Pat Rocco Dared

Pat Rocco was an artist, a visionary, an advocate. And after watching Charlie David's documentary "Pat Rocco Dared", it's clear to me, Mr. Rocco was also one heck of a fine person.

Wow, what a ton of natural charm! The documentary is filled with scenes of Pat Rocco serenading Mr. David with "Cheer Up Charlie", laughing over memories of his friends and coworkers, and sharing some of his most memorable film clips.

It's a treat to get an inside look at where Charlie David drew some of his inspiration. "Pat Rocco Dared" is a beautifully presented, informative, and personal tribute to a very important person in our history.

Pat Rocco was an early gay pioneer who made erotic (but not pornographic) films, often with his subjects ending up naked, kissing and caressing. He also put his talents to use in documenting the early gay liberation movement, including parades and speeches by Harvey Milk. Here, Charlie David "interviews" him - or lets Rocco take us down memory lane, as we are shown clips of Rocco's films. There are interviews with other analysts, and documentation of Rocco's other charitable work.

I liked the clips, both as illustration of what he had done, and as a way of avoiding the talking head syndrome. As Rocco was before my time, I am happy to get to know him and his work.

Pat Rocco made movies. Way back when. And they featured beautiful men. And the beautiful men were frolicking, walking through the woods, holding hands, kissing, and caressing each other. The affection, romance, and pure beauty of the men is still an amazing statement today. No tattoos, no piercings, no waxed and shaved bodies, no dirty talk or rough treatment. These men love and respect themselves and each other.

The filmmakers interivewed Pat Rocco shortly before he died and found vintage footage of him to include in this tribute. Unfortunately, they also recorded interviews with "experts" to tell the audience what to think and how to react. The unintentional incongruity between the appearances of the "experts" and the men in Pat Rocco's movies shows how far we have strayed from our natural bodies in an effor to be "edgy" or fashionable.

It would have been far better to let Pat Rocco's romantic, playful, joyous work speak for itself instead of bombarding viewers with folks telling us that this work was groundbreaking, important, etc. Don't you think we can see that for ourselves?

The added interviews make the movie feel padded. Repeating some of the vintage footage only adds to this feeling. And it is a shame because there must have been hours of additional shots they could have used instead of showing us the same clips two or three times.

If you are a gay man, treat yourself to this movie if you can find it. But you might want to fast forward through the talking heads.

Really interesting documentary. Canadian filmmaker pat rocco finds his way to hollywood.... starts out making softcore films. In harvey milk's orbit, he's in the right place to document police activity at the club "the meat market". Later making softcore films with a gay, romantic story. They not only have a backstory, but it's almost a magical romance in very ordinary places. He actually filmed a gay love story at disneyland, which they did not approve, and of course, placed a cease and desist order. Nude men in some of his films, (probably not at disney), frolicking, actually kissing, dancing. And sadly, at the end, the two men would have return to the harsh real world full of rules and police. Includes interviews with rocco, his partner, by charlie david, a director and actor in his own right. Very well done! It was fun learning about a guy that most of us had probably never heard of. He not only filmed gay parades and events, but had a hand in organizing them. And has become part of history himself.

I had been curious about this since I saw it available for streaming and when offered the opportunity to review it for Gay Romance Reviews, I jumped at the chance. I enjoyed it so much, I purchased it. There were lots of things I enjoyed but three things made me purchase it to watch again. First, the personality of Pat Rocco and his enthusiasm for making movies was infectious and a joy to watch. Second, it was wonderful to know that during those times, he was making films where gay characters were in love and happy rather than as they were depicted in so much fiction of the time as having to die, be the villains or have other awful things happen to them. Finally, I lived in LA during several of the years depicted in the films and the biographical parts about Rocco's life and it was surprisingly moving to relive those times through the shots in this film. A joy to watch all the way around.