In San Francisco in 1985, news of screen legend Rock Hudson’s illness is across the news and the gay community is starting to come to terms with the fact that they are especially vulnerable to a deadly new disease. That might well impact on the lives of a professional dance troupe in which both “Frankie” (Scott Marlowe) and “Todd” (Matthew Risch) work. The latter, older and more experienced man, has made it clear that he supplements his thirty week a year income with some extracurricular activities and this doesn’t sit so well with the anxious “Frankie” so initially he keeps him at arms length. Then, with an important performance looming, the pair start to bond a little and we start to explore something of what makes them tick. Aside from the fact that both of these actors, and many of the supporting cast, are clearly lithe and adept dancers there is also quite a compelling effort provided by Marlowe as a lad who is used to having fairly regular sex and who is now nervous as hell that he might have contracted the virus. On a broader level, some of his friends are erring on the side of condom-caution, others carrying on regardless and some abstaining altogether, so what should he responsibly do? Medical science is still on the back foot with regard to HIV and it’s only when they develop a blood test that it becomes possible to alert potential sufferers of their positivity. Might it be better to know, even when there is no possible treatment, or is ignorance a better policy? Perhaps the tests in question don’t just involve a needle? It’s the timeframe, the context and the dancing that helps this along more than the often quite bland dialogue and Marlowe does quite well as his character begins to exhibit some of the fears that so many gay men felt at a time when panic and stigma were way more prevalent that accurate information. There’s also a fair degree of Bronski Beat from the soundtrack, too, and “Smalltown Boy” has lyrics that remind us that even without this “plague”, being gay in itself was not always so easy. It avoids any cheesy sentimentality, slushy romance and features some stylishly choreographed dance routines, and as a gay time capsule from quite a scary 1985 is worth ninety minutes.
