Trailer—The Gay Deceivers

source: The Gay Deceivers

The Gay Deceivers

This was not in any way avant garde even for its time. It depicts straight men acting out the gay nancy or butch-predator cliches. Even back during WWII, entertainments for soldiers featured drag and other forms of effeminacy - for comedic relief. This is just a continuation of that tradition of humour. This is straight people going Gay-face for the straight entertainment. I found it offensive. There is a reason that this movie has been virtually forgotten. Not recommended.

A premise that could have worked for comedy or drama is defeated by amateur acting, writing and directing. The result feels like soft core * that's been edited for an R rating. Michael Greer, a specialist in swish, has charisma, but the rest of the cast is unappealing. The film has no atmosphere, poor pacing, drab set design and dreary cinematography, and it's offensive in its stupidity and gay clichés. It's interesting to note that lead Kevin Coughlin played an unapologetically gay character in 1968's Wild in the Streets. Coughlin was killed in a hit-n-run accident in 1975. A child actor, he appeared on The Patty Duke Show, and played Duke's brother in the 1959 feature Happy Anniversary.

A while ago I saw an over-the-top clip of two men screaming about the name of some flowers on Instagram. The commenters said that the clip was from this movie, so I decided to check it out. This movie isn't great, but its not as bad as I was expecting. Yeah, some of the stereotypes and attitudes shown in the movie are a bit offensive, but that's what it was like at the time. Its honestly great to see how far media has come since then. Most of the exaggerated scenes can just be enjoyed for how goofy they are. The way this movie was put together is ok. There are a few interesting shots and the audio quality is fine, along with the sound mixing. Its not great, but its better than I was expecting. I only got a little over 33 minutes into this movie. Its not bad, I just got bored. Overall, I wouldn't really recommend this movie. Its nothing special.

Just dreadful "comedy" about two young men who pretend to be gay to avoid being drafted. The comedy is horrible--very childish and stupid. The view of gays is simply unbearable--all limp-wristed, mincing, lisping men. Basically this film reinforces every single gay stereotype known to man. As a gay man I got so offended I had to stop watching half way through. It doesn't help that the print I saw had color that was so faded it looked like the film was in b&w. I suppose, in a way, this is useful in a historical context (i.e. to show how negatively gays were thought of in the late 60s). But its entertainment value is nil and it's so incredibly offensive it makes "Boys in the Band" look like an uplifting, liberating gay movie. For gay film completists only but be warned again...the view of gays here is deplorable.

I'm nuts about films from the 60s and this was a pretty adequate comedy about being gay to get out of going to Vietnam. It is interesting to see how gays were being represented in the popular cinema during a time when homosexuality was still pretty underground. But for me it was interesting knowing that the producer-director team of this film also made ANGELS FROM HELL, one of my favorite biker films. Weird, huh?

I thought this was a terrific movie.I'm very sorry to say that Michael Greer of Fortune And Men's Eyes fame died last year of lung cancer.I was devistated.I was such a big fan of his.He was a great actor,and I read alot about him.He was a comedien as well as an actor.This was Greer's first movie,and he did a great job.This movie was made in 1969,about two men who escape the army by pretending to be gay.I thought it was very funny.I have not seen many 60's movies,very few actually,but this one was a great.Watch it,you'll love it!

Having watched this amateurish comedy recently, I was shocked at some of the other comments here. While "The Gay Deceivers" is as good an indication of how gays were portrayed in the late 60's (i.e. swishy, nellie queens and leather butches), it's no better than a curio - certainly not required viewing for anyone other than gay cinema completists. There's very little here that's truly funny, since the direction and editing is so poor that basic comic timing goes out the window. Michael Greer has his first appearance as the queeny neighbor of the two hetero boys pretending to be gay to avoid the Draft. It became a typical role for him. What's amazing is how long it took for Hollywood to graduate (even in part) from films like this, "Partners," and "A Different Story" to something approximating reality among gay people. And directors/writers still get it wrong more often than right.