Beefcake

Rating:
Summary: nice film, wrong ratio
Review: Four stars for the film, no stars for the DVD. What I absolutely do not get is why this film is presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The theatrical release was widescreen; the DVD should at the very least contain the film in it's original form. A missed chance.

Rating:
Summary: Must have--maybe
Review: I know that about 80% of the people who review anything for Amazon use the phrase "must have" if they really like something, so I wish I could think of something new to say. But this is a must have only if you like these corny old photos of guys in posing straps. I happen to like them very much. This is the first DVD I've bought. It may be the last, since I find them rather expensive and I can rent them or borrow them anyway. But I'm very glad I bought this one, because I have a feeling that my local rental places aren't going to stock it. It's an amazingly good production, and the bonus--actual Mizer films--are a treasure that for me make the DVD worth the price just by themselves.

Rating:
Summary: dirty fun!
Review: i love beefcake! it was incredible and realistic!!!!!!!
i invite all of you to partake in this wonderful gift of modern day cinema. it is truly a joy!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: BEEFY AND A LUSCIOUS CAKE OF A FILM
Review: I was completely enamored with this flick....It was so well done, and so much "fun" to watch. This is truly going to be remembered as "one of the Best."

Rating:
Summary: Enamored
Review: I was completely enamored with this flick....It was so well done, and so much "fun" to watch. This is truly going to be remembered as "one of the Best."

Rating:
Summary: The Way It Was
Review: In a style reminiscent of REDS, this affectionate film looks at the life and times of groundbreaking photographer Joe Mizer and his troubles with the law through reenactment, old footage, and recent talking head interviews. This approach may not work for those preferring a completely fictionalized treatment (as in THE PEOPLE VS LARRY FLYNT) or a straight (no pun intended) documentary since going back and forth may disrupt their involvement with the story. The filmmakers obviously had a ball recreating the period then slowly taking us into its many pitfalls (as in PLEASANTVILLE). Mostly though, this is a portrait of gay subterfuge in the face of bigotry, how seedy a closet can get, and how some, traumatized by persecution and intolerance refuse to grow with the changing times, choosing instead to remain forever closeted, convincing themselves to feel nostalgic about such stifling times. The DVD transfer is impeccable (though the old footage is left as found: scratched up - it works); it is sharp with eye popping color, very much like looking through a window. The extras consist of several of the original Mizer short subjects, perhaps the reason for that stiff Criterion type price tag.

Rating:
Summary: BEEFY AND A LUSCIOUS CAKE OF A FILM
Review: The first TRUE gay docudrama on celluloid. A movie within a documentary...masterfully created with superb performances and a
solid script. By the way, plenty of awesome beefcake here!

Rating:
Summary: Phony baloney!
Review: The most frustrating thing about this film is the lackadaisical way it moves back and forth between engaging interviews and authentic 50s/60s film footage and the silly, flacid narrative about a physique magazine photographer who involves his unwitting (?) family in the creation of benign bordello/porn factory. Clearly, the beefcake pictoral magazines depicted were intended to be erotically provokative in an era of censorship when postal regulations prevented anything more graphic from being distributed. But the filmmaker seems devoid of a point of view. The film is little more than a blown kiss to a blessedly bygone era. Any perspective setting comes from the talking heads, the former models (like Joe Dallesandro and Jack LaLanne) and photographers who reflect on what it was like to be in the business back then. Also, frustrating was the failure to address the issue of the prevailing double standard; at a time when Hugh Hefner was taking female nudity into the middleclass mainstream, why was the male body such a persistant taboo? As clever as the intercutting of new and vintage footage is, the vintage films are best appreciated when run in their entirety as DVD "extras" (there are six in all, including one involving alien spacemen with antennas!). Watching them provokes a lot of questions. But alas, the viewer is left to come up with his or her own answers. This could have been the "Atomic Cafe" of gay erotica, but instead it's an after-school special with a little eye candy thrown in.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!
Review: There has never been a film such as this that has captured sexuality at it's best! done with such taste and beauty. Even the true homophobic will find this film compelling and enchanting, enjoy this film, you'll regret not viewing it!

Rating:
Summary: not as good as the book
Review: This is the best movie I probably have ever seen. I have seen many stuff like this, but never this good. Anyone who is like me should buy this, NOW!!! Beefcake!!!