If there's one thing I'm not ready for,
it is five screaming queens singing Happy Birthday.
Set.
“The Boys in the Band” is about
a group of nine men who assemble in an apartment
to celebrate
a birthday for Harold.
Happy birthday.
It takes place in 1968
right before Stonewall, at a time
when gay identity
was still something
that was not fully integrated
in many people.
No, it's the delivery boy from the bakery.
Ask him if he's got any hot cross buns!
The story is so
layered, and there's so much there.
Good evening.
It's really an exploration of
the psychological dynamics between them
as influenced by the sociopolitical climate of the time.
This old college friend of mine is in town,
but he's straight.
Do you really think he doesn't know about you?
My character's Alan McCarthy.
Alan comes in and disrupts everybody's good time.
I couldn't care less what people do
as long as they don't do it in public or,
try to force their ways on the whole damned world.
Micheal's challenge is he's broke
and he tends to spend his money frivolously.
All stemming from the fact that he's so
deeply still conflicted with who he really is.
Happy birthday to you.
Blow out the candles, Mary, and make a wish.
There's something for everybody in here.
It's a definite kaleidoscope of different kinds of gay men.
Am I stunning?
Donald is trying to figure out how to ... to live.
What are you so depressed about?
I mean, other than the usual everything.
Hank's kind of an outsider to this group.
The reason that he is part of this group is because
he cares for Larry so much.
I love you.
Hank, why did you do that?
Because I do love him and I don't care who knows it.
Larry's the only one
who's in a relationship in this group of friends.
So Larry struggles with monogamy.
Who are you calling?
I refuse to forfeit my turn, it's my turn and I'm taking it.
Emory is a very authentic
human being operating
in a world that doesn't know how to deal with that.
He's a very effeminate man in 1968.
He's an effemanite man of color
and he's in a world that wants to be super heteronormative.
He is a proud out gay man
and a lot of his gay peers can't really handle that.
Ready? I'll be your topless cocktail waitress.
Please, spare us the sight of your sagging tits.
I think Bernard is very comfortable in his own skin.
and the fact that he is two minorities.
He's gay. He's black.
But he's also an intellectual
and he's in New York City.
I know this game you're playing.
Harold's someboy who's filled with self-loathing.
He knows himself very well and he knows
who he is and how he moves through the world
pretty unapologetically.
Are you good in bed?
I try to show a little affection.
My character is Cowboy
who is a hustler.
Keeps me from feeling like such a whore.
Cowboy's main challenge is a sense of belonging
and having any kind of real community.
Doing this revival and telling this story again,
it's been so long and we have come so far
and you can be a better version of who you are
by knowing what came before, who came before.
I hope that this will stand the test of time and
be something we can look back on and go
we were there and now we're here and
let's thank the people who lived through that
and got us to this place.
I hope this film
provokes a conversation about how much has changed
and how much still hasn't.
What's so fucking funny?
You remember life.
Life is a goddamned laugh riot.
There's nothing quite as good as feeling sorry
for yourself, is there?
Nothing.
This is gonna be fun.