Gay Sex in the 70s

A collage of provocative material—found footage, excerpts from low-budget porn movies, stills, and contemporary interviews—Gay Sex in the 70s aims to document the era of sexual liberation and excess between the 1969 incident at New York's Stonewall Club that sparked the gay rights movement and the initial reports of AIDS in 1981. Producer-director Joseph Lovett's approach is to overlay personal reminiscences from participants in the unrestrained sexual activity of the period with photographic evidence from the time, effectively communicating the energy and exuberance of the 1970s footage shot on and in New York piers, bars, beaches and bathhouses, as well as the nostalgia felt by the interviewees. But while effectively championing the era for helping to end the openly repressive treatment of gays, the picture also touches on the ravages of AIDS, yet never quite manages to balance its free-spirited celebration with its more somber comments. Still, as a profile of an historically important and fascinating—and in some ways still startling—era, Gay Sex in the 70s is instructive and at times affecting. Recommended, overall. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)