sunny@sun.uucp (Sunny Kirsten) (11/02/84)
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I've just returned from the premiere showing of this wonderful
film, and just have to share the experience. This documentary of the
rise and fall of Harvey Milk, Mayor Moscone, and Dan White is not idle
entertainment, it will make you think and feel deeply during it's showing,
and will probably leave your life permanently changed by it's end. how?
It doesn't matter whether you walk into the theater straight or
gay, by the time you walk out you'll be impressed by the universality of
the *human* values of Harvey Milk, and by the inhumanity of our court
system. Most of all, you'll want everyone you know to see this film.
--
exit
{ucbvax,decvax,ihnp4}!sun!sunny (Sunny Kirsten of Sun Microsystems Inc.)sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (11/05/84)
I'd like to add my own recommendation for this documentary. Even with all
its positive advance publicity, I entered the theater with a lot of
scepticism--I knew little about Harvey Milk other than what I had gleaned
from idle reading of the Advocate, and I was expecting to see the solemn,
earnest canonization of a third-rate politico whose only claim to fame was
that he was the first openly gay S.F. supervisor, and that he was
tragically, killed along with Mayor George Moscone in the now-famous Dan
White murder case. It was nice to have my preconceptions swept away by the
power and eloquence of this movie.
The documentary is a montage of archival photographs, TV footage, and
repeated "talking head" interviews, arranged chronologically and narrated
by Harvey Fierstein. Here, Harvey Milk emerges as a top-notch,
street-smart politician: someone who not only cared about the needs of his
constituents, gay, straight, elderly, and Asian, but who knew the value of
working within the City Hall infrastructure and manipulating the city's
media to ensure that his issues were addressed. Note the title: this is
not "The Life and Times of Harvey Milk", for the central issue is not Milk
himself, but the galvanizing effect his candidacy and election had upon the
San Francisco community, and the tragic events of his assasination and the
subsequent trial of Dan White.
What happened in San Francisco in the late 70's was, for most of us, only
a 3 minute segment on the evening news, or a column of newsprint.
But the audience here is asked to experience the elation of Milk's election
and the anger and tragedy of the subsequent events, as if for the first
time. It is a cathartic experience.
--
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbncca.ARPAwdoherty@mit-athena.ARPA (Will Doherty) (11/13/84)
"The Times of Harvey Milk" is an excellent film that tells the story of Harvey Milk, often known as "the Mayor of Castro Street." The film details Harvey's rise to office on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors where he became the first openly gay elected city official in the country. The movie continues with his term on the Board and incidents in his political career. Even though I had read Randy Shilt's book "The Mayor of Castro Street," I was incredibly impressed by the emotional impact of the film. Words will not describe (as evidenced by this cliche) how I felt hearing actual recordings of Harvey's voice and that of his friends and political associates. Live footage of the discovery of Dan White's assassination of San Francisco Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Milk convey clearly the horror of the moment, the agony of a calamitous culmination of oppression by the white heterosexual male (insert laundry list of other characteristics) power structure. I felt as if I was there to share the numbed sorrow and pain of the thousands of mourners who marched candles in hand from the Castro to City Hall. I also shared the fiery anger of the people who trashed City Hall and burned cop cars when our system of "justice" convicted Dan White on charges of manslaughter, rather than murder, because he had eaten too many Twinkies before a clearly premeditated murder of the mayor of a city and of the SF supervisor who provided a flash of lesbian/gay hope in the darkness of middle-Amerikan anti-lesbian/gay/laundry-list bigotry. Would that we all had the power and the vision of Harvey. I cried and cried. Bring someone to hang on to. I highly recommend this film. Will Doherty
shore@adobe.UUCP (Andrew Shore) (04/03/85)
In case you hadn't noticed, "The Times of Harvey Milk" won the Oscar for best documentary. I highly recommend this movie. It is an incredibly touching film recounting the life, times and death of the first openly gay elected official of a major US city (Harvey was a San Francisco city supervisor). The movie is made up of still photos and news film footage of his life and political activities intermixed with the personal and political recollections of several people who knew him. It is narrated in the wonderful basso of playwright/actor Harvey Fierstein. You will laugh, you will cry (several times), you will get very angry as the film recounts the events of his assination (along with mayor George Moscone by former supervisor Dan White), White's trial (the infamous "twinkie defense") and the ensuing "White Night" riots. What can I say to make you see this film? It has met with very wide critical acclaim. I only hope it is getting the distribution it deserves. [I'm a tiny bit biased -- an old college roommate of mine was the associate producer.] --Andy