by Nathaniel R
If you use movies for time travel, as we often suggest people should given that they're cheaper than time machines, you could do worse than renting the restored 1974 porn Passing Strangers. The site Pink Label.TV, which is queer owned and operated, and specializes in ethical and niche adult queer indie fare is currently hosting a restored print. It's the latest restoration for the work of the trailblazing filmmaker Arthur J Bressan Jr. Bressan also made the landmark gay drama Buddies (1981) and the documentary Gay USA (1977) which Glenn recently raved about. His earlier porn, Passing Strangers, emerged during that brief heyday in the 1970s when mainstream media was taking porn seriously -- think Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door's blockbuster box office.
More, but definitely NSFW, after the jump...
The movie's slim plot involves a jaded 28 year-old man who spends his time quoting Walt Whitman and cruising and an 18 year-old just coming out of the closet and nervous about entering the gay scene. They meet via a personal ad which is alarming to modern eyes (falling in love via the written word and no thirst trap photos, wut?). Their relationship as pen pals eventually leads to an epic all day date (the film moving into color, like Dorothy entering Oz) which culminates in sex outdoors in a sun-dappled scene which surely inspired Stranger by the Lake (2013) ...albeit absent the homicidal impulses.
In some ways it plays as standard proto gay erotica, if there is such a thing. Think lots of moodiness and sex, shot in a way that conveys far more ambition than you average wham-bam porno. One outdoor shot involving a kite was so surprisingly flashy that we were amused to see it get its own title card when the credits rolled!
Here are three definite highlights for this viewer beyond the... um... standard porn pleasures, which will be amplified for anyone who hates manscaping since this is unmistakably hippie-filled free love 1970s.
1. The first lazy jack-off scene for the young lead (who looks a bit like a softer Ezra Miller) hilariously follows him announcing to his would-be lover that he's watching a Lillian Gish silent on his TV. They don't show the TV screen but we giggled. Who knew that Lillian Gish, the First Lady of American Cinema, was such a turn-on for young gay San Franciscans?
2. There's one scene that feels particularly brilliant in a seriocomic way, revolving around nerves, coming out, sexual performance, and the private and public space of gay life. In the dream sequence the young man is in a room full of naked men and after he jacks off for him they applaud his orgasm. Then everyone blows bubbles and jumps up and down. It's more celebratory than dirty, and plays as innocently as this sort of thing can.
3. After the epic date which is the culmination of the letter-writing plot, the new couple attends a "Gay Freedom Day" parade. This is real footage from one of the first post-Stonewall marches, it was only the third Pride march in San Francisco, the real people and sights are truly incredible in a THIS MUST BE PRESERVED kind of way.
All in all Passing Strangers is a must-see for LGBT history buffs and erotica conoisseurs. Come for the archival footage and truly 70s state of mind. Stay for the porn. Or is it the reverse?
Passing Strangers (1974) is currently streaming on Pink Label.TV. Bressan's second porn Forbidden Letters (1979) is also being restored and will debut on the site in August.