Boys in the Sand

Boys in the Sand
Original newspaper ad
Directed byWakefield Poole
Written byWakefield Poole
Produced byWakefield Poole
Marvin Shulman
StarringCasey Donovan
Peter Fisk
Danny Di Cioccio
Tommy Moore
Distributed byPoolemar
Release date
  • December 29, 1971 (1971-12-29)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8,000 USD (estimated)

Boys in the Sand is a landmark[1] American gay pornographic film, released early in the Golden Age of Porn. The 1971[2] film was directed by Wakefield Poole and stars Casey Donovan.[3] It was the first gay porn film to include credits and to be reviewed by the film industry journal Variety,[4] and one of the earliest porn films – after Andy Warhol's 1969 film Blue Movie,[5][6][7][8] but preceding 1972's Deep Throat – to gain mainstream credibility.

Produced on a budget of about $8,000,[3] the film collects three segments depicting Donovan's sexual adventures at a gay beach resort. Promoted by Poole with an advertising campaign unprecedented for a pornographic feature, it premiered in 1971 at the 253-seat[9] 55th Street Playhouse in Manhattan,[10][9] where it was an immediate critical and commercial success.[3] The film brought Donovan international recognition. A sequel Boys in the Sand II was eventually released in 1986, but in the much-changed film and porn markets did not match the success of the original.

The film's title is a parodic reference to the 1968 Mart Crowley play The Boys in the Band, which had been adapted into a 1970 film of the same name.[11]

  1. ^ Powell, Mimi; Scott Dagostino; Bhisham Kinha. "The Porn Power List". FAB magazine. Archived from the original on February 22, 2008. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
  2. ^ "40 Years of Gay History: the Early Seventies". Advocate.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved November 5, 2007.
  3. ^ a b c 'Wakefield Poole: Theater, Dance, and Porn' Archived January 31, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, The Rialto Report, audio interview with Wakefield Poole
  4. ^ Jeffrey Escoffier, "Beefcake to Hardcore: Gay Pornography and the Sexual Revolution," in Sex Scene. Media and the Sexual Revolution, ed. Eric Schaefer, Duke University Press, 2014, ISBN 9780822356424, pp. 319-347, at p. 319.
  5. ^ Canby, Vincent (July 22, 1969). "Movie Review - Blue Movie (1968) Screen: Andy Warhol's 'Blue Movie'". The New York Times. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  6. ^ Canby, Vincent (August 10, 1969). "Warhol's Red Hot and 'Blue' Movie. D1. Print. (behind paywall)". The New York Times. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  7. ^ Comenas, Gary (1969). "July 21, 1969: Andy Warhol's Blue Movie Opens". WarholStars.org. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  8. ^ Haggerty, George E. (2015). A Companion to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 339. ISBN 9781119000853. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  9. ^ a b Staff (2004). "55th Street Playhouse - 154 E. 55th Street, New York, New York 10022". CinemaTreasures.org. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  10. ^ Lassen, Amos (April 20, 2014). ""Boys in the Sand"— One of the Most Successful Gay Films of All Time". GLBT Film. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  11. ^ Halter, Ed (June 18, 2002). "Return to Paradise". Village Voice. Retrieved November 10, 2017.