Making the Boys (2009)
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 19
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 816
Movie Info
MAKING THE BOYS tells the story of Mart Crowley's groundbreaking play "The Boys in the Band" - from overnight sensation on Broadway, to Hollywood's first gay movie, to cultural landmark and worldwide phenomenon - all the while having a complicated and sometimes controversial relationship with the gay community. No one could have guessed the impact that a small Off-Broadway production would have on the social climate of the 1960s...not to mention how important and monumental it was to gay people
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All Critics (19) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (1) | DVD (1)
Crayton Robey's documentary is a time capsule of the burgeoning gay rights era. It has poignant moments that sneak up on you. And sometimes, well, it's just trashy fun.
Top CriticAlmost simultaneously a groundbreaking landmark and a period piece.
Sometimes, it errs on the side of inclusiveness, with banal commentary from gay reality-TV shows. Taking the broad view mostly works, however.
Clayton Robey's documentary starts off wobbly before becoming a bracing cocktail of cultural, creative and personal histories.
Making the Boys is fascinating recent history and a fascinating personal story as well.
The hopelessly dated 1968 play "The Boys in the Band" yields a surprisingly sprightly and multifaceted documentary, "Making the Boys."
An entertaining and compelling reason to either reconsider the polarizing work or to experience it for the first time with due regard for its original context.
A fine new documentary about the evolution of the controversial play and subsequent movie.
For all the attention paid to the issues surrounding Boys, however, but for a handful of too-short clips, there's surprisingly little detail about the specifics of the film or play
It is hard to make a lively documentary out of talking heads, but Robey has done that as he puts the play into historical perspective.
Scrupulously researched, highly absorbing and worthwhile documentary about, like it or not, the seminal gay play.
A comprehensive look at the creation and afterlife of a significant work of art.
In a way, Making's director, Crayton Robey, has written a love letter to [Natalie] Wood
A fascinating slice of contemporary history, one that too easily could be overlooked or forgotten. Entertaining and enlightening.
A remarkably evenhanded history.
A slick making-and-unmaking-of documentary about the play and film that first seriously addressed American homosexuality, and its complex role in queer cultural history.
Engrossing and insightful, revealing the behind-the-scenes story of Mart Crowley's controversial 'Boys in the Band.'
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Movie: ID: 770813391 Title: Making the Boys Release Date: 2010-11-05 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 3 Status: 1
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"Making the Boys" also errs by going off topic at times while exchanging its background with the foreground. I mean, if you're interested in seeing this, you probably already have a pretty good idea about the history of the gay rights movement that ironically includes testimony from Ed Koch. But it should also be noted that most of the original cast members died of AIDS, another of leukemia, leaving three alive, two who agree to talk on film. Of playwright Mart Crowley, he started out as assistant to Natalie Wood and would go on to be a writer/producer on 'Hart to Hart.'