On Christmas Eve 1971 in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, a group of gay men and women meet in a bar and talk about their lives and relationships. Starring Fannie Flagg, Rue McClanahan.
Before I moved to NY to "follow my theatrical dreams" I worked for Mervyn Nelson, the author/director of THE BAR (later called SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE...)here in L.A., typing up a script for him. Later that year I moved to NY, got into a fabulous class Mervyn held, combining scenes from plays with songs that fit the dramatic sense of the scene. It was an incredible class....one day a frail tall, thin young woman got up and in a slightly throaty voice, presented Blanche's monologue from STREET CAR about her young poet (gay) husband. After the class I went up to Mervyn and said it was one of the most touching performances I'd seen of that monologue. He laughed and said, "Remember the transvestite character in THE BAR? That's him....her.....Candy. Not bad, huh?" Well, a lot of us know what happened to Candy Darling, what should have happened and how sad that her dreams never fully came true. But working on the script of THE BAR and then hanging around as an "extra" at the shoot was one of my first experiences with "underground" film in NY. Now, if only someone would find A SCARECROW IN A GARDEN OF CUCUMBERS" that starred Holly Woodlawn, the file on my underground "I was an extra" masterpieces can be considered complete. And thanks to MODCINEMA for finding some of these treasures from the 70's and 80's for us.
I saw this YEARS ago. She's not mentioned here but Andy Warhol's Candy Darling is in this too. She and Rue McLanahan stole the show for me. It all takes place in a Gay Bar in NYC on New Years Eve!!! This is a rare film.
1971 film "Some of My Best Friends Are" really captures the NYC gar bar scene from that era. The owner is a Mafioso - Lewis Barone whom everyone calls "the boss" - running a loan shark racket out of the bar's office, and everyone sneers at the dirty cop taking payoffs. The inclusion of "the boss" was such a brilliant detail because the Mafia once had a near-monopoly on LGBTQ nightlife in the city, and everyone knew it.
even as late as the early 90's there was a bar upstate called "Prime Time" that was still mafia owned. They are good businessmen, they know we have very few outlets and especially upstate there is little to do when you're straight so a gay bar is almost guaranteed repeat customers.
I just saw this movie here on RU-vid and let me tell you, Candy Darling was a natural actress!! She was really good!! Its so sad that she died so young. Fucking cancer!!! Can you imagine how big of a star she would have been if that damn cancer did not take her??? And SO BEAUTIFUL TOO!!! Very sultry with a sultry voice! Rest in peace queen!!!
Hold up. Rue McClanahan AND Candy Darling in the same film? Available to buy? Today? Oh praise be and thank the gay stars above ! The comment below says you can buy it at mod cinema dot com
Just watch the other night from Amazon prime.. decent quality, tho seemed to be 16:9-squished-to-4:3, but that was easily fixed with my TV's "aspect ratio view" control. Story was really a little bit of everything in this.. & a lot of sadness, but all relevant! amazon.com/gp/product/B018JQTX72/
