Gay Best Friends: Toddy & Squash in "Victor/Victoria"

In this series by Christopher James we investigate the 'Gay Best Friend' trope in movies.

More movies should end with a gay best friend performing drag, like Robert Preston in Victor/Victoria.Many of the gay best friends in movies we've discussed to date have been supporting characters to give color to the protagonists, act as a sounding board, or fill out the world of the story. Rarely are they actual plot drivers who get to carry their own subplot. In only one film that we've discussed to date, My Best Friend’s Wedding, do they also get to be the ultimate hero of the story.

Blake Edwards 1982 musical comedy Victor/Victoria, like most gender-flipping movies, relies a bit too much on the gender binary. However, it uses its queer characters to help the straights find their own unique shading on the sexuality spectrum. This was my first time watching Victor/Victoria and it made for a delightful and hilarious Saturday afternoon romp...

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Curio: James Garner, Jim Rockford, and an altered matchbox car

Alexa here, back from vacation with an atypical Curio. I was very saddened at the news of James Garner's passing. While I am a fan of many of his films (The Americanization of Emily ranks especially high), he is primarily remembered from television, and, for me especially, as Jim Rockford. His beleaguered, Marlowe-esque hero was a touchstone of my childhood.

In fact, I am something of a Rockford Files obsessive: I even altered a toy Firebird to more closely resemble the one made famous from many a car chase. [More...]

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Linkpiercer

Guardian Tim Robey has a lovely tribute to TV & film star James Garner (RIP) who I'll always remember best for Murphy's Romance and Victor/Victoria in the 1980s
Pajiba I'm more of a cat person but this gallery of big celebrities with tiny dogs is adorable
Criterion Collection on the painstaking restoration of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Thompson on Hollywood has an in depth look at the VOD decisions involving Snowpiercer from the mouth of Harvey Weinstein (so yes it's very one-sided... but interesting nonetheless)

The Dissolve 'when images match ideas' on Snowpiercer and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 
Pajiba has the talk with Marvel about the Edgar Wright Divorce  
Towleroad Andrew Rannells starts soon as Hedwig. (I'm excited. The role is big enough for multiple interpretations)
Theater Mania Michelle Williams wants to keep singing at the Kit Kat Club longer than expected. She's staying with Cabaret all the way through November 9th now (I guess she doesn't have to start promoting Suite Française for awhile still)
Details interviews Wentworth Miller, former Prison Break hunk and Stoker writer, on his career after coming out

And, finally, are you excited for Festival Season yet?

I'm trying to remain calm as I make plans but NYFF isn't making staying calm any easier what with their Opening Night Film (Gone Girl's world premiere) Centerpiece (Inherent Vice) and Closing Night (Birdman which is scheduled for Venice as well). Tomorrow TIFF holds their opening news conference and we'll hear more about their plans as well. Here's some speculation from a Toronto news site which suggests that Reese Witherspoon is going to be a major presence and you can probably safely assume that Maps to the Stars will also be there given TIFF's love of Cronenberg.

Mad Men @ the Movies: Having & Holding

Hello! Deborah from Basket of Kisses back for another movie-free week of Mad Men at the Movies. In this week's Mad Men, actors and television figure prominently, so we'll have lots to talk about.

Episode 6.04, To Have and To Hold takes us (among other places) backstage of the soap opera where Megan has a growing role. The episode itself has a frothy, soapy sensibility, full of illicit goings-on and secrets revealed.

Don Draper: Does he look like James Garner to you? 

Soap opera trivia and Broadway Joe Namath after the jump.

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