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Bonus video! Al Pacino, secret gay ally??? (Patreon)

Published:
2025-03-09 16:00:35
Edited:
2025-03-15 04:44:34
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

When you think of great queer allies in Hollywood, Al Pacino may not be the first name that springs to mind. But it turns out that he not only had a surprisingly progressive attitude towards LGBTQ+ folks, going back decades ... but he secretly did some very important charitable work on behalf of queer lives.

I've got the details in this week's bonus video plus a look ahead at my next video -- about a real-life queer bank robber!

Also, we started watching Dog Day Afternoon on last weekend's livestream, and we'll be wrapping it up today & watching some making-of specials. Join us at noon pacific here: https://twitch.tv/mattbaume 

Backup link in case the video embed doesn't work: https://youtu.be/qCPsXXJoxLY

Files

Bonus video! Al Pacino, secret gay ally???

When you think of great queer allies in Hollywood, Al Pacino may not be the first name that springs to mind. But it turns out that he not only had a surprisingly progressive attitude towards LGBTQ+ folks, going back decades ... but he secretly did some very important charitable work on behalf of queer lives. I've got the details in this week's bonus video plus a look ahead at my next video -- about a real-life queer bank robber!

Comments

Wendy Hopper

I was really surprised to hear that bad characterization of Al Pacino after reading his autobiography. He seemed really humble in that book, telling some good stories on himself and not seeming self aggrandizing. I wonder if what really bugged the guy who was mad is that (according to the book anyway) Al could be sticky if he didn't think that the lines were right for the character, etc.

mattbaume

I think that's very likely too! He's so devoted to finding the character that I can see it being a little annoying to a director who (perhaps) feels that he's the only one who should be making creative decisions.

Jim

As far as Playboy Magazine and Hefner go, they were fairly gay supportive back in the day.

Darren Simon

Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman? The movie didn't come out until 1985, the book comes out in 1976 and the setting for the story is the 1970s. Also is Molina a trans character or not? It seems modern reviews of the book have the character as "gender fluid." Just discovered Pixote got a restoration. Similar, albeit, more real movie of this genre where marginalized people are pushed into the dangerous nexus of crime and darkness.

Trevor MacIsaac

There just isn't that much in terms of Transgender characters from the 1970s, and even less that would be considered good representations. There were high profile trash movies like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) which featured Z-Man, a trans man who goes on to brutally kill a bunch of characters at the end of the film, and then there's whatever the hell Myra Breckinridge (1970), was. In fact, if you want to have a good laugh, I would advise you all to watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=spzGWwxY9rM There was also 1972's "A Reflection of Fear", where the main character's identity is trotted out to make an audience gasp in the last few minutes, similar to Sleepaway Camp (1983) (or - spoiler alert - last year's Conclave). There were pretty much no American movies that had trans characters as the lead, unless you consider something like the immortal Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) or Divine portraying a women in Female Trouble (1974). There were some fulsome depictions of transgender characters in Europe though, such as Germany's In a Year of 13 Moons (1978), Spain's Change of Sex (1977) and Britains I Want What I Want (1972). Honestly, maybe the best single example of trans representation from an American films, is interestingly enough from another Al Pacino film "...And Justice for All" (most famous for the heavily mocked line: "You're out of order! You're out of order! The whole damn trial is out of order!). In this film, Al is a lawyer who is defending a young person named Ralph Agee who is a cross-dresser (to use the parlance of the time) accused of robbery. It's a relatively small role in the film, and Ralph meets with a sad end, but he doesn't come off as a bad person, unlike most of the other American depictions. On a sort of side-note, I've been kinda of fascinated with retconning of Lambert from Alien (1979) as a transwomen. in Aliens (1986), in the scene were Ripley is being questioned about the loss of her ship, it's showing the crew's bios behind her, and Lambert's reveals that she was a Despin (?) convert male to female. This was only seen when the high resolution DVD of Aliens was released, many years after it was shown in theatres, but it was apparently there from the beginning, which means it is canon. So, I guess Lambert could be one possible answer to the best trans representation in the 1970s, although it was never hinted at the in the first 1979 film. https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/alien-made-history-not-noticed.html

claire bee

Okay, this isn’t exactly what you were asking for: it’s TV rather than film, and the 60s rather than the 70s; also, it’s not absolutely definite that this is a trans character, as it’s possible to interpret the punchline as meaning that the operation was performed unethically without informed consent. But if that’s the case, why would she be wearing a very feminine beehive hairdo? She must have had that before she walked in; they’re plastic surgeons, not hairdressers. So I think it’s probable that she just had wanted a somewhat different kind of look than what she ended up with. Anyway, for the few seconds that she’s on screen, she doesn’t come across as either evil or pathetic (in fact she seems quite calm and self-possessed), and while there is a joke, it doesn’t feel to me like she’s the butt of it exactly. I have no idea whether this is useful to you or not, but I’m sending you the link just in case it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz9vpefl9yg

Julie

This motivated me to finally watch Dog Day Afternoon (I'd been avoiding it for a long time because of Chris Sarandon playing a trans woman - while I still don't like cis men playing trans women in films, I do understand why that choice was made considering the time period) and WOW. What an incredible film. I'm glad I finally watched it. I'm sure you've already read this article since it's pretty easy to find (I accessed it directly from Wojtowicz's Wikipedia page), but for anyone else interested, this Village Voice article from a week after the actual heist is absolutely fascinating. Forget a two-hour movie, you could make a whole 8-episode prestige TV miniseries out of this one bank robbery. https://www.villagevoice.com/the-bank-robbery-that-would-become-dog-day-afternoon/

Sky

Thank you for the recommendation to watch Dog Day Afternoon. What surprised me so much is how the film treats everyone with compassion while still being critical.

Allan Mott

Has anyone suggested the character of Little Horse played by Robert Little Star in LITTLE BIG MAN? They're a Two Spirits/Hemaneh/trans character who belongs to the Cheyenne tribe that raises Dustin Hoffman after his family is killed. We see them as both a child and later all grown up. I've always felt, though people are free to disagree, that the film treats them very gently and even includes narration from Hoffman explaining that they are a respected member of the community with a very important role in their traditions. There is a scene where they invite Hoffman to go to bed with them but its more sweet than mocking and I find their response when he says no to be genuinely moving.

Liz Hamill

This is fascinating. Recently became a patron and I’m just so glad I did. You do fabulous work. Feels like a really meaningful time to be doing this kind of queer history keeping and I’m grateful to have scholars like you doing it.

That Lana Lady

Frustratingly this is another character that was popularized in the 70s, but not put on film until 1982. The World According to Garp gave my first look at a Transwoman, in John Lithgow’s Roberta Muldoon.

Zardogs! Zardogs!

That has been on my list of movies to get around to someday for way too long. Maybe this will finally bump it up the list.