It took 40 years after Victim before a gay sex scene was shown in mainstream cinema with anything approaching the candour with which heterosexual sex is now routinely displayed. However much you shuffle the pack, the man with the gun and the girl with the pretty hair-do always seem to come back to the top.
Indeed, while Hollywood actors have become accustomed of late to wearing their political liberalism on their sleeves, the average movie release still draws on visions of gender and social relations that were probably already unfashionable at the dawn of the iron age. While lovers of the cinematic arts are used to seeing the world and its web of dreams, fears and desires reflected on the flickering screen, when it comes to politics, and above all sexual politics, the medium has for many proved a disappointment. It was the first film in which the quintessential cinematic line "I love you" found itself being addressed to one man by another, and in which therefore the emotional lives of gay men were represented as being in sync with heterosexual "normality" – rather than, as was usual, as emanating from a seedy, topsy-turvy world bearing no discernible relation to the feelings and lives of "the rest of us." In this respect, the course of Bogarde's career wasn't the only thing altered irrevocably by the film – although Bogarde, who never publicly came out as gay, always maintained there was nothing autobiographical in his performance – for Victim is credited in part for paving the way for the Sexual Offences Act of 1967, ending the blanket proscription of sex between men that had existed in British legislation since 1885. When it came out in 1961, Victim, directed by Basil Dearden, provoked responses of disgust from the press, public and even members of its own production crew.
But then he signed up to play the part of Melville Farr, a gay barrister who decides to expose a gang who are blackmailing him with evidence of an illegal homosexual attachment, at the cost of his career, reputation and marriage. The actor now best remembered for his roles in tense studies of society's hidden underbelly had before then been famous as the heart-throb star of unchallenging comedies and romances, the staple, sugar-coated fare so essential to propping up the uneasy peace of 1950s normalcy. When you’re done going through this list, check out the best LGBTQ movies on Netflix as well as the best LGBTQ films to stream right now on multiple services.In 1960, the British housewife's favourite pin-up, Dirk Bogarde, made a decision that would all but destroy his existing career. If you’re looking to engage with the LGBTQ+ experience, we’ve curated a list of the best LGBTQ movies on Amazon Prime, from marvelous musicals to essential documentaries. Amazon Prime has been building out a library of LGBTQ+ films for a few years and has bolstered that library with some entries from other studios - and it remains to be seen how the library will expand with the recently completed MGM merger. Fortunately, streaming services are making it easier to demonstrate this increased representation and provide opportunities for viewers to expand their horizons and practice some empathy.
Hollywood has long resisted calls for more equitable, realistic representation in film, but after paying the piper over the past few years, content producers are finally beginning to catch up.