Drifter
Just finished watching "Drifter" released by Kino Lorber on blu-ray.
Trying to get a movie about a bi-sexual hustler into main stream, commercial theaters back in the mid-1970s was an impossible task, yet Pat Rocco, an independent movie producer who documented gay life during the late 1960s thru the 1980s wanted to give it a try with his third feature length movie "Drifter" which is supposed by be based on the novel of the same title by Edward Middleton - I couldn't find any information on the book, so it might have been self-published or published by a publisher of gay pulp novels at the time.
Pat Rocco was born Pasquale Vincent Serrapica in 1934 to an Italian-American family in Brooklyn, New York. As a charismatic, openly gay youth, Rocco pursued a career in entertainment in Southern California, singing and appearing on televised talent shows. A job as a photographer of male nude studies turned into a successful mail-order business of his own 8mm and 16mm films. Shown publicly for the first time in 1968 in L.A.’s Park Theatre, Rocco’s films were widely embraced by the gay community and favorably reviewed by mainstream press. The films were ecstatic affirmations of gay love and identity, and were groundbreaking at a time when homosexual activity remained illegal.
But in order to succeed, a movie must tell a gripping tale and "Drifter" or Drift, as he likes to call himself, has an emotional and physical aversion to sex no matter if he is with a man or woman. He can't commit to anyone and there is no compelling backstory as to why he is an emotionally stunted man-child.
Now as for Rocco wanting to show gay life and gay culture in a positive light, playing into the stereotypes of the time of gay men as psychologically scarred men who have mental health issues is a rather odd choice to show homosexuality as normal by a gay film maker of that time. If anything Rocco is showing that the gay lifestyle wasn't a healthy lifestyle.
"Drifter" suffered the fate of most independently produced movies of that era. It was hardly seen by anyone an was only rescued from the dustbin of obscurity when Kino Lorber licensed the print from the UCLA Library's Film and Print archive 50 years after its initial release.
"Drifter" is not a great movie and I just didn't see the cultural significance behind it.
Not Recommended.
One and a half stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Drifter-Kino-C...
Trying to get a movie about a bi-sexual hustler into main stream, commercial theaters back in the mid-1970s was an impossible task, yet Pat Rocco, an independent movie producer who documented gay life during the late 1960s thru the 1980s wanted to give it a try with his third feature length movie "Drifter" which is supposed by be based on the novel of the same title by Edward Middleton - I couldn't find any information on the book, so it might have been self-published or published by a publisher of gay pulp novels at the time.
Pat Rocco was born Pasquale Vincent Serrapica in 1934 to an Italian-American family in Brooklyn, New York. As a charismatic, openly gay youth, Rocco pursued a career in entertainment in Southern California, singing and appearing on televised talent shows. A job as a photographer of male nude studies turned into a successful mail-order business of his own 8mm and 16mm films. Shown publicly for the first time in 1968 in L.A.’s Park Theatre, Rocco’s films were widely embraced by the gay community and favorably reviewed by mainstream press. The films were ecstatic affirmations of gay love and identity, and were groundbreaking at a time when homosexual activity remained illegal.
But in order to succeed, a movie must tell a gripping tale and "Drifter" or Drift, as he likes to call himself, has an emotional and physical aversion to sex no matter if he is with a man or woman. He can't commit to anyone and there is no compelling backstory as to why he is an emotionally stunted man-child.
Now as for Rocco wanting to show gay life and gay culture in a positive light, playing into the stereotypes of the time of gay men as psychologically scarred men who have mental health issues is a rather odd choice to show homosexuality as normal by a gay film maker of that time. If anything Rocco is showing that the gay lifestyle wasn't a healthy lifestyle.
"Drifter" suffered the fate of most independently produced movies of that era. It was hardly seen by anyone an was only rescued from the dustbin of obscurity when Kino Lorber licensed the print from the UCLA Library's Film and Print archive 50 years after its initial release.
"Drifter" is not a great movie and I just didn't see the cultural significance behind it.
Not Recommended.
One and a half stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Drifter-Kino-C...
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