We're back! This week we're kicking off our second season by taking in the sights and studs of sunny California with William Higgins's THE BOYS OF VENICE . Taking the form of a sexual travelogue, THE BOYS OF VENICE was truly a breakthrough film that helped usher in a new look and style that would come to dominate the all-male screen for years to come — and introduce a new stable of superstar performers including Kip Noll, Eric Ryan, Derrick Stanton, and Scott Taylor. Over the course of the episo...
Jul 23, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 27
This week on the podcast, we're getting patriotic — or are we? — with a look at Rob Simple's 1972 film, AMERICAN CREAM. A satirical deconstruction of masculinity told in three unrelated loops, AMERICAN CREAM is among the stranger films to emerge from the early years of the genre. Over the course of this episode, we'll talk about the film's roots in experimental theatre, its (not so) mysterious creator, and how it actually managed to kill the power at Carnegie Hall. Also: we celebrate our one-yea...
Jul 02, 2021•52 min•Ep. 26
Tanned, sinewy, aloof — a few adjectives that only begin to describe Peter Berlin, the enigmatic star of Ignatio Rutkowski's 1973 film NIGHTS IN BLACK LEATHER. Described as "combining the camp machismo of the leather set and [Berlin's] own sense of comedy" by Foxylady magazine, NIGHTS IN BLACK LEATHER takes us on a sexual travelogue of San Francisco with our Teutonic lead star as guide. Dressed to the nines in his trademark taut leather look, Berlin's romp through honky-tonk S/M bars, the wooded...
Jun 18, 2021•59 min•Ep. 25
Happy Pride! We're kicking off June with a double-header: Arch Brown's LOVE THY NEIGHBOR (1974) and Zachary Youngblood's CELEBRATION (1978/1982). Although neither of these films may be a classic of the genre, both include vital footage of early Pride parades in New York City and San Francisco, pieces of queer life in 70s that you simply can't find anywhere else. We consider what makes Pride such a great setting for gay porn, discuss the importance of sound editing in both sex and non-sex scenes ...
Jun 04, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 24
"It began at an airport…" This week on the show — and themed around the Memorial Day holiday — we present Jason Sato and Nick Eliot's 1973 drama, BROTHERS. The film explores the relationship between homosexual Vince, and his younger — and straight — brother Rick, who has just returned home on leave from Vietnam. Plagued by "ugly thoughts on his mind", Vince finds himself struggling to deal with a love that dare not speak its name. Over the course of this episode, we'll dive into the UCLA Film Sc...
May 21, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 23
"Have you ever wondered about truckers… or about how men get it on… with each other?" asks the trailer for KANSAS CITY TRUCKING CO . , Joe Gage's 1976 story of a straight trucker whose consciousness is raised on his first cross-country haul to Los Angeles. A truly landmark film, KANSAS CITY TRUCKING CO . had a seismic impact on gay male visual and sexual culture, establishing a new vision of blue collar masculinity virtually overnight — along with a pair of new icons to go with it. Over the cour...
May 07, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 22
In June 1968, Los Angeles' Park Theatre held the world's first gay film festival. Mixed in the usual works by figures like Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, and Andy Milligan was a new name: Pat Rocco. Though he'd only started making films that year, Rocco would quickly become the vanguard of a new, openly-gay film movement and a crucial figure in the history of gay liberation. This week on the show, we're taking a look at Rocco's fourth theatrical film program, PAT ROCCO DARES. Consisting of a number ...
Apr 23, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 21
This week on the show we're taking it to the stage with "the all-male hit of 1981," Steve Scott's PERFORMANCE . Featuring a bevy of West Coast superstars and up-and-comers, PERFORMANCE follows the planning and production of an all-male burlesk extravaganza, culminating with Nick Rodgers' unforgettable (and absurd) KISS strip routine. Over the course of the episode, we'll dig into America's strange obsession with male strippers, the backstories of each of the performers, and the unexpected things...
Apr 09, 2021•55 min•Ep. 20
This week on the podcast, we're taking a look at the sole big-budget feature from the filmmaker Christopher Rage once described as being "the man who practically invented gay porn," Arch Brown. THE NIGHT BEFORE tells the story of Hank, a slacker with no real ambition in life other than to meet all the interesting people in New York City. And that he does — or does he? — when he runs into Paul one day in Central Park. Over the course of the episode, we'll dive into Arch Brown's background, this f...
Mar 26, 2021•56 min•Ep. 19
This week on the podcast, we're finally taking a look at the film that set the gay world on fire: Fred Halsted's L.A. PLAYS ITSELF . Described by its creator as a sort of 'confessional yin-and-yang,' the film's highly controversial emphasis on sadomasochism and ambivalent tone drew as much condemnation as it did applause, making Halsted a legitimate gay icon virtually overnight. Over the course of our discussion we'll dive into Halsted's backstory, the role that astrology had in the film's produ...
Mar 12, 2021•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 18
This week on the podcast we're wrapping up a month of grand romance with Gorton Hall's 1974 epic, ZOOMERANG! The first film to be shot in the exciting screen process known as Ultravision, ZOOMERANG! tells the story of Gary and Jack, a middle-class gay couple living in domestic bliss. All that changes when Jack's old 'basically straight' tennis partner throws a wrench in the relationship by visiting on his way through town. Will the couple still be together by the time he leaves? Steeped in sumpt...
Feb 26, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 17
This week on the podcast — and just in time for Valentine's Day — we're taking a look at Francis Ellie's 1976 "romantic triangle of triumph and tragedy," KISS TODAY GOODBYE. George Payne stars as Charlie, a construction worker who finds himself having a torrid affair with Bill, an executive at his firm. Will Charlie and Bill find happiness together, or will outside forces tear them apart? Over the course of the episode we'll dive into the three (yes, three) people who were Francis Ellie, the fil...
Feb 12, 2021•53 min•Ep. 16
This week on the podcast, we're taking a look at the film that gave notorious "Master of Sleaze" Christopher Rage his nickname: his sole 16mm feature, SLEAZE. Hyped in advertising as being "ain't no LOVE STORY," SLEAZE documents the initiations and going-ons of an underground, 42nd Street sex club. With a cast of unknowns and heavy hitters like Casey Donovan, Daniel Holt, and Scorpio; and a visual and musical aesthetic that more closely resembles no wave than it does glossy, early 80s porn, SLEA...
Jan 29, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 15
We begin a new year of the podcast with Arthur J. Bressan Jr.'s 1985 film, JUICE. Bressan's final adult film (and penultimate feature), JUICE is a sweet movie about 48 cruisey, humpy hours in New York City marked with a deadline. Michael Christopher plays Jim, a photographer who's about to lose his job at New York's hottest gay magazine if he can't find new faces by the end of the weekend. Will his photos make the grade? And what about the angelic runner he keeps eying in Central Park? In this e...
Jan 15, 2021•57 min•Ep. 14
It's a Fistmas miracle! As a special stocking stuffer for you, we have an interview with Adam Baran, filmmaker and founder of the long-running New York sex party, NYC Inferno. Over the course of our discussion, we'll be talking about Adam's first encounters with NEW YORK CITY INFERNO (Episode 12), the ways he's been able to evoke the film's era while avoiding nostalgia, and maintaining community in the age of COVID.
Dec 25, 2020•28 min•Ep. 14
Merry Fistmas! On our last episode of 2020, we'll be exploring a film about shafts and the working class, Jack Deveau's 'blue collar blue movie,' ROUGH TRADES. A deliberate attempt by Hand in Hand Films to scale back production costs, ROUGH TRADES is a simple story about one music producer and a whole lot of handymen. Over the course of our discussion, we'll dig into Hand in Hand's disastrous attempt at expanding into France, the film's farcical tone, and the eternal question of just how much of...
Dec 25, 2020•53 min•Ep. 13
This week we're kicking off Fistmas season with our very first French film: Marvin Merkins' NEW YORK CITY INFERNO . Straddling the line between narrative and travelogue, the film tells the story of Jérôme, a Frenchman who descends into New York's hedonistic leather scene to find his missing lover, Paul. Shot at several legendary New York gay spaces — including the notorious Mineshaft — NEW YORK CITY INFERNO is a true classic of the genre and perhaps the greatest film to come out of France's gay ...
Dec 11, 2020•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 12
This week on the podcast, we're rebounding from our last episode with a true classic of the genre, Tom DeSimone's 1979 film, THE IDOL. Heavily promoted upon its release as being "the motion picture you've waited a long time to see," THE IDOL tells the story of Gary Evans, a college track star with a secret he took to the grave. But what was that secret — and who knew the real Gary? Listen as we discuss the fine line between romance and schmaltz; Tom DeSimone's long history both inside and out of...
Nov 27, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 11
This week on the show, we're taking a look at two... out there... films built around iconic — and long gone — San Francisco cruising spots: The Slot Hotel in Mother Goose's ROOM 328 and the Spartan Cinema in Fritz Gemein's HONORABLE JONES COMES OUT. Over the course of our discussion, we'll go into the history behind each of these locations, the mysterious identity of Mother Goose, and the real scandal that inspired HONORABLE JONES. If you want more, be sure to subscribe to our Patreon for a spec...
Nov 13, 2020•59 min•Ep. 10
We wrap up our month of horror-themed titles with perhaps the spookiest of them all: Peter de Rome's nightmarishly psychedelic 1976 film, THE DESTROYING ANGEL. Tim Kent stars as Caswell Campbell, a seminary student torn between the cloth and the flesh and plagued by visions of his more endowed doppelgänger. As he loses himself in hallucinogenic drugs and increasingly debauched gay sex while on sabbatical, will his crisis of faith bring about his end? Equal parts Edgar Allan Poe, magic mushrooms,...
Oct 30, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 9
Our month of horror-themed titles continues with quite possibly the only film to connect Agnès Varda, Brigid Berlin, genderfuck drag superstars the Cycle Sluts, the Accu-Jac, and Alice Coltrane: Michael Zen's FALCONHEAD . Often described as a forerunner of Clive Barker's HELLRAISER , FALCONHEAD is an occult-tinged nightmare profiling the depths of gay narcissism and self-love. This is a film born out of a very specific time in Los Angeles' queer arts scene — practically everyone involved has a b...
Oct 16, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 8
It's officially October, which means things are going to get spooky on Ask Any Buddy . Over the course of this month, we'll be taking a look at three horror-themed films, starting with Roger Earl's glitzy 1983 feature, GAYRACULA . Falcon sensation Tim Kramer stars as Gaylord Young, a young vampire with a suspicious tanline out for revenge against the villainous (and promiscuous) Marquis de Suede. Will Gaylord find true love and be freed of his curse? Over the course of our discussion, we'll dive...
Oct 02, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 7
This week on the podcast we move back into the 70s to take a look at the film that made Al Parker one of the biggest gay sex symbols of his era: Steve Scott's 1979 romantic drama, INCHES. Al Parker stars as Doug, a college student who suddenly finds his world upended and his belief in monogamy challenged when his older lover Lee (played by Parker's real-life partner) abruptly leaves him for another man. INCHES is the first of nearly a dozen Steve Scott films that we'll be talking about over the ...
Sep 18, 2020•59 min•Ep. 6
On the fifth episode of the ASK ANY BUDDY podcast, we're focusing on the movie that's "exactly what you think it is"... Joe Gage's sleazy, 1981 classic HANDsome . Inspired by raunchy phone sex fantasies and Gage's own move to the East Coast, HANDsome is a cross-country trek that's also unintentionally the first safer sex film. Over the course of this episode we will draw from an on-set journal describing the film's production and plenty of other fun anecdotes from Gage and the film's stars....
Sep 04, 2020•1 hr 14 min
This week on the podcast, we'll be taking a look at Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.'s 1979 romantic drama, Forbidden Letters . The film has recently been restored by the Bressan Project and Vinegar Syndrome, and is due to be released to VOD on PinkLabel.TV on August 22nd. Forbidden Letters tells the story of Larry and Richard, two lovers torn apart by the harsh realities and homophobia of the prison system. The film, which was invited to play the 1980 edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, ea...
Aug 21, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 4
On this week's show, we'll be looking at one of cinema's more outrageous vanity projects: David L. Allen's semi-autobiographical 1973 epic, THE LIGHT FROM THE SECOND STORY WINDOW. Originally running a full three hours long, the film — adapted from Allen's own novel — tells the story of Lee Jones, a young man who arrives in Hollywood seeking stardom, only to be forced into prostitution, sex films, and drug addiction on his way to the top. There's almost too much to talk about this one, but during...
Aug 07, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 3
For our second episode, we'll be taking a look at Jack Deveau's 1974 film "about fifty very compulsive men," DRIVE . This early feature from Deveau almost defies description, blending camp, raunch, the avant-garde, and a surprisingly biting commentary on gay promiscuity to create a spy film like no other. Over the course of our discussion, we'll talk about the film's origins, its many ties to New York's gay scene, its knotty gender politics, and the history of fisting on film....
Jul 24, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 2
On this inaugural episode of the Ask Any Buddy podcast, we take a look at Wakefield Poole's 1977 film, TAKE ONE. Described by the filmmaker as a 'docufantasy,' TAKE ONE is both a love note to San Francisco's Nob Hill Cinema and an exploration of the fantasies of eight gay men. Over the course of our discussion, we'll talk about our interests in the genre and gay history in general, the film's genesis and connections to seminal queer documentaries like WORD IS OUT: STORIES OF SOME OF OUR LIVES an...
Jul 16, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 1
