Love! Valour! Compassion! (1997)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Joe Mantello

Writers (WGA):

Terrence McNally (play)
Terrence McNally (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 May 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Eight men. One summer. Figure it out.

Plot:

Gregory invites seven friends to spend the summer at his large, secluded 19th-century home in upstate New York...

Plot Keywords:

AIDS | Twin Brother | Brother | Twins | Rehearsal

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jason Alexander	...	Buzz Hauser
Stephen Spinella	...	Perry Sellars
Stephen Bogardus	...	Gregory Mitchell
Randy Becker	...	Ramon Fornos
John Benjamin Hickey	...	Arthur Pape
Justin Kirk	...	Bobby Brahms
John Glover	...	John Jeckyll, James Jeckyll

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic nudity, some sexuality and strong language.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | USA:R (certificate #34857) | Australia:MA | France:U | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Beauharnois, Québec, Canada

Company:

Krost/Chapin Productions

Trivia:

The actors all originated the same roles in the stage play except for Jason Alexander who replaced Nathan Lane for the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: The amount of milk in a bottle does not match the amount of milk on the floor after the bottle is dropped and broken.

Quotes:

James: I must say, for a young country you've turned out almost as many pooftahs in 2 centuries as we have in 20.

Movie Connections:

References The Red Shoes (1948)

Soundtrack:

Shall I Tell You What I Think Of You

Fine ensemble cast sparks dynamic comedy-drama

LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION!

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Dolby Digital

This perceptive drama - written by Terrence McNally, adapted from his award-winning Broadway play - starts out as a warm-hearted examination of the lives and loves of eight middle-class gay men during three eventful weekends at the isolated country home of ageing dancer Stephen Bogardus and his blind, youthful boyfriend Justin Kirk (ANGELS IN America). As it progresses, however, McNally's snappy screenplay begins to expose the faults in his principal characters, as well as their virtues, leading inevitably to fireworks and revelations. Set in a beautiful lakeside house somewhere in upstate New York (filmed in Quebec, though you wouldn't know it), director Joe Mantello - also responsible for the original Broadway production - and cinematographer Alik Sakharov take full advantage of the area's natural beauty, moulding a defiantly cinematic template from the material's inherent staginess.

All but one of the fine ensemble cast was culled from the stage version, including Stephen Spinella and John Benjamin Hickey as a staid yuppie couple, and Randy Becker (LIE DOWN WITH DOGS) as the handsome young stud whose overt sex appeal creates emotional tension in a household dominated by middle-aged men. However, the film is virtually stolen by "Seinfeld"s Jason Alexander (in a role essayed by Nathan Lane on-stage) as the archetypal Broadway-loving queen who lives in fear of his HIV status and masks his anxiety with outrageous humor, and John Glover in dual roles as English twins, one of them noble and humane (and dying of an AIDS-related illness), the other a mean-tempered bitch of the highest order. McNally's script finds something deeper than mere stereotype in these disparate characters, and he examines the many ways in which they love each other, despite their differences. The full-frontal nudity which characterized the original stageplay (causing a minor stir at the time) has been toned down for the film, but not completely erased, and Becker in particular seems entirely at ease during his frequent nude scenes.