Beautiful Thing (1996)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Hettie Macdonald

Writers:

Jonathan Harvey (written by)
Jonathan Harvey (play)

Release Date:

9 October 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

An urban fairytale.

Plot:

In a suburb of London, young Jamie is escaping sport hours, to avoid being the victim of his comrades. Young Ste, his neighbor, is beaten by his father, and comes to sleep overnight. They discover new feelings, sleeping in the same bed.

Plot Keywords:

Housing Estate | Club | Single Mother | Gay Kiss | Single Father

Awards:

4 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Meera Syal	...	Miss Chauhan
Martin Walsh	...	Mr. Bennett
Steven M. Martin	...	Ryan McBride (as Steven Martin)
Andrew Fraser	...	Jayson
John Savage	...	Lenny
Scott Neal	...	Ste Pearce
Glen Berry	...	Jamie Gangel
Julie Smith	...	Gina
Linda Henry	...	Sandra Gangel
Jeillo Edwards	...	Rose
Tameka Empson	...	Leah Russell
Anna Karen	...	Marlene
Garry Cooper	...	Ronnie Pearce
Ben Daniels	...	Tony
Daniel Bowers	...	Trevor Pearce

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, pervasive strong language and some drug content.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Singapore:(Banned) | Australia:MA | Finland:K-8 | France:U | Germany:12 | Italy:T | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Anchor Pub, Rotherhithe, London, England, UK

Company:

Channel Four Films

Trivia:

Cameo: [Jonathan Harvey]Screenwriter appears as the Wheelchair Queen in the scene in the Gloucester pub.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jamie is about to steal a copy of "Gay Times", the magazines next to "Gay Times" are "Auto Trader" is wide-shots, but "Playboy" in close-ups.

Quotes:

Sandra: What happened? School burned down, did it?
Jamie: Yeah.
Sandra: What was it this time? IRA bomb?
Jamie: Fundamentalist Muslim pyromaniacs.
Sandra: Oh, funny, that. Looked all right when I walked past it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Another Gay Movie (2006)

Soundtrack:

Welcome To The World

Self discovery and first love

Gay or straight, this is one of the finest movies ever made about self discovery and teenage love. Albeit the end is a little wishful and optimistic, the characters and situations are perfectly developed and realized, ringing true in almost every scene. This movie makes me smile on every level...from the way the two boys discover their affection for one another, the wonderful comedy relief from the next door neighbor Leah (and her relationship with the entire tenement population), and the perfect choice of soundtrack music from Mama Cass that, at times, seems written specifically for certain scenes and works on both a nostalgic and familiarity level. This movie gets better with every viewing...and I'd love to see what happened to each of the characters in a sequal.

This movie is, without a doubt, very personal to all gay men and women who came out during their youth and a favorite of all of my friends, both gay and straight.