The Gay Deceivers (1969) on Netflix
Danny Devlin and Elliot Crane claim to be gay to dodge the draft. The recruiting officer is not convinced, so they move into an apartment building to keep up the act.
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- Netflix3.0/5
- IMDb5.9/101,177 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Danny Devlin and Elliot Crane want to avoid military service, so they tell the Army they are a gay couple. The recruiting officer is not convinced, and the two friends are placed under surveillance while the pretense has to hold. They move into an apartment building, where their landlord Malcolm and his husband Craig live among the residents the two men are trying to blend in with. Malcolm and Craig, remembering their early years as a couple, offer advice to the newcomers. Danny keeps dating his girlfriend Karen while insisting that Elliot stay away from women for as long as the deception lasts, and the tension between the two friends grows.
Cast
- Sebastian Brookas Craig
- Jeanne Bairdas Mrs. Conway
- Marishkaas Carolyn
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Gay Deceivers (1969)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- When The Gay Deceivers was shown at the St. Francis Theatre in San Francisco, the Committee for the Freedom of Homosexuals picketed it, saying it equated gay men with effeminacy and cowardice. Variety covered the picket in July 1969 under the headline "Pansies Picket Opening Of Gay Film In Frisco".
- The Gay Deceivers was initially banned in Australia because of its depictions of homosexuality. Only after censorship laws were reformed in November 1971 was it allowed to be screened there, with an R rating.
- Michael Greer not only wrote his own role in the film, he also rewrote parts of the screenplay, which film historian Vito Russo said made it "funnier and less homophobic than was intended".
- Michael Greer's performance as the "nelly landlord" proved so popular with critics that one week into the film's run its distributor changed the ad campaign and billed him as the star.
- Larry Casey, who was married with children, later complained that he struggled to find work after the movie because he had appeared in "a homosexual picture".
