I found this recently at a Gay site having never even heard of it. I do remember Scott Baio of course, from his many roles in American TV and movies. I was very surprised at how powerful Scott's acting was considering the fluff he is usually in. In contrast to the reviews here, I would say that it has a pretty positive spin in that (SPOILER) Alex's best friend Brad (ScottBaio) stands by him against some pretty tough pressure from teammates, the coach, his girlfriend AND his own father. I don't know how many high school kids would do that in real life. And frankly, I think everyone in that era would have turned against the lone Gay kid. I graduated from high school not too much before this movie was made and I can tell you it was exactly like this movie portrayed in the high school I went to. This was simultaneously a heartwarming and sad story, but I still highly recommend it. ********10/15/2014 I just watched this again last night. I also read all the reviews here. One mentioned there was an "INTERVENTION" when the Alex went to the Gay bar. NO it was not an intervention Keep in mind these are HIGH SCHOOL kids and Alex's father was worried. Plus Scott knew the bashers were going to the Gay bar to be amused. Another thing I noticed but didn't want to mention before, it is increasingly tiring how much the coach had to say to "Scott" and Alex about how much trouble they were causing by being themselves but only ONE comment to the actual cause of the troublemaker (the bigoted "Dutch") OMG how much like real life is that? Still for 1986 this was a masterpiece.
7 Reviews
Great Short Movie
p3man20012 November 2001
I remember this movie came out when I was little kid. I watched it because it was about two high school football players, and I watched anything that had football in it. This movie took me by complete surprise because it was about a face in the crowd who was gay. I think this is the first movie I ever saw that coverd the topic of homosexuality as being OK and that gay people don't bite. This movie sure did paint a different picture for me.
No romance but solid friendship
snowyprecipice26 November 2016
Warning: Spoilers
A brilliant movie set in the 1980s USA. Alex and Bradley are best friends, both on the football team. Alex is found out to be gay (a mishap, really), and Bradley has to come to terms with it as a straight friend. The movie shows his struggle between standing up for his own principles (great principles, really), and the reactions of his teammates/girlfriend/army father. I think Scott Baio did a great job as Bradley.
No romance in this movie, just solid friendship and how things were in the 1980s (and now, probably). Bradley does succumb to his father's ravings about not having him associate with queers, but in the end he stays true to his principles and accepts Alex for who he is. Lovely lovely ending; friendship is a powerful thing.
No romance in this movie, just solid friendship and how things were in the 1980s (and now, probably). Bradley does succumb to his father's ravings about not having him associate with queers, but in the end he stays true to his principles and accepts Alex for who he is. Lovely lovely ending; friendship is a powerful thing.
Very well done and sweet
Dr_Coulardeau18 July 2012
Warning: Spoilers
A very tender and moving film because it brings together two young men, one gay and the other not, who are best friends in their late teenage at high school, who bring together two worlds together, two worlds that are so apart in this small community that it may bring the whole sky down.
The gay boy, or should I say young man, is a pianist and he plans on having a real career in music, a music that is full of feeling and not power and yet is strong and inspiring because full of feeling. The other young man is in football and by his father is expected to get into West Point. Both of them are also on the football team of their school on the very first year when the team wins the championship.
How can football and music come together in one young man as a dual daily practice and in the other young man as a daily practice and a pleasure to listen to his friend's performing. How can a football team accept one gay member when you know this sport has a reputation of extreme anti-gay spirit from plain straight and discreet to gay-basher, from drinking to prove your maleness, after the games of course and as a celebration of victory, to domineering sexual dominance and domination over women, after the games of course as a prize for the victories or before the games as a sweetener to make you stronger for the coming games.
And what about fathers? Note the film does not, or hardly, mention and show mothers. The father of the musician accepts him the way he is even if he is surprised at first. The military and uniformed father of the other refuses his son to have a gay friend, to have any contact with a gay person, no matter what that contact may be. It is hard for the gay young man to lose a friend because of this difference between their fathers, and a good share of the rest of the world. It is hard for the other young man to lose a friend from the diktat of his own father.
And yet it is getting better and the two will win the championship together and the pianist will be encored by his own friend on the night of his recital.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
The gay boy, or should I say young man, is a pianist and he plans on having a real career in music, a music that is full of feeling and not power and yet is strong and inspiring because full of feeling. The other young man is in football and by his father is expected to get into West Point. Both of them are also on the football team of their school on the very first year when the team wins the championship.
How can football and music come together in one young man as a dual daily practice and in the other young man as a daily practice and a pleasure to listen to his friend's performing. How can a football team accept one gay member when you know this sport has a reputation of extreme anti-gay spirit from plain straight and discreet to gay-basher, from drinking to prove your maleness, after the games of course and as a celebration of victory, to domineering sexual dominance and domination over women, after the games of course as a prize for the victories or before the games as a sweetener to make you stronger for the coming games.
And what about fathers? Note the film does not, or hardly, mention and show mothers. The father of the musician accepts him the way he is even if he is surprised at first. The military and uniformed father of the other refuses his son to have a gay friend, to have any contact with a gay person, no matter what that contact may be. It is hard for the gay young man to lose a friend because of this difference between their fathers, and a good share of the rest of the world. It is hard for the other young man to lose a friend from the diktat of his own father.
And yet it is getting better and the two will win the championship together and the pianist will be encored by his own friend on the night of his recital.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
We've come a long way, baby.
GlennCT7 August 2003
With so much gay hub-bub in the news lately, I couldn't help but think back to some of the first bits of gay-oriented entertainment that were considered landmark for their time... "Making Love," "An Early Frost," even "Boys in the Band." I recall how stunning and important "The Truth About Alex" was back in 1986; this was an afterschool special about a teen being gay, for goodness sake. Or was it? The story here was really about Scott Baio's character, whose best friend is the one doing the actual coming out. And, if you look at it now, the script of this piece handles that process really, really poorly. Every time poor Alex, our gay character, touches on anything to do with the gay world, it turns out to be a miserable, stereotypical experience... a trucker hits on the kid in a public bathroom; nearly the entir worlds rejects him once he comes out; and, worst of all, his trip to a decent enough gay pub prompts an INTERVENTION (!!!) by his so-called caring friends. For cryin' out loud... the kid was just having a beer and making some new gay friends. Leave him be. The producers definitely had their hearts in the right place back in '86, but couldn't they have gotten somebody gay to write the script? Look at this show today and it doesn't come across as gay-positive at all.
An acting clinic
aaronfenzi3 October 2002
Scott Baio puts on an acting tour de force as Brad, a young man who
struggles to accept his best friend's homosexuality. The raw power of
the
"I'm gay!" scene rivals anything you'll see in "The Godfather, Part II,"
"A
Streetcar Named Desire," or "Stone Cold." I demand a special edition DVD
treatment of this classic, complete with commentary from Baio, deleted
scenes, interactive screenplays, a documentary on the "Making Of," and
all
features necessary to do this great film justice.
An acting clinic
aaronfenzi3 October 2002
Scott Baio puts on an acting tour de force as Brad, a young man who struggles to accept his best friend's homosexuality. The raw power of the "I'm gay!" scene rivals anything you'll see in "The Godfather, Part II," "A Streetcar Named Desire," or "Stone Cold." I demand a special edition DVD treatment of this classic, complete with commentary from Baio, deleted scenes, interactive screenplays, a documentary on the "Making Of," and all features necessary to do this great film justice.
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