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Cruising the Movies: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Cruising the Movies
Cruising the Movies is a new monthly podcast and screening series at IFC Center in New York from the creators of Ask Any Buddy. In each episode, Elizabeth Purchell and KJ Shepherd take a look at a different film from the fringes of queer cinema history. Through interviews, archival sources, and conversations with filmmakers, critics, and historians, this podcast and screening series will uncover how cinema is inextricable from queer history at large.
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- Mar 13, 202536 min
Episode 12: Rosa von Praunheim's TRANSEXUAL MENACE
This month on the podcast, Liz and KJ return to the well that is Rosa von Praunheim's vast filmography to take a look at a film that (sadly) has been becoming more and more relevent with each passing day this year: his 1996 documentary TRANSEXUAL MENACE. A companion piece of sorts to his earlier ARMY OF LOVERS OR REVOLT OF THE PERVERTS (1979), the film is a sprawling portrait of America's trans arts and activist movement that features everything from icons like Leslie Feinberg and Virginia Prince to events like the Southern Comfort conference in Atlanta and the Fantasia Fair in Provincetown. We'll be presenting a rare screening of the documentary at IFC Center in New York on Thursday, March 13th at 7pm!
- Feb 26, 202540 min
Episode 11: Richard Benner's OUTRAGEOUS!
Hello, welcome—and in the spirit of our neighbors to our north, bonjour bienvenue. In this month's episode, we discuss a film that almost defies belief: a highly popular and critically acclaimed queer film from the 1970s about a drag queen's ambitions for stardom and his tumultuous friendship with a mentally ill gal-pal—all produced through a deliberate and infamous loophole in the Canadian tax code. The story, and the film, is truly outrageous. Liz and KJ spend this episode discussing Richard Benner's true gem of a film OUTRAGEOUS!, including how it actually made its star Craig Russell an international drag superstar. They dive into the era of Canadian tax shelter films, and discuss why the kinda-genre doesn't entirely deserve its bad rap. Your hosts also consider the film's provocative advertising campaign, what made this film take off as the beloved and acclaimed film in its time versus other 70s gay films, and what issues may have kept this from being seen as a key moment in drag and queer film history. You can catch OUTRAGEOUS! at the IFC Center in Manhattan on Thursday, February 27 at 7PM. If you're in the New York City metro area, we'd love to see you there!
- Jan 6, 202546 min
Episode 10: Gregg Araki's THREE BEWILDERED PEOPLE IN THE NIGHT (1987)
This month on the podcast, Liz and Keegan take a look at queer filmmaker Gregg Araki's first film. You might know it, it's about two HIV+ gay men on the run after killing a cop, who—oh, wait, no it's not THE LIVING END, it's Araki's actual first film, 1987's THREE BEWILDERED PEOPLE IN THE NIGHT. Shot for $5,000 with a crew of one and a wind-up Bolex, this no-budget wonder follows a gay performance artist, his video artist best friend, and her sexually confused photographer boyfriend, who fall into a disorienting bisexual love triangle over the course of a series of long dark nights in the coffee shops and bedrooms of Los(t) Angeles. Rarely screened theatrically and only ever released on VHS in Japan, THREE BEWILDERED PEOPLE IN THE NIGHT is a forgotten landmark of 80s queer cinema and a fascinating origin for one of the most beloved queer filmmakers of the past several decades. We'll be showing it TONIGHT at IFC Center in Manhattan at 7pm — it's the film's very first screening in New York in about a decade, so hope to see you there.
- Dec 9, 202441 min
Episode 9: Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.'s DADDY DEAREST (1984)
What better way to wrap up the year than with a beautiful work of gay adult cinema from a still-underappreciated director? This month, Liz and KJ cover Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.'s DADDY DEAREST—an adult film about the making of an adult film that's just as dreamlike and wistful as is relentlessly horny. DADDY DEAREST isn't Bressan's most famous work—nowhere near as famous as his San Francisco adult films PASSING STRANGERS and FORBIDDEN LETTERS, the foundational documentary GAY USA, the controversial ABUSE, nor his crossover masterpiece BUDDIES—but it truly showcases Bressan's daring storytelling, clever cinematography, thoughtful editing, and spot-on casting. In this episode, we go through what we love about both Bressan and this film in particular: his love of film history; his talent for blending multiple realities, and his brilliance for representing unbridled desire and pleasure on film. We are screening DADDY DEAREST at the IFC Center on Monday, December 9, at 7pm, in a brand-new 2K restoration by Altered Innocence and the Bressan Project. If you love what you see and also live in New York City, make sure to also check out Adam Baran's Narrow Rooms series at Anthology Film Archives, where he will be screening another underrated Bressan feature, JUICE, on Saturday, December 14th.
- Nov 25, 202447 min
Episode 8: Gordon Willis's WINDOWS (1980)
This month on Cruising the Movies, Liz and KJ take a look at what is undoubtedly one of the most controversial lesbian films ever made: cinematographer-turned-director Gordon Willis's 1980 film, Windows. Talia Shire stars as Emily, a mousy stutterer who endures a bizarre assault at the hands of a stranger after returning home from work one night. While she initially finds comfort and protection in poet Andrea (Elizabeth Ashley), she later comes to find out there's more to her friend than meets the eye. Over the course of the episode, we compare the final film to its radically different originaly screenplay and talk about how it fits in with the other three controversial queer New York films from 1980: Can't Stop the Music (dir. Nancy Walker), Cruising (dir. William Friedkin), and Dressed to Kill (dir. Brian De Palma). And if you're in the New York area, we'll be presenting a very rare 35mm screening of the film at IFC on Monday, November 24th at 7pm!
- Oct 7, 202442 min
Episode 7: William Castle's HOMICIDAL + Mark Oates and Tom Rubnitz's PSYKHO III: THE MUSICAL
This month on CRUISING THE MOVIES, Liz and KJ take a look at two very different—but similar!—riffs on Alfred Hitchcock's analyzed-to-death PSYCHO: William Castle's 1961 film HOMICIDAL and Mark Oates and Tom Rubnitz's 1985 video short, PSYKHO III: THE MUSICAL. In HOMICIDAL, the kind-hearted Miriam Webster is framed for the cold-blooded murder of a justice of the peace just as her absent brother Warren returns home from a long trip to Denmark after the death of their father. As tensions begin to flare over who will inherit the sizable fortune, Warren's mysterious new wife will stop at nothing to make sure it doesn't go to his sister. With its insanely twisted take on gender and winkingly campy tone (not to mention the "Fright Break"—one of filmmaker William Castle's signature gimmicks), HOMICIDAL plays like something of a drag parody of Hitchcock's original film. Meanwhile, PSYKHO III: THE MUSICAL actually is a drag parody: a videotaped version of Mark Oates' musical adaptation of the Hitchcock film originally staged at the legendary Pyramid Club.
- Sep 23, 202455 min
Episode 6: Rosa von Praunheim's ARMY OF LOVERS OR REVOLT OF THE PERVERTS (1979)
On this episode of CRUISING THE MOVIES, Liz and KJ discuss what they consider one of the best documentaries of all time, regardless of topic: Rosa Von Praunheim's ARMY OF LOVERS OR REVOLT OF THE PERVERTS. Made by the prodigious German filmmaker in the aftermath of his groundbreaking and controversial IT IS NOT THE HOMOSEXUAL WHO IS PERVERSE BUT THE SOCIETY IN WHICH HE LIVES—and at the same time as several other of his New York-based features—ARMY OF LOVERS documents the peaks and valleys of gay liberation in the US during the 1970s. Along the way, Praunheim meets both the historical catalysts of gay liberation as well as a cavalcade of characters, including Rev. Troy Perry, sex god Fred Halsted, and more than one person on the fringes of acceptability. Tune in as we talk about Rosa's longstanding fascination and celebration of the United States, warts and all, his distinctive storytelling style, and this documentary still feels provocative and salient five decades later.
- Aug 19, 20241h 17m
Episode 5: Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s GLEN OR GLENDA (1953)
On this episode of CRUISING THE MOVIES, our hosts dive into another queer film classic: Edward D. Wood, Jr..'s GLEN OR GLENDA. Calling anything Ed Wood made a genuine "classic" is a relatively new phenomenon in many film circles. Ed Wood used to be the laughingstock of lazy (and bigoted) critics—his name being shorthand for poorly done and confusing work. Now, amid what would've been the filmmaker's 100th birthday, many more people are seeing his films as fascinating looks at gender, desire, and dreamlike feelings that can't even be put into words. At once earnest and surreal, we make the case that GLEN OR GLENDA should be seen as a foundational trans film—and how Wood's personal life shaped some of the storylines you see onscreen. We then continue this conversation with Willow Catelyn McClay, co-author of CORPSES, FOOLS, AND MONSTERS: THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF TRANSNESS IN CINEMA. Liz, KJ, and Willow all discuss how you don't get to David Lynch without Ed Wood, why domesticity is a recurring tension in trans film images, and where trans cinema may (hopefully) go next. You can watch a rare 35mm print (!) of GLEN OR GLENDA with us at the IFC Center on Tuesday, August 20 at 7PM. We are pairing it with the short VALERIE, which is a gem of a short about a Black trans woman in 1970s Ohio. CORPSES, FOOLS, AND MONSTERS is available wherever you do reputable book business.
About Cruising the Movies
Cruising the Movies is a new monthly podcast and screening series at IFC Center in New York from the creators of Ask Any Buddy. In each episode, Elizabeth Purchell and KJ Shepherd take a look at a different film from the fringes of queer cinema history. Through interviews, archival sources, and conversations with filmmakers, critics, and historians, this podcast and screening series will uncover how cinema is inextricable from queer history at large.
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