Author(s): Larry Duplechan

Popular Culture

Movies That Made Me Gay is a wonderfully well-informed, witty and acerbic take on iconic Hollywood films, film-stars, and indie cult favorites from an author who is himself a Black gay icon; and is also a touching and extremely readable personal memoir of growing up gay in the early '60s, surviving the AIDS pandemic of the '80s (legendary Vito Celluloid Closet Russo was a dear friend) and the adaptation of his novel 'Blackbird' into a feature film starring Mo'nique in 2014, and still thriving today.

 

"Duplechan is a master film critic, alternately praising and scathing, with a gushing heart and acerbic wit, all the while giving the reader little known facts about the classic and not-so-classic movies that shaped his colorful life. Personal anecdotes round out this well-crafted journal of the ultimate movie fan who, above all, despite the oft caustic pen, is a romantic sentimentalist."

 

Sam Harris, author of Ham: Slices of a Life, and The Substance of All Things.

 

"Once I started reading I couldn't stop, like eating a bucket of salted cashews. But it's far more educational than nuts."

 

Christopher Bram, author of Gods and Monsters

 

"Fasten your seatbelts for a wild ride through "gay" movie history with Larry Duplechan at the wheel. His enlightening, bitchy, unfiltered, pithy, and sentimental observations coaxed me to take another look at countless films, and it will for you!"

 

Michael Gregg Michaud, author of Sal Mineo, A Biography and Inventing Troy Donahue.

 

"...full of fresh ideas, good history, and smart jokes. I laughed out loud a lot. Best of all, he weaves a fine autobiography into his movie talk, one that's honest, real, complex, and moving."

 

Christopher Bram, author of Gods and Monsters

 

"Larry Duplechan is the storyteller you want to sit next to at the party. His deep dive into movies that molded our youth and haunt our adulthood is funny, acerbic and personal. I dare anyone to read this book without making a list of films to see or see again. I say two snaps up!"

 

Jewelle Gomez, author of The Gilda Stories

 

"Black gay men's autobiographies are still vanishingly rare - the more so due to the catastrophe of the AIDS crisis. Larry's wise and witty telling of his life through his love of films both classic and obscure is to be cherished."

 

Patrik-Ian Polk, creator of Noah's Arc

November 2023