Rick Nelson and Claude Peck dispense unasked-for advice about clothing, etiquette, culture, relationships, grooming and more.
CP: A major motion picture about a landmark event in gay-lib history, the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York. Politics, mobsters, romance. … What could possibly go wrong?
RN: Oy, "Stonewall." Such squandering of such rich material. I was shocked to learn that the "Days of Our Lives"-worthy screenplay was by Jon Robin Baitz, author of the fine "Three Hotels," "Other Desert Cities" and TV's frequently great "Brothers & Sisters." The gays deserve better, especially from one of their own.
CP: "Stonewall" truly is a "one proverb per scene" kind of movie. And all shot in golden light reminiscent of a whole-grain cereal commercial. But come on, I mean, how many times did you cry at "Dreamgirls"? (When you weren't screaming with joy, that is.)
RN: I had to be carried out on a stretcher. But that was a musical. Starring Fabulous Black Women. At least "Stonewall" gets some of the history right, depicting the riot being driven by drag queens and homeless street kids. I sense that you are, shockingly, less judgy than I am on this one.
CP: Don't fret. I'm at the front of the line to say "Stonewall" is stuffed with more clichés than a drag queen's bra, and that it seems to have been scripted by George M. Clunkmeister. The exposition may as well have appeared in all-type boxes instead of being spoken by the actors. But still.
RN: You identified, clearly. Please tell me it wasn't the horrifying scene where that icky cross-dressing executive forced himself on our nauseated-yet-dewy young protagonist, Danny from rural Indiana. Because that was scarier than anything in "Alien."
CP: But I see plenty of value in a mainstream-ish movie showing how a racially diverse bunch of street queens, hustlers, proto-activists and fellow travelers got sick of having their dance bar repeatedly raided by the cops and finally decided to fight back. It's a story powerful enough to have launched a thousand gay pride festivals around the world.
