Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe (2007)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 19
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 3
Vital documentation of an unsung 70's art patron and his famous photographer lover. A vivid and tragic story.
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 2
Vital documentation of an unsung 70's art patron and his famous photographer lover. A vivid and tragic story.
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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 436
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Movie Info
After serving in the Navy during World War II, Sam Wagstaff came home to New York City and pursued a career in advertising, and through his work in the ad game he developed a keen interest in photography. Reflecting his own personal evolution as he came to accept his homosexuality, Wagstaff became an enthusiastic collector of art photography and gained a reputation as a curator, organizing a number of important museum shows of new photographers and becoming a friend and confidante of artists
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Joan Juliet Buck
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All Critics (19) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (3) | DVD (1)
Crump's film colourfully depicts Wagstaff's complex inner mindset and rarefied eye for imagery by allowing the stunning prints to linger on the screen.
Top CriticThe movie makes its main point. Wagstaff was an important, complex, fascinating figure, well worth remembering.
Wagstaff's character accounts for some of the frustration the film induces. Crumb's documentary style accounts for the rest.
Wagstaff was a fascinating figure and deserves the detailed tribute provided here.
A potent exercise in art-world mythography.
Black White & Gray raises provocative questions but can't answer them, or even frame them with total clarity.
Crump's film is a vitally important document in this respect, bringing out Wagstaff's personality and vividly capturing the stories of the people who knew him.
This is a terrific documentary by James Crump about the unsung collector, Wagstaff, and his lopsided relationship with his hungry young lover, Mapplethorpe.
A well made portrait of an intriguing man, presented with a tragic but resounding weight.
Let's hope this is the springboard for a biopic on the art world's dynamic gay duo - maybe by the time it gets made we'll even have some openly gay actors to play the parts.
This film stands as a nice beginning to a necessary Wagstaff reexamination. Yet as with most tastes of something savory, we want another serving.
This ham-handed interpolation of irrelevant footage is the chief demerit of his movie.
The more famous Mapplethorpe is moved aside to give Sam Wagstaff the spotlight. But the best photography in the world steals the show.
The film itself is staid in comparison to the descriptions of the '70s high life.
Fine, but a little dry.
Draws out the unseen riches that exist within what may otherwise appear typical or commonplace.
Relatively tame retrospective about the relationship of a gay patron of the arts and his famous photographer lover best remembered for graphic, homoerotic snapshots featuring shocking sights like that of a bullwhip in a tight place.
Audience Reviews for Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe
Super Reviewer
Everything you always wanted to know about art collector Sam Wagstaff with a little bit about Robert Maplethorpe thrown in. A well-done, yet superficial & pretentious doc with annoying narration by Joan Juliet Buck.
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Foreign Titles
- Black, White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Maplethorpe (DE)
- Black, White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Maplethorpe (UK)
