Lonely Gym Boys, Lonely Boys in Drag, Lonely Boys Watch Film

[dotinthesky]

The lonely muscle boys were at the gym this morning. I shouldn't be surprised: they are always there. At night, when the gym shuts down, they press a button near the mirrors surrounding the bicycles and mattresses fall from the ceiling. They shower in the locker room, making sure they never make eye contact. They pop coins into the isotonic drinks machine for a late night apperitif (if they have run out of protein powder for their shakes). They have much to talk about: are you using the 20kg dumbell? Can I use the bench press after you? Do you want to spot me? Your arms are looking awesome today...

I leave the lonely muscle boys around noon, buy some food at Budgens (which is not a supermarket name meant to imply "budget"), come home to my boy then realize that the b.o. stink hovering in the gym originated from my armpits. After throwing my clothes in the incinerator, taking a shower and eating, we rendez-vous at Brick Lane with a couple of Finnish friends.

London's dreary rain destroys our umbrellas. Everybody looks young and messy to perfection in Brick Lane. Vintage clothes carry pricier tags than downtown fashion labels. Cappuccinos in hand, we find Anu and Osmo in the Up Market. At a deserted nearby bar, we talk about The Science of Sleep, jobs and moving to Canada while Anu flicks through a Tuscan cookbook she bought at Borders. Next to our table, a girl crawls all over empty sofas and licks her hand as if she's a cat.

They no longer make films like The French Connection (which is what we just watched). The director, I learned in the book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (an exposé of Hollywood in the 70s) went on to direct The Exorcist, then crash & burn like most people that decade. New York City looked terrible in the early 70s. Brooklyn was practically a bomb site. During the film, I imagine the New York Dolls wandering just beyond the cameras, in the same freezing cold, degenerate megalopolis where the film is set; boys in drag, in their late teens, performing for the first time at the homeless shelter Endicott Hotel that Christmas, while Gene Hackman, blocks away, races against a french sniper or beats up drug dealers in leather coats and bell-bottoms.

I look out for the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, but it doesn't feature in any of the film's scenes. Gene Hackman's character mentions a visit to the Empire State Building, but nada on the Twin Towers. It's as if the Twin Towers were too remote and monolithic to feature in such a gritty and grimy film.

Comments

[rojagato.livejournal.com]

I so loved reading this -- I can see everything that you write about.

The French Connection was released in 1971; in 1970 (when, presumably, exterior filming took place) the WTC looked like this -- there really wasn't a twin for the the Twin Towers. WTC 2 wasn't completed until 1972, I think. It's been a while since I saw the movie, but from what I remember of the main exterior locations, I'm not sure that that the WTC, in Battery Park, would have been in the long focus anyway?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

There are a few shots of them driving over bridges; and there's the scene when the french star arrives in New York by boat and is interviewed by TV. You can see the Empire State Building in the back (i think?) but not the WTC. From your link, it now makes sense to me.

[kevyn-kronycles.livejournal.com]

LOL - I love your write up of the muscle gym buddies...too true

hovering stink

[saint-narcissus.livejournal.com]

ay, m' boy,
and did you travel homeward
with this "b.o. stink... hovering from your armpits"
on the Tube?
I should hope not!

Re: hovering stink

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

No, I walked home. But I do recall a stopover at the local supermarket, which may have caused a few deaths.