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MILK
DIRECTED BY: Gus Van Sant
WRITTEN BY: Dustin Lance Black
STARRING: Sean Penn, James Brolin, Emile Hirsch,
James Franco, Diego Luna and Victor Garber
U.S. RELEASE DATE: November 26, 2008
ON-LINE TRAILER: HERE
Telling the true story of the unlikely rise, inspiring success and cowardly assassination of the first openly Gay man to win major public office in the United States (maybe the planet), Gus Van Sant's Milk is almost here. When I first heard there was a Harvey Milk biopic in the works, my initial reaction was resistance to the very idea. Not because the story isn't compelling as Hell and important to remember, but because there is already a near-perfect documentary on the subject, Rob Epstein's Oscar-winning The Times of Harvey Milk (1984). Whenever I feel like getting angry all over again and having a good cry, I reach for The Times of Harvey Milk.
For those who don't know who Harvey was, here's the quick sketch. Harvey was born in New York in 1930. He graduated from college, joined the Navy, and after the service became a High School teacher in New York City. In 1972 he moved to San Francisco with his partner, Scott Smith, and together they opened a camera store in the Castro District of the city, which was becoming a haven for openly Gay men and women. Harvey became involved in that community as a leader, earning the nickname "The Mayor of Castro Street". Milk ran for the position of City Supervisor twice, but while he had the overwhelming support of his neighborhood he never won enough general voter support. But Harvey and the homosexual community did help elect the new Mayor in 1976, the progressively liberal George Moscone. In the following election of 1977, a referendum changed the Supervisor positions from city-wide elections to District elections. This allowed each community to directly elect the person they thought best represented them. Harvey won easily, and became the first openly Gay person to win a major public office.
Apart from the historical nature of the win, Harvey had almost immediate success in his new job, including getting involved directly with the fight against California's Proposition 6, a statewide ballot initiative from arch-conservative Senator John Briggs that sought to make it illegal for open homosexuals to teach in public schools. Thanks in part to Harvey's enthusiastic campaigning and public sparring with Briggs and other conservatives, the Proposition was defeated in the election of 1978.
Harvey's often humorous but always pointed public crusades made waves in San Francisco too, including with another City Supervisor who was elected at the same time as Milk, former fireman Dan White, who was less than tolerant of homosexuals. A strange and catastrophic string of events in late November of 1978, weeks after the triumphant defeat of the Briggs Initiative, found White abruptly resign then try to get his seat back, before sneaking into City Hall on the morning of November 27th and shooting dead both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Milk. After a controversial trial where White's defense team trotted out what became known as the "Twinkie Defense", claiming a combination of stress and large quantities of junk food left him in a state of mind he couldn't quite control (no, seriously) and despite the audio tape of White's cold and matter-of-fact confession, Dan was convicted only of voluntary manslaughter for the two slayings, and given a sentence of seven years in prison. Years later as a direct result of the Dan White verdict, a statewide Proposition was passed that sought to abolish such silly "diminished capacity" defenses for crimes like murder.
So, as you can see, a pretty amazing story, and The Times of Harvey Milk is a must-see for all of that and more. In Van Sant's movie Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk and Josh Brolin is Dan White. After spending this new century consciously moving away from the mainstream success of Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester with the more experimental and stripped-down projects Gerry, Elephant, Last Days and Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant has returned to the fore with an important biopic headlined by an Oscar-winning actor in a prime release spot for major awards consideration. It's a project absolutely loaded with potential. Can't wait to see if they pulled it off.
__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
Last edited by Holden Pike; 09-04-08 at 08:37 PM.
