Powerful

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Brilliant and touching

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Here's a movie I used to crawl up in bed (or easy chair) to like a good book repeatedly when I was young. I loved Torch Song Trilogy then and probably 20 years since I've seen it last, it holds up beautifully today. But, there is one thing that baffles me.Why on Earth was Anne Bancroft passed over for the 1988 Oscar Awards? She was brilliant here and that's not to say the others, like the absolutely hilarious Harvey Fierstein or very good Matthew Broderick, weren't deserving…but she literally stole every scene and ate up her role, in a good way.Sure, she was like my own mother, in regards to her stance and some of her words – just not the enormously vocal and flamboyant flair, and she was wrong in her bigotry, but she was excellent in her disapproving Jewish mother role.Not maybe – this is why I loved this movie as a young adult and literally watched it once a month or two for a couple of years: I was just coming out when I first got my hands on this and I could relate and root for and cheer and weep and ride right along with Fierstein's creation: Arnold Beckoff. He was a drag queen, I was not, but that was the one difference. He had a bottomless heart, insecure enough to allow others to control his life, spoke with a straight edged deadpan wit, looked for love over lust and kept his head up inside even when he continuously got knocked down. I felt – and still do, I was him.This movie's beautiful from beginning to end. The drama parts, the longing, the loves, that is. The comedy, lines and reactions are as equally entertaining. The two blended so well and moved us alongside Arnold's life and tribulations wonderfully.Torch Song Trilogy tells the tale of "performer" (well, drag queen) Arnold, living alone, afraid of his mother, approved by his brother and seeking his way in NYC by trying to be his own person when he's rejected in a time frame (the 1970s) when gays were just that.First he meets Ed, who's confused, somewhat straight but Arnold falls head of heels over. Then when that ends, he meets Alan who is the epitome of true love and an all around great guy. Then, Arnold finally meets his mother, metaphorically speaking. I believe that is the trilogy of the title. Oh, and Arnold adopts a son in there, too, and that might be his third love of his life…Honestly, I never tried to find true or deeper meaning in this film than what it meant to me just as I was coming out. Now, in 2013, I'm long past that. I still feel his plight, still laugh at the jokes and absolute uproarious banter and smart lines.I'm not sure if this movie could be for a wide audience, but I wish it would. For the open-minded people, for the just coming out, for the Jewish people struggling with anything…this is a splendid movie to cherish.

I was born, raised, and lived in New York City until I was forty, and I saw a lot of Broadway shows, but it has always been one of my great regrets that I never saw Harvey Fierstein's monumental play TORCH SONG TRILOGY, which he both wrote and starred in. So when I saw that a film version had been made, and wonder of wonders it starred Fierstein, I rushed out to see it. And I was not disappointed.In the interim I had read the play. On the stage, TST was an experimental piece with minimal sets, lots of overlapping dialogue (something that works well on the stage but is hard to do on film), and a running time of nearly four hours. So when I saw that the film's running time was just two hours, I prepared myself for a hack job. But Fierstein himself adapted his own play to the screen; I should have known better. The end result is, you might say, a "compressed" version of the play: Fierstein made a good many judicious cuts in the dialogue, leaving only the choicest bits, and the finished product shines like a well-cut diamond.TST tells the story of ten years in the life of Arnold Beckoff (Fierstein), a female impersonator in New York City with a romantic nature; surrounded by men looking for sex, Arnold is looking for love, and it can be cold out there in the big city.Yet he does find love, and more than once. The first time in the person of a *bisexual* schoolteacher named Ed Reese (winningly played by Brian Kerwin), who ultimately can't make up his mind which bed he wants to sleep in. Ed isn't a bad guy, but he is terrified of being gay and tries desperately to make a life with his girlfriend Laurel (Karen Young in a brilliant, funny-sad performance), in the end succeeding only in hurting both Laurel and Arnold, who drops him.Arnold's next love interest literally falls into his lap. Onstage at the club, Arnold is heckled by a bunch of young men who are very drunk, and one of them, upon being confronted, responds by passing out. Arnold takes him home to sleep it off. The young man, by name Alan Simon, barely out of his teens, is brilliantly played here by the indecently beautiful Matthew Broderick. Looking down at the sleeping boy, Arnold says, "If you have an IQ of over 30, then there is no God." When Alan awakens Arnold serves him breakfast, gives him directions to the subway, and locks himself in the bathroom until the kid leaves. But what he does not know is that Alan has developed a huge crush on Arnold, and he pursues him quite openly until Arnold's defenses crumble.Arnold's love life goes on with more than its share of triumphs and tragedies. Running on a parallel track is his relationship with his mother (Anne Bancroft, sensational as always), on the surface your typical New York Jewish Mother who hovers over her kids and has a gift for laying on the guilt. But there is more to her than that. Arnold loves her and is frustrated by her in equal measure; she has never accepted him for who he is and constantly makes references to the mythical *wife* he will *someday* have.Arnold's journey of love and loss and reconciliation climaxes with a final confrontation with his mother in which he finally lays down the law: "There's nothing I need from anyone except for love and respect and anyone who can't give me those two things has no place in my life!"Condensing a four hour play into a two hour movie seems an impossible task, but Fierstein and Company pull it off brilliantly, and the end product is a warm and winning film, often funny and sometimes tragic, but always real. And the best part is that Hollywood did not insist on putting a name star in the lead. The part was written by Fierstein for Fierstein because on some level Arnold IS Harvey, and it's perfect for his rubbery, funny face which reflects every emotion he feels, and while he starts out considering himself somewhat less than attractive, by the end of the film, he has gained considerable dignity and is almost handsome.A joy to watch from start to finish.

Award winning writer actor Harvey Fierstein portrays a shy and loveless cabaret artist who comes to terms with his bisexual lover, with the man of his dreams, and finally (in a heartbreaking confrontation sure to leave a lump in even the most stoic of throats) with his homophobic, harpy mother. The strengths of the film are those of any adapted stage play, but this isn't just another theater piece arbitrarily transferred to the screen. The original three acts have been married into one sustained narrative, with the cosmetic benefits of skillful editing and camera-work to help smooth the rougher transitions. Of course it's Fierstein himself who holds the film together, showing a wonderful, subtle blend of confidence and insecurity, with eloquent body language and expressive facial tics reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin, and with a voice best described as unique.

I was fortunate enough to see one of the 1222 performances of Torch Song Trilogy when it was on Broadway, a show written and starring Harvey Fierstein who with this success becomes a Brooklyn Jewish version of Noel Coward. Sad to say Torch Song Trilogy was tragically dated when it got to the screen because the AIDS epidemic had not occurred when Fierstein wrote this bittersweet tale of a gay life, and a man who refuses to conform to anyone else's ideas including his all powerful Jewish mother. And we know how formidable those folks can be.Fierstein is Arnold Beckoff who knew from early childhood he was a gay kid and took life as it came. In fact he became a drag entertainer of note and seems to be doing quite well at it, making a living, much to the consternation of his mother Anne Bancroft. I saw Estelle Getty do this on Broadway and I wouldn't want to split hairs on the differences between the two actresses. Like so many of her generation, Bancroft just thinks being gay is a phase that her son will grow out of. Of course by his mid thirties you'd think she would have a clue. As on Broadway the scenes between Mrs. Beckoff and her son have the real meat of the play.As you might have guessed Torch Song Trilogy had its beginnings in the gay cabaret scene and through the persistence of Harvey Fierstein it got to Broadway. On stage the various scenes which are more segmented than in the film version are punctuated by a cabaret singers doing various torch song ballads to put a coda on what the audience had just seen. Here the torch songs are relegated to background music, the best kind of background music to be sure. Harvey himself however does perform in his drag character.The one true love of his life is Brian Kerwin who can't quite accept himself as gay. He's comfortable being 'bisexual', but as Fierstein so accurately points out, he'd like to meet just one bisexual who is open with his boyfriends, but keeps his women a big old secret.Kerwin is always an interesting player to watch. He got his first notice as the hayseed deputy on the Sheriff Lobo series and he's spent the rest of his career making sure he was NEVER cast in that kind of part again. As the troubled love of Harvey's life, Kerwin certainly proves he's more than a hayseed. Because Kerwin won't be true to himself, Harvey looks for love elsewhere. Harvey's not capable of closeted behavior, the closet would be death for him.Matthew Broderick plays Alan the young male model who Harvey falls for and he's as winning here as he is in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In fact he's a gay Ferris Bueller who probably did spend time trying to get into adult gay clubs and knew all the places where they'd wink and let him in. His tragic end at the hands of a gang of homophobic street thugs is something I saw all too much of in my working life at Crime Victims Board. Torch Song Trilogy transfers quite well from the stage to the screen and with Harvey Fierstein helping with the transfer, we'd expect nothing less. He kept the film true to the vision of gay male life that he saw and lived. I still remember he and I were both witnesses at the gay rights hearings in New York City back when Torch Song Trilogy had just finished its Broadway run. His words there were among the most inspiring. So this review is dedicated to the author and star of Torch Song Trilogy who has never slackened in his dedication for Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Rights and gives of himself and his talents to his people. From your fellow Brooklynite Harvey, with love.