The Gay Deceivers

This little movie, from the end of the 1960s, is perhaps one of the finest "gay" films ever made. It certainly ranks among my Top Five favorites of the genre. Two straight guys wanting to avoid the draft for Vietnam, decide to play gay. Seems like a silly idea for a movie, and it is, but despite the premise and the usual stereotypes (typical of the period) it really is harmless and lots of fun.

The two lead male actors are fine, and their female counterparts do quite well too. The star of this show, however, is Michael Greer, who is superb as the "gay landlord". His character is pretty much an extreme stereotype, but so what? He plays it to perfection, and is probably the most interesting character in the whole film. The scene where he accuses an older woman of trampling his flower bed is the singular most funny scene in the whole movie, and it's all because of his delivery. Other nifty aspects about this film: the the 60s views of a gay bar (with the Tom of Finland-esque drawings along the walls), the views of L.A. from the time, and the really dated fashions/styles.

A fun movie, definitely worth a look if you like "gay" films as a genre, or just amusing "cult" type films.

I'm nuts about films from the 60s and this was a pretty adequate comedy about being gay to get out of going to Vietnam. It is interesting to see how gays were being represented in the popular cinema during a time when homosexuality was still pretty underground. But for me it was interesting knowing that the producer-director team of this film also made ANGELS FROM HELL, one of my favorite biker films. Weird, huh?

I thought this was a terrific movie.I'm very sorry to say that Michael Greer of Fortune And Men's Eyes fame died last year of lung cancer.I was devistated.I was such a big fan of his.He was a great actor,and I read alot about him.He was a comedien as well as an actor.This was Greer's first movie,and he did a great job.This movie was made in 1969,about two men who escape the army by pretending to be gay.I thought it was very funny.I have not seen many 60's movies,very few actually,but this one was a great.Watch it,you'll love it!

Having watched this amateurish comedy recently, I was shocked at some of the other comments here. While "The Gay Deceivers" is as good an indication of how gays were portrayed in the late 60's (i.e. swishy, nellie queens and leather butches), it's no better than a curio - certainly not required viewing for anyone other than gay cinema completists.

There's very little here that's truly funny, since the direction and editing is so poor that basic comic timing goes out the window. Michael Greer has his first appearance as the queeny neighbor of the two hetero boys pretending to be gay to avoid the Draft. It became a typical role for him.

What's amazing is how long it took for Hollywood to graduate (even in part) from films like this, "Partners," and "A Different Story" to something approximating reality among gay people. And directors/writers still get it wrong more often than right.

When "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" came out in the summer of 2007, it jogged my memory about a movie called "The Gay Deceivers" that was out when I was in junior high and which I was too young to see. Netflix didn't own a copy, but evidently they keep track of who inquires on movies they don't have and send it out when they get it. So boom, "The Gay Deceivers" arrives by surprise in my mailbox six months later. Regarding the review headlined, "Offensive and Unfunny", I'm going to say just one thing, in my campiest voice, "Oh Mary, lighten up". (How dare they make a movie in 1969 that offends my 21st century sensitivities!) Yes, some of it is hard to watch, maybe for me especially. It was made about the time of my sexual awakening, and some of the stereotypes depicted underscored for me why I had grown up with so much internalized homophobia. But they were making a farce and all they had to work with was how gays were perceived at the time. It's a little too much to expect them to have transcended the thinking of the time in which it was filmed. But on the other hand, some of it is still laugh out loud funny. Especially the scene where Michael Greer makes breakfast. I laughed, then I turned to my partner of fifteen years and said, "I suppose as a gay man I ought to be offended, but it's just so silly!"