US Mall 1 - Very Natural Thing

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Manufacturer: Water Bearer Films
Starring: Robert McLane, Curt Gareth, Bo White, Anthony McKay, Marilyn Meyers
Directed By: Christopher Larkin

Average Customer Rating:

Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786304079904
Format: Color
ISBN: 6304079907
Label: Water Bearer Films
Manufacturer: Water Bearer Films
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Water Bearer Films
Release Date: 1998-11-11
Running Time: 80
Studio: Water Bearer Films
Theatrical Release Date: 1973

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Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: Great slice of gay NYC circa 1973
Comment: This movie has actual footage and interviews filmed at the 1973 Gay Pride/Christopher Street West footage. It also has footage filmed inside the Club Baths and the disco Sanctuary.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Everyone is searching for something
Comment: For the era in which this film was made, it is one I would consider pretty good overall, but by today's standards, It is not something I really want to watch again. It is a rather confusing story and doesn't deliver on the promises it's description would imply. Perhaps a second viewing would fill in some gaps and shed a little more light on some of this. The acting is alright, but could be better. The content is disappointing and the lighting throughout is not very good. It does have a few high spots and the actors aren't bad looking, and the ending IS surprisingly pretty good. I was not impressed real well with the casting on this one, and felt they could have found better people to fit many of the parts. It does deliver a little nudity which gives it more appeal, but also done tastefully as not to turn the film into a porn flick. It starts out with a whole lot more appeal than it ends with, and kinda loses steam as it goes along. This is an openly exposed look at some of the difficulties of the gay life, and finding love, versus shallow sexual fulfillment. It is also a historic look back at gay life in the 1970's which exposes a few differences to gay life today and how much it has changed. It does have some fun and entertaining moments here and there, especially in the ending. I would have to say I really do like this film up to a certain point, but there's just something missing that makes it a little disappointing as well. In it's time, this film was probably satisfying to it's audience, but I think maybe it's time is too long gone, and we've progressed today to much better films, which puts this one in it's own little time capsule, making it more suitable for history, than entertainment. I'll give it one thumb up and rate it with three stars, but I honestly wouldn't recommend buying it unless you just can't find anything else. If you're looking for something special about this being the "25th Anniversary Edition", you can stop looking. It is different from the original only in format as it is now on DVD. I found nothing else about it to differentiate it from the original release. Pretty good, but pretty disappointing overall.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Excellent In Spite Of Dated Elements
Comment: The story itself is rather ordinary for a gay film, but the fact that it was done at all in 1973 is extraordinary. And the film captures the time and place very well. It is quite well-acted, with the late Robert Joel playing an former monk who decides to find love and commitment in New York City. But finding the love he longs for turns out to be more complicated than he imagined. This is a real blast from the past, before the days of gym-toned bodies, when guys were still wearing shag haircuts. A must view for fans of gay cinema.

Customer Rating:

Summary: 1973! The "original" Gay Pride film still relevant today!
Comment: This is a film with extraordinary vision as it was way ahead of its time. 1973... the gay rights movement that started at Stonewall was only 4 years old. Gays, in general, were still mostly "closeted" with their own underground society. Psychologists had just a few years earlier declared homosexuality not to be a personality disorder. Homosexuality as a topic for discussion was a new frontier for most Americans.... So here comes a film depicting gay men in an in-depth way involving their feelings, their relationships, their social interactions- full frontal nudity- and prophetically, the main character, David, as a priest who leaves the church after coming to terms with his sexuality. All "taboo" subjects in mainstream America involved at the time with Richard Nixon and the Watergate hearings. It is amazing that this film was made in 1973 and that the producers were able to get actors with the courage to participate in the making of such a film.

The storyline, in a nutshell, shows David wanting to commit to Mark. Mark does, hesitantly, due to his commitment-phobia and having a different value system, which finally drives a wedge between them and ends the relationship. David goes through the emotional ringer and then meets Jason. Jason wants to commit after a time, but David has become jaded about relationships- and commitment-phobic- and doesn't want anything more from Jason than a relationship where they just "want to be together. In a sense, David evolves into a "Mark," and Jason comes along as the new "David" about to get the same treatment that David originally did.

I liken A Very Natural Thing" to be a primitive "All Over The Guy." The story shows a vicious cycle about relationships that both gay and straight people can relate to and presents some universal truths about how gays feel about themselves being a minority group and their self-destructive tendencies due to limitations society puts on them. These are circumstance that are still very relevant today.

The ending of the film is very open-ended and doesn't resolve any of the issues the movie brings up as there are no answers for the questions this film raises. That is actually what gives the film relevancy today given the current debate on same-sex marriage (especially with the flick's marriage scene), which has the potential of breaking the "glass ceiling" on the limitations of how gay relationships can evolve and how gays can feel about themselves.

Ok! The hair styles and clothes are dated, but it's not too hard to get past. Just concentrate on the characters and the storyline/dialogue in relation to the plots you see in most current films and today's current events and this film will feel as relevant and "run-of-the-mill" as any film made in 2003, but very "visionary" and "ground-breaking" for 1973!

Customer Rating:

Summary: A pioneering effort with integrity
Comment: The criminal presidential administration of Richard Nixon had pushed the country as close to civil implosion as it had been since the Civil War, and the Stonewall raid was only five years ago in 1974 when "A Very Natural Thing" was released. Largely because of the far larger civil crisis ignited by Watergate and a virtually non-existent gay rights movement, it is little surprise that "A Very Natural Thing" didn't gain the attention it deserved. While it wasn't the first gay-themed film, it was the first to depict gays as real people with real feelings and dreams and didn't degrade homosexuals as a couple of contemporary films like "The Boys From Brazil" and "The Boys in the Band." Here, David (Robert Joel), a priest, is forced to abandon his service to God because of his homosexuality. Enter Mark (Curt Gareth), and he and David develop a relationship. But it's imperiled by their differences about just what a relationship should be about. As David and Mark continue to disagree and, as a result, begin to drift apart emotionally, David meets Jason (Bo White), but the former's fear of emotional distance threatens a hoped-for relationship with Jason. We won't give the solution away other than it is honest and speaks to contemporary relationships. The film does feature some explicit sex scenes with frontal nudity, but the scenes are not gratuitous and come off as being integral to the plot. Considering gay films were not in vogue in 1974, "A Very Natural Thing" is scantily produced with less-than-perfect picture quality and sound. That aside, the film truly is classic and still relevant in its honest and respectful treatment of gays are real people with real feelings and real dreams.