Mark Lester: Jack Wild's boyfriend moves on to sleazy hetero cringe, buddy-bonds with Michael Jackson, shows his backside on the grass

It seems that every kid is forced to see Oliver! (1968)   Their parents think that the musical is somehow educational because it's roughly based on Oliver Twist.

I saw it on DVD a few years ago, after two doses of the live musical, in high school and in L.A.  Not my favorite: all about child abuse, domestic violence, and other fun stuff, with a heterosexist "true love" plot.  

But I liked the gay-subtext buddy-bonding between the streetwise Artful Dodger (15-year old Jack Wild) and the cherubic innocent Oliver (10-year old Mark Lester).

 

I knew Jack Wild from H. R. Pufnstuf, but I heard nothing more about Mark Lester for many years. During the early 2000s, I was writing an article on demonic children in the movies, and I found that the cherubic Mark Lester spent his pubescence playing violent or creepy, or both.  His characters seemed uncomfortable with their bodies, ravaged by uncontrollable desires, and obsessively heterosexual.

In Eyewitness (1970), also released as Sudden Terror, 12-year old Ziggy (Mark) witnesses a murder on the Mediterranean island of Malta,  and is pursued by the killer.  He goes on the lam, along with his girlfriend.

In Melody (1971), 10-year old Daniel (Mark) falls in love with a girl and decides to marry her. The adults disapprove of a 10-year old getting married, but it's the heart of the counterculture, and "true love" is always right.

Jack Wild plays his gay-subtext budd.

In What the Peeper Saw (1972), also released as Night Hair Child and Diabolica malicia, 14-year old Marcus (Mark) isattracted to his father's new wife (Britt Eklund).  She shares his interest, and they start a relationship. They conspire to kill Dad so they can be together. But is she really conspiring to kill Marcus? 

In Who Slew Auntie Roo (1972), 14-year old Christopher (Mark)  tries to rescue his sister from the demented Mrs. Forrest (Shelley Winters), who is holding her prisoner in the attic. 

More after the break