Posted: 03/23/2010

Handsome Harry

by Sawyer J. Lahr

Steve Buscemi and Campbell Scott return to gay material in Handsome Harry. Buscemi since Parting Glances (1986) and Campbell since Long Time Companion (1989). Now in their 50s, these men make up a cast of very attractive masculine salt-and-pepper-haired actors featuring Jamey Sheridan as the lead and Aidan Quinn. With a 2009 festival run, the film has a prospective theatrical release. If not already, it should be invited to screen at 2010 gay and lesbian film festivals.

Handsome Harry takes us into the past with flash backs to life in the US Navy during the Vietnam War through the eyes of a sexually confused gay man, James. This feast of seasoned male actors is scorchingly hot. They lower into gruff tones, yet display tenderness and are even, at moments, profoundly insightful.

Scott as Harry’s Navy lover, Kagan, is the perfect cast for a Vietnam war vet who got successful but never quit hoping to fulfill the unrequited love. Handsome Harry is a timely reminder that gay men and women were in the military in every twentieth-century war including those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Too many times the gays-in-the-military story-line is written as just a snippet or short serial story for prime-time television or cable shows i.e. Grey’s Anatomy, The L Word, and Spartacus.

Bette Gordon dares to take her audience on a grief-stricken, psychology journey of a Vietnam vet. The story uncovers homophobia and the gay bashing of a close friend of the Navy buddies James travels the country to reunite with. Although Scott’s screen-time is short, he brims with unrequited passion for Harry. No longer a victim of one drunken night years before, he overcame a crippled hand and made a career as a pianist in spite of the worst. When the two lovers meet once again, Harry is given a chance to be forgiven, but guilt and self-shame make him hesitate.

Handsome Harry will be released theatrically by Paladin Films on April 16, 2010 in NY, LA and Southern Florida with expansion into other major markets.

Sawyer J. Lahr is Chief Editor of the forthcoming online publication, Go Over the Rainbow. He also writes a monthly film column for Mindful Metropolis, a conscious living magazine in Chicago, IL.

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