"Buddies" is so remarkable a gay drama that viewing it today, in a beautiful new transfer from DVD company Vinegar Syndrome, is akin to getting a queer-themed transmission from deep space. "Buddies" was the inspiration of genius gay filmmaking pioneer Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. A New York native, "Artie" to his friends was a prolific creator of gay erotic dramas, such as "Forbidden Letters" and "Passing Strangers."
Apart from his gay sex dramas, Artie was known for the political doc "Thank You, Mr. President," a compilation of the news conferences of Pres. John F. Kennedy; "GAY USA," a doc highlighting several LGBTQ Pride parades in 1978; and in 1980, "Abuse," a hard-hitting docudrama on the plight of a gay teen, starring Raphael Sbarge, a young actor who went on to co-star in the 1983 Tom Cruise comedy "Risky Business."
Artie's final film, "Buddies" is a deft comedy-drama in which some may perceive traces of the filmmaking DNA of the classic Hollywood screwball comedy genius Frank Capra. It opens in a Manhattan hospital room where Robert Willow (the late Geoff Edholm) lies in a ward for terminally ill AIDS patients. Enter David (David Schachter), an earnest but scared young Jewish gay man who comes wrapped up in plastic as if he were embarking on a spacewalk.
Robert speaks first: "Who the fuck are you?"
The answer to that question takes up the first hour of this 1985 drama, a film that predates by a decade the life-saving HIV drug cocktails. "Buddies" belongs to a second generation of AIDS dramas, such as the late Bill Sherwood's brilliant "Parting Glances." Like its creator, it's sex positive, and includes two masturbation scenes that were controversial at the time. The term "buddy" was coined during the early years of AIDS, when the LGBT community was scrambling to devise means to aid the afflicted while fighting Reagan-era bureaucrats to get new drugs into the treatment system as fast as possible.
The DVD/Blu-Ray package comes with a powerful new interview with actor David Schachter, who describes the mid-80s as a time that "was blunt and bleak and not hopeful," plus an interview with film historian Thomas Waugh, who provides an overview of the film world of that era. Following a lightning-fast nine-day shooting schedule, "Buddies" had its world premiere at the Castro Theatre on Sept. 12, 1985. The film was part of small wave of AIDS-themed plays and films, including "As Is" and Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart."
Artie Bressan was a larger-than-life artist who used to cruise for men outside the old Star Pharmacy (now Walgreens) at 18th St. and Castro. He had a zest for life that kept him constantly on the move: writing, shooting, editing films, and singing Christmas carols on mix tapes for friends. A mentor and friend who nurtured my own early film career, Artie's death in 1987 left a huge vacuum that, like the death of Harvey Milk, has yet to be filled.