Rating: 
Summary: Just like Traveling to Olympia another good RAF film
Review: The larger one shows Johnny, a slight 19-year old (played by Justin McFarlane), leaving a reform school in Chehalis, Washington, hitchhiking north to Olympia and eventually moving in with a hunky lawyer-lover, Joel (played by Michael Harboush), in Seattle. Assisting are the popcorn king's young son, Chip (played by Donald Allen), and his new lover, Washington State Senator Matthew Bradley (played by Dennis T. Kleinsmith). This is a story of how gay people can help one-another come out and overcome obstacles on the way to true love and social justice.The smaller story is told almost completely in pantomime and music. An unnamed actor (possibly Michael S. Parker) comforts and cleans up a fellow caught up in a hate bombing of a gay youth center. The fellow runs off later with another one, leaving the actor alone. In the next installment, he is able to find someone else and make a successful go of it in an emotionally satifying way. One can criticize the lack of extras on the DVD and the script's demand that so many characters provide their personal and family histories. The characters are more psychological profiles than real people. I would have liked the Jeff character (who was not linked to an actor's name) to have had a bigger role since he had the looks and the ability to deliver lines well. The movie is low budget, the acting is fair, but the movie's heart is in an unusually positive and constructive place, showing people's resiliance well. The movie depicts a variety of normal, but nice-looking people, not just the denizens of the local gym. The many skin shots are well done. Uplifting but not deep. If you liked Traveling you will love Murder.
Rating:
Summary: Murder in Portland was a good movie
Review: There must be something in the water in Larado, TX. I thought the movie was well made and the acting was very good. I can see where some might not like the subject matter. Most of these people don't have lives and all they can do is dish on other people work. This movie is a great buy for $30 and a steal at the used price. The folks who made this film must be doing something right they have 4 movies out and seem to be selling. I some think that anti-gay people are writing thes reviews to get people not to buy gay movies. This is a great little movie and well worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't get (...)by this turd of a movie.
Review: These films are not worth the plastic that they are packaged in...and, these five star ratings that I'm reading just baffle me. Are gay men so desperate for gay films that we're willing to pander such bunk to unsuspecting viewers? I try to view as many gay films as possible, as I feel that I owe it to those who felt the need to represent me and my fellow gay men in some way, shape or form. But, I surely won't praise or recommend a film simply because it is gay. I've never seen a film so over-estimated in my life. I've seen five star gay films...Angels in America, Soldier's Girl, Beautiful Thing. Murder in Portland SURELY isn't one of them. I read a review that praised this film for what they were able to do with such a small budget($50,000). But there simply is not a point in the film where it isn't apparent that the budget was miniscule. The camera shots are sloppy. The acting is rank. The sound is of poor quality. And, I've read better scripts from my undergrad screenwriting students. Just because the producers of this film may have done more with it than the small budget would typically allow doesn't make this film good or worth watching. And...if the script was good and the actor's better than VERY SUB-PAR, would it really matter what the budget was? As many have indicated, the lead "cop" was hot. I found him beautiful...but I can flip through any magazine or watch thousands of other good films and be much happier for it. A hot actor does not a movie make. I crave good gay entertainment. We are a very misrepresented population in the big screen and the small screen. I praise actors and directors with the courage and gall to make their voices heard and produce gay work. But, gay or not, I'm not going to recommend this film simply because it is gay. We deserve better than that...and recommending it for it's sexual bent would only perpetuate mediocrity in a medium that has potential for so much more.
Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER GREAT RAF MOVIE
Review: This was another great Richard Anthony Film movie. Great story, good looking guys and Portland, Ore. It was fun to watch and the story kept you guessing right up to the end. Sound was good, and tech stuff worked. A nice movie by the small independent gay film company in Olympia, WA.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT FOR AN AFTERNOOD OF STORY TELLING
Review: Those guys up in Olympia, Washington just keep on turning them out. For Murder in Portland, the formula remains the same: cute young guys, several sex scenes, plenty of nudity, a romance and pro-gay politics. There is still wooden acting, but the script is a tad better this time, as are the photography and editing.
Our film opens as Mike (Baumgartner), a mute 18-year old teenager is being thrown out of his house, deep in the country, by his Baptist minister father for being gay. He wanders on the roadside and a very butch lesbian hands him a dollar so that he can make his way by bus to Olympia. They apparently have very low fares in the Pacific Northwest. In Olympia, he wends his way to an antique shop owned by business partners, Grant (Ashley) and David. Mike writes that he needs money and Grant offers some odd jobs and a meal. Their relationship quickly turns lustful as these two sweet young men fall into bed naked. The two guys wander over to Proffitt's Café (the center of action in all 3 films) where the gossip mill is started in no time. The next day Grant's partner David shows up back from his buying trip and heads off quickly to Portland to scout for a new store location. While in Portland he is murdered with a trick by an unknown gay basher - hence the title and drama of our film. Enter an incredible hottie, who is totally naked in the first scene with his girlfriend - he starts off straight in the movie, but we know he'll be sleeping with boys before the movie ends! This guy is a cop who is assigned to go undercover to reveal the murderer. Take a close look at the Police Chief, it's a cameo by writer Maurice Maxwell! This murder gives our filmmakers a chance to take us on a tour of the gay bars of Portland, Oregon including: lub Z, Joq's, Scandals, Gai Pied, Three Sisters, Eagle, Red Car Garage. The tour is lots of fun and includes a drunken strip-tease by our lusty soon-to-be gay cop. There is a major attack on the Baptists, pro-gay cops, nudity, sex, tender romance and kissing - all this in only 99 minutes! Grab a bowl of popcorn, suspend your disbelief and enjoy...
Rating:
Summary: Murder In Portland
Review: Too bad there is no "ZERO" stars ratings! BTW - Who are these other reviewers that gave this movie 5 stars? Were they drinking when the watched it? JUST KIDDING!!! (not really, THIS IS A STUPID DVD)
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