Description

A gay view of the 1950s muscle men magazine industry, and the birth of male body-worship as big business. This inventive blend of fiction and documentary profiles one of the kings of the industry, Bob Mizer, whose gay models both appeared in his magazines and in films.
Daring, visually exciting and wildly enjoyable, Beefcake is Thom Fitzgerald’s provocative follow-up to last year’s The Hanging Garden. With a seamless blending of fiction and documentary, he tells the story of Bob Mizer, the pioneering founder of the Athletic Model Guild (AMG), a company which produced still photographs (for muscle mags like “Adonis” and “Tomorrow’s Man”) and short films, all of which extolled the beauty and chiseled physiques of men. Chaste by today’s standards, AMG’s photos and films were homoerotic images of “the boy next door” filmed against the now campy backdrop of Roman gladiators, prisoners, bikers and bodybuilders. The fiction story follows photographer and enterprising businessman Mizer (Daniel MacIvor), who teamed up with his mother to film his beefy star-wannabes around his sun-drenched pool. It is here that Neil, a naïve, right-off-the-bus teen is lured into using his handsome looks to become a model. The wide-eyed Neil soon learns about the world of sex, prostitution, love and sex. But a police raid and ensuing criminal trial soon threaten both of the men’s worlds. Interspersed with the story are rare archival footage and interviews with former co-workers (including Joe Dallesandro), customers and models who joyfully recount this early era of gay erotica. Humorous, sexy and poetic – an unforgettable homage of the 1950s world of gay erotica and the repressive world which surrounded it.