Movies
Torch Song Trilogy
The Harvey Fierstein triple play about a drag queen's quest for True Love, Eternal Youth, that sort of thing: a would-be Oscar Wilde but a resigned-to-be Neil Simon, albeit a subcultural Neil Simon. The dramaturgy, in the result, leans heavily on the conventional -- the forgotten birthday, the random act of violence (or of God), the meddlesome mother. And nearly every episode is studded with one-liners from The Gay Man's Quip Book: "A thing of beauty is a joy till sunrise"; "I want more out of life than meeting a pretty face and sitting down on it"; "When I started in this business I looked like a young Joan Crawford -- ten years later, Marjorie Main!" No doubt this is shtick, but as in the best of Neil Simon (i.e., The Sunshine Boys), the shtick is built into the character. And Fierstein himself is an often touching actor, getting startling contrasts between his metal-corrosive, Lionel Stander voice and his raw-nerve sensitivity: the pained but plucky smile, the haughty show horse's head-toss, the flared eyelid. He comes at the role -- in apparent distinction from Matthew Broderick and Brian Kerwin -- from the inside. With Anne Bancroft; directed by Paul Bogart. 1988.
Reader Rating:
MPAA Rating: R