Saturday Night at the Baths-Director's Cut

After watching this movie, I was surprised by the low ratings it received. The acting by the main characters was better than expected. In spots, quite good. The story itself - a bit underwhelming. On the technical side, I wasn't expecting much given the reviews, but it really wasn't all that bad. This afterall, is a seventies independent film. Making films back then must have been quite a bit more expensive and challenging, so hats off to the people who produced it.What I really wanted to see was New York City in the 70's, and the pre-AIDS gay scene in particular. The Baths are, of course, an iconic feature of that time, so I was hoping to get a good sense of the place, in the way that the movie "54, The Director's Cut" gives you a feeling for that nightclub in the same era. Unfortunately, after watching the movie, I don't really feel like I know what it was like to visit the Baths.The scene with the impersonators (I don't know or care what the PC word is) was fun, and they were better than good, but overall, I didn't get the feeling that this was a balls to the wall show that only the gay subculture of the day could produce. The movie felt disjointed at times, and frankly, I could do with less background on why the piano player felt uncomfortable around gay guys. Seriously, I wanted to tell him to just quit already. But maybe that storyline was more relevant in the seventies.It's hard to be too critical with this film, since it is a bit of a time capsule. So I enjoyed it for what it was, and that's not half bad. Perhaps now that the AIDS era is well behind us - I know, I know, people still get AIDS - this effort might inspire a new film about gay life in late seventies NYC, including the bathhouses. With all the craziness and danger of that city in the seventies, it had one thing sorely lacking today - an incredible sense of freedom, and joy. I can't imagine anything more joyless than being a young gay guy today on any college campus. The PC dogma, political indoctrination, unisex bathrooms (dear Lord, what gay guy wants girls in their bathroom!) and Hillary buttons. Did they wear Mamie Eisenhower buttons to the Baths in the seventies? I didn't think so. Ugh.

There are two versions of this movie on DVD, both released by Water Bearer Films, but they are very different. Get the SECOND version! Amazon in its bizarre drive toward consolidation lumps together reviews for the two DVDs. To be absolutely sure:*BUY* THIS DVD:  Saturday Night at the Baths-Director's Cut ! It has a guy's torso in a white towel on the cover, with the title like a blue bumper sticker over his crotch.*DO NOT BUY* THIS DVD:  Saturday Night at the Baths ! It has a murky, black and pink cover with facing profiles and the title between them in the center.The first was a chopped-up version released without the director's participation in 2006. Later an uncut version of the movie was found in the director's files and released as "director's cut" on a new DVD in 2008. The second DVD not only is a cleaner copy with better video and audio, but it includes several minutes of footage missing from the first DVD.Most important **BY FAR** is a five-minute love scene between Scotti and Michael that not only balances the earlier scene between Michael and Tracey but blows it clean out of the water. The scene with Tracey is a sex scene; the scene with Scotti is a love scene, infinitely more sensual, passionate, romantic and erotic than the mechanical humping with Tracey. The gay love scene alone kills forever the criticism that this movie is worth watching only for its documenting of a life and a world long gone. It qualifies this as a very good movie in its own right and one of the sexiest gay moves of that or any era.The new DVD also includes an extensive, fantastic making-of interview with the director David Buckley and a wide-ranging interview with Steve Ostrow, owner of the Baths - both filmed recently - which were not on the first DVD; and a few extra seconds of the magical Jane Olivor performance of "Pretty Girl" and of the fabulous Judy impersonator lost from the first DVD.Don't bother renting and certainly don't buy the butchered 2006 DVD with two pink profiles on a black cover; BUY the 2008 director's cut DVD with the guy in the towel. You won't regret it.

A blast from the past. I started to give it 4* but put it down to three. Maybe back then we did not get very good filmsat all, so when something not too bad came along we were over the moon. Looking at it now, the so called straightcouple do not ring true, maybe its because there so wooden in their acting. If there was less of them it could havebeen so much better. I'm glad I got the updated version of this film with the M-M sex scene that is now included.It's still quite tame even for these days. I'm glad that there is extras so you can hear eg the director's view etc.

I'm so sad to give this relese only 2 stars. I've been waiting 25 years to get this movie on tape or DVD. Close to the end of the film, in the original version, there is a beautiful scene of the two men lying together, naked. There is no "action", no pornography, they could be asleep, but it was a breath-takingly beautiful camera pan of their two bodies. That scene has been removed. Although there is lots of casual nudity between the heterosexual couple at the beginning of the movie, in this release there is simply a rough cut from the two men sharing a kiss to the one coming home and telling his girl friend that "something happened". I am astounded that the movie was butchered in this way. I am returning the copy that I purchased. I am very disappointed. If you have a memory of this movie I suggest that you stick with your memory rather than take this neutered version.

Ein schöner Film über eine Zeit, in der ich noch nicht gelebt habe....in der Zeit wahrscheinlich ein Skandalfilm...habeden Kauf nicht bereut

great