The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)

Director:

Rob Epstein

Writers:

Judith Coburn (narration)
Carter Wilson (narration)

Release Date:

20 September 1985 (Finland)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

A documentary of the successful career and assasination of San Francisco's first elected gay councillor.

Plot Keywords:

Politician | Profanity | Riot | Jewish | Gay Rights

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Harvey Milk	...	Himself (archive footage)
Harvey Fierstein	...	Narrator (voice)
Anne Kronenberg	...	Herself
Tory Hartmann	...	Herself
Tom Ammiano	...	Himself
Jim Elliot	...	Himself
Henry Der	...	Himself
Jeannine Yeomans	...	Herself
Bill Kraus	...	Himself
Sally M. Gearhart	...	Herself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Briggs	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jerry Brown	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jimmy Carter	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dianne Feinstein	...	Herself (archive footage)
David Fowler	...	Himself - TV Interviewer of Dan White (archive footage)
Joseph Freitas	...	Himself (archive footage)
Terence Hallinan	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Moscone	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dan White	...	Himself (archive footage)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Black Sand Productions

Quotes:

[first lines]
Dianne Feinstein: As president of the board of supervisors, it's my duty to make this announcement. Both Mayor Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Boys Life: Three Stories of Love, Lust, and Liberation (1994)

9/10

Epstein (and Friedman) make documentaries by assembling talking heads, news footage, and narration -- they make documentaries about events and phenomena, not about detailing lives as they happen. This is an event timepiece, and it hits a weak spot in me -- it's a good movie regardless, but it twists something that makes my heart ache. The movie itself might not warrant such a high rating, but what it depicts does evoke very strong emotions, specifically in the last half hour: you come out of the movie shattered and raging. It's a very lean hour and-a-half, and it manages to cram in as much of a sense of the time, at least in terms of the gay perspective, as possible. Epstein's movie is about the gay experience, but he's not a propagandist: he's more than willing to show that the Democratic Jimmy Carter didn't want to be photographed with Milk, that his sister offered to "cure" Milk of his homosexuality through religion; and he's open to showing that Ronald Reagan, much despised in the gay community, did not support California's Proposition 6, which would make it legal to fire existing teachers who were openly gay.

The film's aim is to make a martyr out of Milk -- but then, he is one, isn't he? He knew his own assassination was coming, or felt that it could; it's why he taped his own will assuming it might be heard if in fact he was assassinated (though he likely wouldn't have known it would be an angry former fellow city supervisor who would kill him). When the head of the city supervisors announces that the mayor and Milk have been killed, presumably by Dan White, distraught about not being re-selected as a city supervisor after resigning the position and then wanting it back, it's like an electric shock to the back of your neck, the crowd of news reporters shrieking in disbelief. The story is famous: White, who shoots Milk five times (once in the head), is found guilty only of voluntary manslaughter (and eventually released after just five and-a-half years), and his trial findings result in a street mob. That mob mentality grosses me out, but when citizens furious with the ruling start to firebomb police cars in the street, I couldn't help but feel for them and root them on; this kind of spit in the face to the gay community (and the memory of two dead, innocent men) deserves a gut reaction. There's a difference between mobs fueled by hate and mobs fueled by injustice. When someone says, "We are reacting with anger because we are ANGRY" you feel that anger. When we see thousands of people in the darkened street holdings candles over their heads, you might begin to weep. 9/10