The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) is a powerful "benchmark" documentary made by Robert Epstein and Richard Schmiechen et al. It's a highly relevant and contemporary film even at the edge of 2008/2009.
I highly recommend The 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition, restored and with lots of interesting extras, including short interview clips of Gay rights activist and San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk (5/22/1930-11/27/1978) and an update on his assassin, supervisor Dan White, who committed suicide in 1985.
The Times of Harvey Milk has certain things that don't feature in Gus Van Sant's also powerful and also Oscar-worthy Milk (2008), such as how San Francisco was effected by the Jonestown Massacre, the timing of which may have at least partly tipped Dan White into a homicidal rage (he shot and killed Mayor George Moscone and Milk less than two weeks after the Guyana tragedy).
When White, a Vietnam War veteran*, was given a lenient sentence in 1979 -- after his lawyers successfully employed the "twinkie defense" -- the White Night Riots erupted. (The name "White Night Riots" is presumably a play off Jonestown's "White Nights" and Dan White's surname). Here's a link to an official clip from The Times of Harvey Milk that ends there:
http://www.tellingpictures.com/harveymilk/main.html
*Harvey Milk was also a veteran, having served in the US Navy during the Korean War era and ended his military career as a junior grade lieutenant.
Today's Rune: Separation (Reversed).
5 comments:
Slate magazine's "Cultural Gabfest" podcast installment the other day had an interesting discussion of the Van Sant film and what it represents, coming along 20 years after events.
I was unaware of the Jonestown connections. Interesting.
I read in Wikipedia's article on Dan White that he confided to a friend that he had planned on killing two others that day-- others he felt had hindered his career. That knowledge certainly would have affected the jury's decision-- that his act was calculated and premeditated.
My parents were living in San Jose, California when White was released on parole. They were among many who were outraged not only by his lenient sentence, but his early release.
I was discussing the Jonestown massacre with a friend at work the other night. I remember the news, but remembered that I hadn't paid much attention to it. I finally realized why I hadn't noticed it back in 1978; here in Chicago, the big news story was John Wayne Gacy. A kid at my high school found the first body, in the Des Plaine's river, while he was ice-fishing. The story was so shocking-- and local-- that other news stories got buried.
Deeply closeted in 1977, I remember thinking that Milk was an unfortunate choice for such a public role. I had wanted an unassailably handsome, well-spoken, non-confrontational man (maybe with a LaCoste shirt and a tan -- after all, it was the late 70s). Instead there he was on TV, shouting into a megaphone -- had a Kennedy ever used a megaphone? Who the hell did I think I was, a Democratic Karl Rove? (God forbid.)
After the spiritual cleansing involved in coming out, I came to see the world in less confining and less self-conscious terms -- which is to say, lees of a publicist and more of a human being (no offense against publicists). I began to appreciate Milk for who he was and what he was trying to do. When he was shouting, he was saying that he cared about the lonely gay kid in PA or Ohio whose sublimated passions ran to an obsessive knowledge of old movies or about the alcoholic bachelor teacher living on the edge of town whose late-night thoughts turned to youthful opportunities lost and an ever-present fear of being found out. Milk yelled and sometimes cursed -- for them. For me.
And he died as many do who stand up to the bully state/church/industrial complex. God rest him and all the others who fell the same way for the same reasons.
You have an array of information on your blog! I'm going to go through all your archives...
Thanks all, for the comments!
Sidney, it's thirty(!) years, but twenty plus since the documenary first came out.
Johnny, the Clown Killer thing creeped me out, but I didn't pay too much attention to that one at the time.
Mark, thanks for the excellent insights. What came across to me (and I really only got it when the documentary came out in 84/85), was Harvey Milk's charisma, his life force and determination. That trumped anything else for me. Milk reinforces that via Sean Penn, who is right on.
Leon, thanks so much! I'll check your blog out very soon.
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