonio Ferrandis, Enrique Ávila
Votes: 666
A better trans-themed film from Spain, very subtle as the queer theme is embedded in an unrelated story. Must have caused quite a stir at the times but I have little information about it.
84. Pink Flamingos (1972)
NC-17 | 93 min | Comedy, Crime
Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive".
Director: John Waters | Stars: Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole
Votes: 27,924 | Gross: $0.18M
Some people may wonder, where's John Waters in this list? So I just include his most notorious classic to maintain that his films are not really LGBT in my view. This one's a camp classic, definitely worth watching, and many people see it as an expression of post-Stonewall liberation. But it's exploitative trash as well, and if I exclude countless Spanish Lesbian vampire flicks of that era, I'm really not sure if it's OK to put this one in.
85. Ludwig (1973)
R | 238 min | Biography, Drama, History
The reign of the tormented Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from 1864 to 1886.
Director: Luchino Visconti | Stars: Helmut Berger, Romy Schneider, Trevor Howard, Silvana Mangano
Votes: 6,003
Visconti's biopic of Bavaria's last king contains his most daring gay imagery, mirroring his relationship with his frequent star Helmut Berger.
86. Tenderness of the Wolves (1973)
Not Rated | 82 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Using his status as a police informant to procure his victims, baby-faced, shaven-headed Fritz Haarmann dismembers their bodies after death and sells the flesh to restaurants, dumping the remainder out of sight.
Director: Ulli Lommel | Stars: Kurt Raab, Jeff Roden, Margit Carstensen, Ingrid Caven
Votes: 1,584
best film of one of the worst directors ever, this Fassbender-written adaptation of notorious cannibal Fritz Haarman is accurate yet sensationalist
87. I, You, He, She (1974)
86 min | Drama
'Je' is a girl voluntarily lock up in a room. 'Tu' is the script. 'Il' is a lorry driver. 'Elle' is the girlfriend.
Director: Chantal Akerman | Stars: Chantal Akerman, Niels Arestrup, Claire Wauthion
Votes: 2,968
Another difficult choice. Is a film LGBT-related because it has a 15-minute Lesbian sex scene at the end, with no comprehensible connection to the rest, and without the slightest pretense of coherency? Or is this just artsy, dreary, boring sexploitation? Make up your own mind, but be warned: you may find this revoltingly uninteresting.
88. A Very Natural Thing (1974)
R | 80 min | Drama, Romance
A poignant romantic drama examines the life of gay 26 year old, ex-monk, school teacher living in Manhattan. When he meets a man at a gay bar, they connect and are soon living together. Unfortunately their views on monogamy don't match.
Director: Christopher Larkin | Stars: Robert McLane, Curt Gareth, Bo White, Anthony McKay
Votes: 989 | Gross: $0.07M
naturalistic portrayal of gay life in NYC, many aspects of which still seem to linger, and a reminder of how the Pride movement started.
89. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
R | 125 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Three amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Penelope Allen, Sully Boyar
Votes: 273,203 | Gross: $50.00M
'true life better than fiction' - classic tale of a heist gone wrong cannot really be called gay-themed because that's just a twist to real-life John Wojtowicz's story, but one can argue that it's remarkable that Warner Bros. didn't supress that story element.
90. Fox and His Friends (1975)
Not Rated | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A suggestible working-class innocent wins the lottery but lets himself be taken advantage of by his bourgeois new boyfriend and his circle of materialistic friends.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Peter Chatel, Karlheinz Böhm, Adrian Hoven
Votes: 6,757
Fassbender's most openly gay film is actually an adaptation of a literary classic, but remodeled to depict the German gay scene.
91. The Naked Civil Servant (1975 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 77 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
The life and times of Quentin Crisp, an outrageous and flamboyant homosexual, coming of age and growing into old age in conservative England.
Director: Jack Gold | Stars: John Hurt, Liz Gebhardt, Patricia Hodge, Stanley Lebor
Votes: 1,902
starring John Hurt in a BAFTA-winning performance he arguably never surpassed, this has been voted #4 in the BFI's all-time best TV movie poll. In my view one of the best gay-themed films ever made, owing of course to Quentin Crisp's inimitable personality.
92. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Mystery
During a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Rachel Roberts, Anne-Louise Lambert, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse
Votes: 41,076 | Gross: $0.23M
Peter Weir's masterpiece has often been interpreted in a Lesbian context, but I've never felt so sure about that... decided to list it here after consulting with a Lesbian friend. It's one of the most ambiguous films ever made, after all.
93. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Horror, Musical
A newly-engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must seek shelter at the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-n-Furter.
Director: Jim Sharman | Stars: Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien
Votes: 167,040 | Gross: $139.88M
'don't dream it, be it' - the greatest cult classic of all time isn't really about sexual orientation, but a satire on '50s mores versus '60s/'70s liberation - yet much more enjoyable than many '90s 'It's OK' movies.
94. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
TV-MA | 117 min | Drama
In World War II Italy, four fascist libertines round up nine adolescent boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of physical, mental, and sexual torture.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini | Stars: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Uberto Paolo Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti
Votes: 65,885
Pasolini's last and most notorious film associates homosexual acts with the depravity of the Fascist elite and could therefore be regarded as an anti-gay by a gay director - a premise under which it makes some odd sense
95. Saturday Night at the Baths (1975)
R | 86 min | Comedy, Drama
A musician from Montana finds work and other things at The Continental Baths in New York City, 1974.
Director: David Buckley | Stars: Robert Aberdeen, Ellen Sheppard, Don Scotti, Steve Ostrow
Votes: 515
interesting for displaying the show acts that used to be common in the NYC scene, but not much of a story.
96. La meilleure façon de marcher (1976)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama, Romance
In a vacation camp somewhere in the French country, 1960. Marc et Philippe are two of the counsellors. Marc is very virile, while Philippe is more reserved. A night, Marc surprises Philippe... See full summary »
Director: Claude Miller | Stars: Patrick Dewaere, Patrick Bouchitey, Christine Pascal, Claude Piéplu
Votes: 1,640
deals with gay bashing as a result of repressed sexuality and is still relevant in this regard.
97. Un enfant dans la foule (1976)
85 min | Drama
Abandoned by his father and ignored by his mother, a French youth (César Chauveau) seeks love and affection with the soldiers and other men he meets on the streets of Paris during the German occupation.
Director: Gérard Blain | Stars: César Chauveau, Annie Kovaks, Claude Cernay, Bernard Soufflet
Votes: 282
More a coming-of-age story, director Gérard Blain works on his adolescent traumas in this autobiographic retelling of a rebellious teen turning tricks in occupied WWII Paris. Not as sympathetic to gays as his "Les Amis" but a much better film.
98. Je t'aime moi non plus (1976)
R | 89 min | Drama
Petite waitress Johnny works and lives in a truck-stop, where she's lonely and longs for love. She develops a crush on garbage-truck driver Krassky, although her sleazy boss Boris warns her that he's gay.
Director: Serge Gainsbourg | Stars: Jane Birkin, Joe Dallesandro, Hugues Quester, Reinhard Kolldehoff
Votes: 2,329
Another film that actually should not be on this list as it's unabashedly exploitative, it's also a one-of-a-kind surreal experience. The gay theme is milked for shock yet off-the-charts unrealistic, and one cannot help but wonder about uber-hetero Serge Gainsbourg's motivation for (ab)using his real-life partner Jane Birkin, plus naming the film after their biggest hit. However, it's Joe Dallessandro's only film in which he is really gay.
99. Johan (1976)
Unrated | 81 min | Drama
While Philipe waits for Johan to come out of jail he starts recreating several moments of their relationship with the help of several friends during the summer of 1975.
Director: Philippe Vallois | Stars: Marie-Christine Weill, Patrice Pascal, Philippe Vallois, Laurent Laclos
Votes: 383
very overt and underground, but camera-wise almost unwatchable.
100. Norman... Is That You? (1976)
PG | 91 min | Comedy
A black man is distraught when he discovers his son is gay and is determined to set him right.
Director: George Schlatter | Stars: Redd Foxx, Pearl Bailey, Dennis Dugan, Michael Warren
Votes: 442
First black gay-themed film is a cliché-riddled theater piece, but quite sympathetic and once again an interesting time-travel experience.
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