La Mission

La Mission is an interesting indy film about an old school cholo father living in the Mission district of SanFrancisco with his teenage son. Not to get all spoilerific on you or anything but his son is homosexual and in a relationship with someone, and is hiding it from his very macho father. The father is played by one of the most delicious actors in the world Benjamin Bratt. They live in a giant victorian house that has been turned into apartments. Their neighbor is a lady Lena played by Erica 'Maxine from Living Single' Alexander. She is an organic, natural haired, bicycle riding earth mama that is trying her best to fit into the predominantly Latin neighborhood.

Benjamin's character Che is an ex con who now drives a bus and works on lowriders in his free time. He belongs to an old school car club that goes crusing to the oldies every Friday night. They meet up with other car clubs under the bridge and chill and listen to music and dance. It's a pretty mello life he lives, until he finds evidence of his son's relationship and confronts him about it. Naturally he cannot cope and father and son are on the outs. Lena gets caught in the middle of the mele' and is a catalyst for Che's understanding of his son. The change takes a long time to happen. Lena and Che begin something very sweet and refreshing to see on screen. I liked that he was genuinely attracted to her though she was nothing like him. There was a sweetness between them that was wonderful to see. Lena holds a mirror to Che to force him to look at himself, and doesn't allow him to bullshit his way out of things. This film has some complex issues that aren't sugar coated or swept under the table. The script does a great job of getting everything out, and showing Che's transformation into an unconditionally loving father. Great film making. More please.

Wrangler- Anatomy of an Icon

Wrangler anatomy of an Icon is nearly a literal phrase; as Wrangler is Jack Wrangler the world’s first extremely popular gay male porn star; and the anatomy is literally is man junk. At the dawning of the sexual revolution, and the gay liberation movement, Jack was the right man at the right time. Ironically our man Jack grew up in a very well to do Los Angeles publishing family and struggled to find his professional voice, as well as his sexual identity in his early twenties, when he fell into porn acting. He’d then change his last name to Wrangler, after the very manly denim jeans, and a star was born. Jack would star in the very popular gay men’s film ‘Kansas City Trucking Company’ and become a porn sensation. He was the quintessential gay male fantasy, with his blond hair, deep tan skin, and oiled muscles. Many weren’t aware that he was actually sort of a short shy man in person, who really struggled with his self image, and sense of attractiveness in real life. At the height of his popularity, he’d book dates at porn theaters to meet fans, and do monologues whilst stripping and giving the full Monty. Jack would become so popular that a penis pump would be named after him called the acu- Jack. This pump would be mentioned a decade or so later in one of Prince’s songs called ‘Sexuality’.

It didn’t take long for Jack’s family to get wind of his shenanigans. Jack worried what his very controlling and withholding father would say about him being in these films. Oddly enough his dad was sort of proud of him, go figure. Jack would have several long gay relationships, but as his popularity grew his relationships would rip in half.

What made Jack a legend was his then bridge into straight porn. The gay community felt betrayed, and duped as Jack’s success skyrocketed into the stratosphere. Jack would star as the devil in ‘The Devil in Miss Jones.’ Movie series. Porn would become chic in the mid 70’s and viewing porn would become the fashion of the time. His fame would allow him to hob knob among other celebrities, and receive star treatment wherever he went. One night while at an upscale club for dinner the 40’s pop singer Margaret Whiting would catch his eye, and they would begin dating though Jack was nearly 20 years her junior. Jack and Maggie would fall madly in love and eventually marry despite the protests of Maggie’s grown daughter. The natural snags would happen as when a straight woman marries a gay man. However, regardless of the nastiness their love endured. Jack would leave porn to teach music to kids, then write a musical for Broadway that would win him awards. Jack would die of cancer in April of 2009 leaving an amazing entertainment legacy.