Rating: 
Summary: dated movie, but timeless story
Review: Technical stuff out of the way - this is a movie made in the 70's, with no restoration for DVD, so it, well, looks like an old movie. Grainy and some bad colors. Plus, it was made at a time when 'gay pride' was new, so there are some 'man on the street' interviews form a pride celebration which have nothing to do with the movie. The story is timeless though. It's the constant 'gay' struggle of sex vs love. Our hero tried to make a relationship with someone who isn't sure he wants love, but is our hero too interested in a domestic life and canot see the forest for the trees? I think this is a subject ALL of us go through as we search for relationships in our lives. This movie could be made today and the storyline would be exactly the same. This is a definite rent for any gay man, or anyone who wants to see that gays really don't lead a life of only sex...
Rating:
Summary: dated movie, but timeless story
Review: Technical stuff out of the way - this is a movie made in the 70's, with no restoration for DVD, so it, well, looks like an old movie. Grainy and some bad colors. Plus, it was made at a time when 'gay pride' was new, so there are some 'man on the street' interviews form a pride celebration which have nothing to do with the movie. The story is timeless though. It's the constant 'gay' struggle of sex vs love. Our hero tried to make a relationship with someone who isn't sure he wants love, but is our hero too interested in a domestic life and canot see the forest for the trees? I think this is a subject ALL of us go through as we search for relationships in our lives. This movie could be made today and the storyline would be exactly the same. This is a definite rent for any gay man, or anyone who wants to see that gays really don't lead a life of only sex...
Rating:
Summary: A pioneering effort with integrity
Review: The criminal presidential administration of Richard Nixon had pushed the country as close to civil implosion as it had been since the Civil War, and the Stonewall raid was only five years ago in 1974 when "A Very Natural Thing" was released. Largely because of the far larger civil crisis ignited by Watergate and a virtually non-existent gay rights movement, it is little surprise that "A Very Natural Thing" didn't gain the attention it deserved. While it wasn't the first gay-themed film, it was the first to depict gays as real people with real feelings and dreams and didn't degrade homosexuals as a couple of contemporary films like "The Boys From Brazil" and "The Boys in the Band." Here, David (Robert Joel), a priest, is forced to abandon his service to God because of his homosexuality. Enter Mark (Curt Gareth), and he and David develop a relationship. But it's imperiled by their differences about just what a relationship should be about. As David and Mark continue to disagree and, as a result, begin to drift apart emotionally, David meets Jason (Bo White), but the former's fear of emotional distance threatens a hoped-for relationship with Jason. We won't give the solution away other than it is honest and speaks to contemporary relationships. The film does feature some explicit sex scenes with frontal nudity, but the scenes are not gratuitous and come off as being integral to the plot. Considering gay films were not in vogue in 1974, "A Very Natural Thing" is scantily produced with less-than-perfect picture quality and sound. That aside, the film truly is classic and still relevant in its honest and respectful treatment of gays are real people with real feelings and real dreams.
Rating: 
Summary: 1973! The "original" Gay Pride film still relevant today!
Review: This is a film with extraordinary vision as it was way ahead of its time. 1973... the gay rights movement that started at Stonewall was only 4 years old. Gays, in general, were still mostly "closeted" with their own underground society. Psychologists had just a few years earlier declared homosexuality not to be a personality disorder. Homosexuality as a topic for discussion was a new frontier for most Americans.... So here comes a film depicting gay men in an in-depth way involving their feelings, their relationships, their social interactions- full frontal nudity- and prophetically, the main character, David, as a priest who leaves the church after coming to terms with his sexuality. All "taboo" subjects in mainstream America involved at the time with Richard Nixon and the Watergate hearings. It is amazing that this film was made in 1973 and that the producers were able to get actors with the courage to participate in the making of such a film. The storyline, in a nutshell, shows David wanting to commit to Mark. Mark does, hesitantly, due to his commitment-phobia and having a different value system, which finally drives a wedge between them and ends the relationship. David goes through the emotional ringer and then meets Jason. Jason wants to commit after a time, but David has become jaded about relationships- and commitment-phobic- and doesn't want anything more from Jason than a relationship where they just "want to be together. In a sense, David evolves into a "Mark," and Jason comes along as the new "David" about to get the same treatment that David originally did. I liken A Very Natural Thing" to be a primitive "All Over The Guy." The story shows a vicious cycle about relationships that both gay and straight people can relate to and presents some universal truths about how gays feel about themselves being a minority group and their self-destructive tendencies due to limitations society puts on them. These are circumstance that are still very relevant today. The ending of the film is very open-ended and doesn't resolve any of the issues the movie brings up as there are no answers for the questions this film raises. That is actually what gives the film relevancy today given the current debate on same-sex marriage (especially with the flick's marriage scene), which has the potential of breaking the "glass ceiling" on the limitations of how gay relationships can evolve and how gays can feel about themselves. Ok! The hair styles and clothes are dated, but it's not too hard to get past. Just concentrate on the characters and the storyline/dialogue in relation to the plots you see in most current films and today's current events and this film will feel as relevant and "run-of-the-mill" as any film made in 2003, but very "visionary" and "ground-breaking" for 1973!
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