I wasn't happy when
Casper (1995) made the
Harvey Comics character into a real ghost -- a dead boy -- rather than a magical being, and then eliminated the gay subtext by giving him a girlfriend. So, by implication, I wasn't happy with the star, 16-year old Devon Sawa.
But I forgave him when he starred in a string of homoromantic buddy-bonding movies (most required extensive shirtless and underwear shots and skinny-dipping scenes for teenage fans to gaze at):
1.
Night of the Twisters (1996), based on the novel by Ivy Ruckman. Nebraska teens Dan (Devon) and Arthur (Amos Crawley) try to find their families during a spate of tornados. Unfortunately, there's a fade-out-kiss conclusion.
2.
The Boys Club (1997). Ontario teens Eric (Devon), his boyfriend Kyle (
Dominic Zamprogna), and their friend Brad (Stuart Stone), who seem too old for a clubhouse, are terrorized by an escaped con (Chris Penn).
3.
Wild America (1997). Three "brothers" (Devon,
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Scott Bairstow) head out into the wilderness to make a movie.
Meanwhile Devon was getting the full teen-idol treatment, with dozens of photo shoots in teen idol magazines and interviewers asking such probing questions as "What kind of girls do you like?"
His teen idol career lasted for only a few years. Then he was relegated to sleazy horror films like
Idle Hands (1999), Final Destination (1999)
, and
Devil's Den (2006), or sleazy teen sex comedies like
Slackers (2002).
More recently Devon has re-invented himself as an action hero, the heavily-muscled, heavily-tattooed assassin Owen in
Nikita (2010-2013), or the unscrupulous cop-turned-detective Nico in
Somewhere Between (2017).
Mostly the kind, sympathetic women and rough, aggressive men bit. Not a lot of buddy bonding.
There's a sausage sighting story on
Tales of West Hollywood
But I forgave him when he starred in a string of homoromantic buddy-bonding movies (most required extensive shirtless and underwear shots and skinny-dipping scenes for teenage fans to gaze at):
I've heard of Wild America. Never heard of Devon Sawa. But I do think more make nudity in movies is a must, so a here's to three naked guys in a mainstream movie during the homophobic 90s.
ReplyDeleteThis semi-documentary was entertaining.There were lots of shirt-off shots. I don't recall it being gay-pos or gay-neg overall, but if I saw it again, I believe I would find it homophobic, due to my new, increased sensitivity
ReplyDeleteThe 'three nude guys' (actually four but one's just off-camera in that shot) are from NOW AND THEN, a girls-bonding movie. The girls catch the boys skinny-dipping, Little Lulu style, and steal their clothes, forcing them to run through the woods to retrieve them. It spawned an urban myth among girls that you could see his penis if you paused just at the right moment. (Spoiler: Of course you can't. All four boys have modesty pouches. And Devon was the oldest at fifteen so shame on you.)
ReplyDelete