Feeling enlightened for finally seeing the origin of "Now listen you queer, stop calling me a crypto-nazi", a phrase which could have been uttered today under the exact same circumstances. The 1960s were crazy.
The documentary "Best of Enemies" goes into detail about how that conversation came about and the personalities involved. Highly recommend it if you want to see the whole background into when and why that line was uttered.
@ellie7252 The book was a great satire of contemporary morés which was given critical praise. Gore did, however, distance himself from the movie, calling it an _"awful joke."_
@@Green-3c34y65vrbu I'm not sure but considering the SA scene also is in the book, I don't think it would be. Knowing the stigma around trans woman I just don't see any context in which writing one to be an abuser will not sour the book entirely. For its time it might have been. But I doubt it is.
Oh I really must suggest you watch the whole thing. They are perfectly composed and also inches away from trying to beat each other to death with the furniture. They just don't make em like that anymore
“Shut up for a minute” should be the response to most things and even in a meditation video. 😅. Do you hate women? Shut up for a minute. Hate gay people? Trans people? Shut up for a minute.
@@demetriam2408 Everyone talks about the internet making people toxic, but I think we were always toxic, it's just now the toxicity is documented, recorded for all time, and sent to everyone in the world.
This kind of quick cutting was popular among the young counterculture movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The techniques in moviemaking at that time allowed for this kind of editing style. You’ll see it in shows like Laugh-In and movies like Putney Swope, The Groove Tube, Head, and a lot of Andy Warhol films. It wasn’t so much ahead of its time but really a reminder that your grandparents were once young too.
@@selalewis9189 I kinda disagree So I agree that the quick cutting was a style in the day, although pretty much borrowed from the French style of editing from ten years prior, and even more mainstream movies like "Performance" with Mick Jagger, "Easy Rider", "Bonnie & Clyde" were using it, none of those movies were using old movie clips for double entendres like how RU-vid poops use clips from, idk, the super mario cartoon, for a dirty joke. It's using the style from the time for cheeky humour.
This was normal. I saw it in college in the seventies and the big reveal of the s*x change at the climax was a complete surprise despite all the foreshadowing. I saw it with a "good catholic girl" who later bought a copy of the book because she had "questions" she wasn't ready to talk about. The r*pe scene, while obvious today, was not at all clear at the time. The film was R-rated BTW, not X-rated as stated in the video, for anyone wondering about the "good catholic girl."
In some aspects society has been heading into the 1970's for while but not the good parts of the 1970's. the conservative family values BS, anti-abortion etc.
The portrayal of a trans person being besties in crime with their pre transitioned self is a hype concept. But along with many people in this movie, it was abused.
I've seen to other clips where he threatened his guest to "punch you in your damn mouth." the other two times he just sort of mumbled it, and the guest and everybody else pretended that it had not been said. He was usually polite and respectful to his guests, even when they were on the far left, but hid did have a mean streak that would occasionally slip out.
Ok, the picture of your pre-transition self standing with you in a room like it's Fight Club is pretty great visual storytelling that feels like it could've came from a more legit trans film
God, one of my favorite pieces of trivia is that Buckley read the novel in between conventions as debate prep and I can only imagine how much distress it caused him :)
@@najhoantI would. I think it's pretty good not as good as the book though. It needs a different director maybe and no Mae West because she wasn't the character in the book.
hobie having "(she arrived late)" floating over her is so me. i need that every time it happens, like when the diamond over a sim gets red because they're hungry. edit: THANK YOU HOBIE FOR MENTIONING DOUG DIMMADOME. I WAS HOPING SOMEONE WOULD DO IT,
Vidal's book is itself deeply transmisogynist and fetishizing of trans women so this is not the biggest loss here. It's clear that he saw trans women as this walking metaphor that he could do whatever he wanted with, and at the point of the writing when he decided Myra was actually trans all along is the part where she becomes much more sexually aggressive.
@@CharlotteSWeb-oh7oui guess he kinda had the spirit but fucked it up badly. Truman capote actually had lived experience as a gay person that he could draw from, but gore vidal didn't have experience living as a trans woman to draw from.
Yeah I think your pre transition ghost self could be an interesting representation of internalized-transphobia? Or something like "even though this makes me miserable, I've become so used to it im scared to change." Maybe even pressure from this apparition to conform to more rigid gender roles? The only interesting concept this movie comes up with and they butcher it
I really loved the little history lesson at the end. I was so curious about Myra being played by a cis woman rather than Adam Sandler, and portrayed as a confident sexy bombshell. Really great to learn some of the context for how depictions of trans women have changed so much since then.
"What do you think the main drug was on the set for this?" "You're saying that as if there was just one!" Followed by all the behind the scenes footage of people talking about all the drug use, that exchange alone is comedic gold
“Mr President, now that the revolution has successfully toppled the communist party from its authoritarian grip on power, do you think you’ll be seeking membership in NATO?” “Idk, let me consult US ambassador Shirley Temple” what the fuck
So, actually I really like the idea of using pre and post transition actor/s interchangeably, by way of showing the way that some trans people experience dysmorphia. I don't deny that it would be confusing tho. It would have to be deployed like... intentionally tho. And not for weird transphobia reasons.
Now, I have been aware of Myra Breckenridge for over a decade, now. Probably close to two decades, now that I think about it. And watching it is non-sensical. I actually sought out and read the book to see if some of the plot changes were as I suspected. And I kind of was. Having pre-op "Myron Breckenridge" follow Myra around like a ghost or that dude from Quantum Leap didn't make much sense, and that isn't in the book. In the book Myra having been Myron is a secret kept from the audience until that climatic reveal at the end. The book also doesn't end with Myra having been hit by a car and it all turning out to be a dream. She gets hit by a car and then doesn't maintain her hormone therapy and sort of starts to change back into Myron. This makes the Farrah Fawcett character instantly fall in love with him and he goes back to being mail, get married and find Jesus, not necessarily in that order. The insertion of random movie clips makes a little more sense when you understand that Myron, and therefore Myra, was a film nerd. A Film Nerd from the 60's when it looked like cinema was dying as an art form until the blockbusters of the mid-to-late 70's changed that. This might be the more interesting aspect of the film when you consider that it felt like a last gasp of Hollywood when the movie was made and released.
Which brings more weight to the idea of the clips being used as filler and added way down the line. Myron is played by movie critic Rex Reed, who at the time was appearing on multiple talk shows, so many people would have known who he was and associated him with "movie buff". If the book were adapted in the 90s, maybe Gene Siskel or Leonard Maltin would have portrayed Myron. Honestly, this movie deserves a "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" treatment, a quasi-remake making fun of itself.
That's also why the film has cameos by people from the golden age of Westerns like John Hutson and John Carradine. The movie tries (with little success) to comment on how the good ol' studio system felt and was replaced with a bunch of sleazy coke-added cynics
i actually think that myra's pre transition self taking her place without anyone mentioning is a good visual metaphor for dysphoria; she is a gorgeous woman but through her own eyes she is the man she used to be - even though no one else sees her that way. also since she's in a dream, where her self perception is warped, when she is around certain people or places she is her pre transition self again. i think it highlights the mindfuck of being in a trans body quite well. i doubt that was the intention or even something that anyone involved considered, but i think that in the hands of actual queer and trans people, it could be done well.
Only six minutes in, but I can’t believe I didn’t know Raquel Welch did this movie; I’ve always found her career fascinating bc of how carefully she navigated her s.x symbol image. Mae West’s comments no doubt really crossed the line for Welch. Especially considering they occupied the exact same Hollywood niche; it’s an “ok, don’t act like you’re different from me just because you came first,” kind of moment. Mae West should’ve known better than anyone not to underestimate an actress typecast in that s.x bomb role. In particular I think Welch was aware a lot of people assumed she was just a dumb bimbo bc of her image, and if you watch interviews with her from the 60s & 70s it’s just so clear how much she refused to put up with that, and how intelligent and strategic she’s actually been about her career.
Oh, fun fact! In the 90s, Welch starred in the stage production of Victor/Victoria, replacing Julie Andrews. It’s funny to me that she’s had more than one role featuring some gender fuckery. She apparently leaned conservative politically, but she’s still always had this interesting proximity to queer camp. I mean, she was even in The Last of Sheila (created by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins). But I guess a lot of bombshells end up in that campy/beloved-by-queers kind of space, regardless of their personal politics. Love the gals’ dry humor reacting to this film! 70s films are always a special kind of surreal.
Mae West's final film was "Sextette", in which she seduced Timothy Dalton while Alice Cooper sang and played a cheery up-tempo number on a glass piano. ...yes, you read that correctly.
I loved the convo in the end about how trans discourse has gone so far south in recent years. It's such a struggle to see trans people be put under this light of "never passing" and always being hunted, when we used to applaud their bravery and vulnerability 50 years ago. Even movies like "Glen or Glenda" shined a more positive light on trans people... it just sucks that the movies were horrible and a lil offensive, but that's beside the point... I would love to see more trans positive media and queer positive media. Just like we're slowly getting away from media exploiting black trauma, let's stop seeing queer people struggle. More positive media for queer people! (an actual trans woman as Myra would have been pretty sick though...)
I know it was done because they didn’t have enough footage to make this into anything, rather than for cool art film reasons, but I’m absolutely obsessed with the editing of this movie, it’s hilarious.
My favorite part of Vidal's 2006 memoir, Point to Point, is that he spends a full chapter being like... my legacy is Myra Brenkinridge, the most American woman I ever wrote, I just wish it was a better book.
Today I've learned that Raquel Welch and Gina Gershon are not the same person in fact! Now it's only a matter of time before I start distinguishing Matt Bomer and Henry Cavill 👌
@@bobcobb3654 I don't have brain capacity for celebrity birthdays 🤷🏻♀️ I just see a face that looks like another person's face, and I mix them up without second thought.
See, the clips from other movies being references to sexual things happening, the ppl having random sex in the background, the scene with the "im above 6" and the bed appears, all of that was camp and fun. If the writing was better and the mood was consistently that campy, I think it would've been better. Also, just less SA please.
people having sex in the background and cops randomly frisking people and just general chaos in the background for comedy sounds great. Too bad everything else was a mess.
I'm always wondering where you are actually sitting during these screenings. Behind the camera? Next to it? Not watching the film, but just watching your guests, silently judging them while holding back laughter?
I'm amazed that you didn't put the movie title in the name of the video. When you announced what movie you made your friends watch, I gasped out loud. That movie is infamous. I've never seen it. Can't wait to see what your crew thought of it.
I have such a soft spot for weird boundary-pushing experimental films from the 70s and 80s like Zardoz, A Boy and His Dog, Brazil, Phantom of the Paradise, Sons of Steel, The Apple, Solar Babies, and this.
Dental health is mental health. Kinda makes sense. People with decaying or missing teeth often have low self-esteem. That's Roger Carmel, Star Trek's Harry Mudd, in the role.
Honestly, if the only way for a woman in 1960's Hollywood to assert her dominance is to act like a "diva" to get what she's owed, like May West... Slay Queen!
you know what i just realized, that line "dental health is mental health" has only been lodged in my brain for two weeks but is also fucking true lmao at least as far as dementia goes bc tooth loss is associated with both dementia and general cognitive problems. bacteria in the mouth can pass the blood/brain barrier easily, especially as we age! so in conclusion, Myra Breckinridge can teach us all a valuable lesson and it just happens to come from a man with a lit stogy in his mouth as he performs oral surgery
I do hope gender affirming surgery and care does advance further, and can make me feel like a futuristic sci fi character where I pick my transition appearance from like a catalogue lol.
As a cis woman, it would also take years of surgeries and therapies to come out looking like Raquel Welch.That aside I love how naturally pretty your subject audience is. I aspire to have their confidence.
You reminded me of something the reviewer for _TheAgonyBooth_ said about the opening scene of this movie: "the film portrays the doctor as negligent and incompetent, but any surgeon who can turn a guy that looks like Rex Reed into a woman that looks like Raquel Welch is nothing short of a miracle worker"
Evasive, this is my 4th video of yours and I have to write this - your sense of humour is great, the whole idea of the show is hella original and funny, but what makes me really appreciate your work is that you did really prepare all the pre and post film production gossip, fun facts and other. This just... so well done! The complexity and simpicity of the whole scheme is amazing! ❤❤❤ sorry for my English, this is my 3rd language
I'm guessing "Visit to a Small Planet" with Jerry Lewis as a wacky alien, based on a Vidal play. Best scene: Jerry at a jazz club freaking out the beatniks!
As a silly little cinephile myself I really enjoy how complete and well edited your videos are. I'd love to watch you comment on "I love you Phillip Morris" and "But I'm a cheerleader" too.
@melorsomething1006 no basically he's using the word of crypto in the sense he tries to hide the fact in public eye. Typically if someone is a crypto-X it means they don't want people to know they support that ideology. So basically he was calling him someone who hides his nazi beliefs so there for he could keep his public life
not to devalue the actual content and reactions within the video but truly the best part of watching these is recognizing all the always sunny and yakuza shit in them, i knew i recognized the jazzy track playing and then it swapped to the yokohama battle theme 💀 the little masked charlie and frank cut ins were top tier too
Between this and Caligula, Gore Vidal couldn’t catch a break in Hollywood, could he? Myra Breckinridge seems like a product of its time, but the trans people have a point that the trans discourse was different then too. Sure wasn’t any unflattering wojack memes back then.
I watched this movie about a year ago after a tgirl on the internet recommended it to me (“its transgender fight club”) and I was so sure I just didn’t get it?? I’m not a big movie watcher. But god damn the reveal that they actually for actually just spliced in random shit was so vindicating. Anyways. Extremely good and also one of the worst movies I’ve ever had the Experience of watching. Edit: I totally thought her pretrans self was just her like. Boytoy manservant. I’m so bad at faces this is horrible. Because he opens the door for her at the beginning and also don’t they fuck ???? I don’t even know.
Sadly, Roxy Music has nothing to do with the Roxy Theatre, either... (And the Roxy Theatre was built with the pilfered profits of Barbara La Marr's movies that she never got paid by her producers. 😕Ask me how I know that.)
I can’t tell if I want to watch this movie now or not. The SA scenes and transphobia look like a bear to sit through, but the manic editing and general insanity looks hilarious to watch
Two things I got out of this review. 1. I need to read the book. Not being familiar with Vidal's work the overall tone makes it seem like he's capable of the kind of biting satire that I find intriguing. It may be time to give a novel known for its skewering of what's now termed toxic masculinity a reappraisal within the modern understanding of masculinity, femininity, and where each may lie on the axis of sexuality. 2. Raquel Welch with JBF hair is where I lie on the axis of sexuality. 3. Pre-Stache Tom Selleck makes a good case for scooting that slider over a bit.
