Milk (2008)

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Milk (2008)
Topic Started: Jun 21 2009, 06:31 AM (78 Views)
Laughing Gravy	Jun 21 2009, 06:31 AM Post #1
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,070 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	The life and times of Harvey Milk, successful NY businessman, closeted gay Jew from Long Island and Goldwater Republican who moved to San Francisco and became a middle-aged hippie who operated a camera shop in the Castro section of the city and, in the early 1970s, got tired of the bigoted cops hassling gays. Milk ran for office several times, and when he shaved his beard, cut his hair, and put on a nice suit he finally won, the first openly gay male to be elected to office. A fierce advocate for not only gay rights but the working people and senior citizens of his district, Milk had a very messy private life (to say the least) but successfully fought against a horrendous proposition that would've kept gays (or gay backers) from teaching in California schools (this was the era of Anita Bryant, folks). In November 1978, Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated at City Hall by a disgruntled former colleague. A powerful but imperfect film (directed by Gus Van Sant) with a stellar performance by Sean Penn (who picked up an Oscar for it, as did Dustin Lance Black for his screenplay). The street scenes in the City are excellent, the characters in the Castro district fascinating, and Milk himself is complex but depicted as a normal (gay) man with flaws but as somebody who found himself and accomplished much in a short time. The "telephone tree" sequence seems right out of Bye Bye Birdie and the assassination scene is theatrical and weak, but those are my only complaints. Worth singling out in the cast are Josh Brolin as the assassin, Dan White, and Alison Pill as Milk's tough but cuddly-looking campaign manager. The final sequence, actual film footage of tens of thousands of silent marchers winding their way through SF at a candlelight vigil, is beautiful. The DVD from Universal is fine, and the featurettes on Milk & on the film are short and interesting. It's sad to think that all these years later, there are still some who consider gays to be "perverts" and equate them with child molesters and draw a line between homosexuality and bestiality.



panzer the great & terrible	Jun 21 2009, 09:58 AM Post #2
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,352 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	My son told me I would love this movie and I did. Gravy, I disagree about the assassination sequence: thought it was the strongest thing Van Sant has done in a long time. His great talent is for the operatic, as Drugstore Cowboy proved years ago. I think he's our best living director after Erroll Morris -- there doesn't seem to be any subject he's scared to tackle.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Laughing Gravy	Jun 23 2009, 08:23 AM Post #3
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,070 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Sadly, White's much-derided "Twinkies defense" (he had gorged on junk food, which made him crazy) worked. Can you imagine somebody walking into city hall, pumping bullets into the mayor, reloading and blasting another politician, including several shots in the face, and ending up only doing five years???



panzer the great & terrible	Jun 23 2009, 11:36 AM Post #4
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,352 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	I don't understand the criminal justice system in these parts. Can you imagine the Twinkie defense working in Michigan? I sure can't. Trials here go haywire because many, many jurors hate the police. And why do they hate the police? Because the police kill people. They kill old folks. They kill women. They killed a nurse here last Summer, and why? She "had a gun." She wasn't using it; she wasn't pointing it at anybody; she just had one. Disgraceful. And why shoot to kill anyway? It's no big challenge to take out somebody half your size without doing that.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


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