Michael (Kenneth Nelson) is hosting a birthday party for Harold (Leonard Frey) when he gets an out-of-the-blue call from Alan (Peter White), a college friend, that sends him into a self-destructive spiral. Michael is gay. All his friends are gay. Alan is straight and homophobic. Old resentments and bigotry surface, dragging every attendee into their riptide.
This is one of those Important Films that everyone should watch but it is not a fun movie. There is a lot of self-loathing and recriminations, portrayals that were groundbreaking at the time but now seem like harmful stereotypes, and a depressing pall of inevitability hanging over the whole thing.
It is still stunningly relevant to today which is why Jim Parsons remade it in 2020. I didn't see that version so I don't know if anything was changed to reflect modern sensibilities, but the 1970 film is incredibly hard to find so I mention it anyway. I watched it on the Criterion Channel but before last month, it was in my queue for something like nine years.
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