A flaming queen prancing

Regarding Frank Ripploh’s Taxi Zum Klo (1981)—a classic of queer cinema about a gay schoolteacher living in Berlin at the dawn of the HIV/AIDS pandemic—The Siskel & Ebert Review begins somewhat predictably: by highlighting one of the scenes most relatable to straight people, in which Ripploh’s semi-autobiographical Frank fusses about feeling controlled by his homemaking lover, the sweet Bernd (Bernd Broaderup), over a dinner of baked chicken. “That’s exactly what drives me nuts, that you always work so hard,” complains Frank, clearly feeling himself to be the victim of a butch nag.

When the clip ends, Gene Siskel gives us a sympathetic been there expression. “A lot of couples in the movies have had that kind of argument,” he observes.

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