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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2003)
FILM ........ T ......... * G ay pom, like every other art form, has its canon, and the films of Joe Gage belong in that rarefied realm of early, pioneering pom also occupied by Wakefield Pixile and Jack Deveau. Pooles work (Bijou) is lyrical and arty, Deveau's harshly urban and experi mental (Drive). Gage could he called the pom poet of the queer working class. Gage’s most famous work was the trikrgy that comprised Kansas City Trucking Company (1976), El Paso Wrecking Corp. (1977) and L.A. T<x)l & Die (1979). These were road movies with a Lxrse narrative and loads of raunchy sex featuring some of the legendary stars of the day such as Richard Locke, Fred Halsted, Clay Russell and many others. The films’ status as pre-condom works— the equiva lent of tixlay’s harehacking subgenre— makes them particularly intriguing and, well, sexy. Inexplicably— or perhaps rightly, tearing the overkill that comes when programming pom— the mavens at the seventh annual Portland Lesbian & Gay Film Festival are showing only the second and third films in the trilogy. (See Page 28 for schedule.) Gage, who was hunky enough to play in his own movies, will he on hand to discuss them. Chatting with him by e-mail, Gage proved as engaging as his films. Gary M orris: Can you say something about the circumstances of production for El Paso Wrecking Corp. and L.A . Tool & D iet Joe Gage: The films were completely script ed... including all sexual situations and dia logue. There were only a few “professional rmxlels” around in the early days, hut my pro ducer, Sam Gage, and I sorted through those who were available and also sent word out into A queer close-up Gay erotic film director Joe Gage tells the story behind the sex by G ary M orris the community that we were kxiking for per formers. The sexual revolution was well under way, and the majority of men who applied wanted to appear in the films for political rea sons as much as anything else. G M : How do you see your films in rela tion to todays pom? JG : The early films were made to mirror mainstream movies, with stories, characters, dra matic conflict and resolution. For the most part, tixlay’s hardcore features play more like living stroke magazine layouts. Not that there’s any thing wrong with that. I prefer something with a little more substantial to chew on, so to speak. G M : How was it working with legendary stars like Locke, Russell Halsted, Jack Wran gler and Will Seagers? JG : Richard Locke appeared in all three parts of the trilogy and was a blast to collabo rate with. A real wild child— lived in a shack out in the desert, the last of the true livc-and- let-live hippies. Halsted was a major filmmaker in his own right— some of his films are in the Museum of Mtxlem Art’s permanent collec tion. A great combination of the hutch and the sensitive, he required special handling on set to get the results I was kxiking for. Seagers left a lasting impression on celluloid, but I didn’t get to know him well. Clay Russell was easygoing and cooperative. Locke and Halsted have gone on to their reward. Don’t know what’s become of Seagers, hut I understand Russell is still around. And may 1 add that Jack Wrangler was a pussycat. GM : Any thoughts on how A ID S has changed pom? JG : Wakefield Poole (Boys in the Sand) declared on his great DVD inter view last year that he would never work again until there was a cure; the intrtxluction of condoms killed it for him. I was eroticizing rubbers before AIDS and continue to do so. It’s sad to put barebacking off-limits, but it’s more important to play safe and to encourage others to do so. GM : Some fans have spoken fondly of your featuring more everyday guys rather than hairless gym bunnies. JG : I never went out of my way to empha size the butch or straight attributes of my guys. I always sought to portray them as representa tives of the average, ordinary— for the most part— working-class citizen. On the other Pioneering erotic film director Joe Gage (inset) will attend Portland screenings of the original theatrical versions of two of his movies hand, I have no interest in documenting the hy-the-numhers sexual routines of West Holly- wcxxl escort hoys. There’s no passion there, and the meter’s always running. GM : What are you doing now? JG : 1 took a long hiatus, made or devel oped some mainstream films, wrote a couple of btxiks, raised a family and then decided to start up again. I’ve made some movies for MSR and Odyssey and will start something for another company sometime after the first of the year. JH G ary M o r r is is a Portland free-lance umter who only watches pom to review it, he swears. Party before the movie! Thursday, October 9 A free movie, single women, party, prizes and fu n ! All women seeking women are invited to join Ju st Out for a singles party at Zeba prior to the Sensory Perceptions Lesbian & Gay Film Festival opening night free screening o f Tipping the Velvet. Join us for a lesbian singles gathering from 5 to 7 pm at Zeba, 1222 S.W. Salmon. Enjoy appetizers, no-host bar, fiin, frivolities and a drawing for free prizes!* The film starts 7:30 p.m. at the Guild Theatre, S.W. 9th and Taylor. •Submission of a free voice personal ad makes you eligible for prize drawings.
