Earlier this morning, I woke up watching one of Frank Oz’s mid 90s films called ‘In and Out’ and it made me laugh so much that I feel much better after a serious bout of viral flu that had wrecked havoc on my vital systems since the last three days. And while I’ve been trying to recoup from the aftereffects of the strong antibiotic medication that’s literally drained me of all my remaining energies, I now feel more energetic and relaxed, thanks to Frank Oz’s hilarious movie.
The film In and Out is an interesting take on the concept of being or ‘not being’ Gay and how it can turn ones peaceful life topsy-turvy when one is really not sure. Set in a small and idyllic Mid Western American town, a high school student becomes a famous teenage heartthrob and movie star who eventually goes on to win an Oscar for his very first film where he plays a young Gay marine fighting the Vietnam War. While accepting his ‘Best Actor’ award he affectionately thanks (like most winning actors do with their never ending shower of gratitude to god, their parents, pets and what not) everybody and most importantly his high school teacher ‘Howard Brackett’ (played brilliantly by Kevin Kline) who taught him so many things and what an awesome influence he has been on his life. And in his closing remarks, in front of an entire worldwide television audience, announces that Howard Brackett is ‘Gay’ and thanks him so much for being that.
At that very precise moment of this totally unexpected announcement, the whole town along with its shocked denizens and Howard Brackett himself (and his lovely fiancée) watching television in that frenzy of excitement literally freeze for one whole minute cause they cannot believe what just happened. That sets an interesting tone of events and of mistaken identity for the rest of the movie whereby Howard Brackett, has to face the world and prove to them (and to himself) that he is actually not Gay and that it was a big mistake on part of his juvenile student. He first decides to do some serious introspection himself and goes on to buy this Gay Test kit that comes with an audio tape which you play and act out the instructions that will help you prove your sexual inclinations and preferences. There’s the casual standing test whereby if you have your arm on your waist like a teapot, that’s a good sign that you are gay.
And in another test, there is a song with a disco beat and you are not supposed to dance to it. The announcer funnily enough advises you to think of great macho ‘manly’ movie stars like John Wayne and Arnold Schwarzenegger who don’t ever dance let alone walk straight in their movies. But here we have Howard Brackett dancing and cannot stop himself only to finally realize that he may actually be Gay after all. For one, he’s been engaged for three full years with his fiancée but has never slept with her cause ‘he respects’ her. And the next thing you know, the whole town is abuzz with the media descending upon this sleepy town to find this elusive and influential ‘Gay’ teacher of this Oscar winning star. There’s television anchors everywhere interviewing the teachers’ hair stylist, his colleagues, and even the mailman, this frail looking old midget of a man who during his interview goes on to say that he has never seen anything unusual about Howard Brackett and then after checking with the Anchor if it’s being telecast nationally says, ‘for god’s sake people, please write the full zip codes’.
Well, the entire movie is a laugh riot with some really silly jokes and Frank Oz taking his dig on the Oscars too.
While I am at all this, what I have come to realize is that when you are really feeling sick (as in unwell) it’s very comforting and downright soothing to watch a funny movie, maybe one of Frank Oz’s, you can take your pick from, say the classic ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’, or the more recent ‘Death at a Funeral’ and discover how a hearty laugh during your sickness can do wonders to your health and help you recoup faster.
As for Frank Oz, even at 66 he continues to entertain the world with his magical and comical creativity. Here’s a bit of interesting Frank Oz trivia for you; He’s the man behind the famous ‘Sesame Street’ kids program on television right from 1969 to this day. He’s the original creator of the Muppet Movie and its adorable characters including the sexy Ms Piggy and Kermit the frog and to go even further, Frank Oz is the voice and puppeteer behind the Jedi master Yoda in all of the Star Wars series of movies that we have either loathed or loved to watch all these years.
And by the way, one very distinct and rather absurd thing I noticed while watching the movie ''In and Out' on HBO this morning was that while it had its usual dose of English subtitles (which seems to be the norm of the day for all those ambitious English movie channels broadcasting across a nation of predominantly non English speaking audience especially from Cooch Bihar), there was never a subtitle of the word ‘ Gay’ during the entire duration of the movie in spite of the fact that there must have been a thousand times this word would have been spoken throughout the film. In a country that ‘seems’ to have become upwardly mobile, progressive and liberated with recent Bollywood hits like ‘Dostana’ being made and so much media buzz created around the whole LGBT hype, what damage were the censors trying to prevent by knocking off the word Gay from the subtitles when that’s the actual and essential fun element of the film. I don’t get it and neither will those clueless viewers in Cooch Bihar.
While I am at all this, what I have come to realize is that when you are really feeling sick (as in unwell) it’s very comforting and downright soothing to watch a funny movie, maybe one of Frank Oz’s, you can take your pick from, say the classic ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’, or the more recent ‘Death at a Funeral’ and discover how a hearty laugh during your sickness can do wonders to your health and help you recoup faster.
As for Frank Oz, even at 66 he continues to entertain the world with his magical and comical creativity. Here’s a bit of interesting Frank Oz trivia for you; He’s the man behind the famous ‘Sesame Street’ kids program on television right from 1969 to this day. He’s the original creator of the Muppet Movie and its adorable characters including the sexy Ms Piggy and Kermit the frog and to go even further, Frank Oz is the voice and puppeteer behind the Jedi master Yoda in all of the Star Wars series of movies that we have either loathed or loved to watch all these years.
And by the way, one very distinct and rather absurd thing I noticed while watching the movie ''In and Out' on HBO this morning was that while it had its usual dose of English subtitles (which seems to be the norm of the day for all those ambitious English movie channels broadcasting across a nation of predominantly non English speaking audience especially from Cooch Bihar), there was never a subtitle of the word ‘ Gay’ during the entire duration of the movie in spite of the fact that there must have been a thousand times this word would have been spoken throughout the film. In a country that ‘seems’ to have become upwardly mobile, progressive and liberated with recent Bollywood hits like ‘Dostana’ being made and so much media buzz created around the whole LGBT hype, what damage were the censors trying to prevent by knocking off the word Gay from the subtitles when that’s the actual and essential fun element of the film. I don’t get it and neither will those clueless viewers in Cooch Bihar.
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