Victim
Just finished watching "Victim" originally released by Janus Films back in 1961 in England.
I've always been interested in movies like "Gentlemen's Agreement" and "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" for their willingness to tackle all types of prejudices head on. You might say that it was the result of the anti-Semitism I and my family experienced in the 1960s on up to the 1990s in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Hollywood used to brilliantly handle social prejudices and the impact these prejudices have on the individuals who experience them. Not so in this modern era of Hollywood.
Oh, yes, as frequent readers of my reviews here on various Social Media websites know, I have always stated that I will not watch X-rated movies, and "Victim" was originally rated X because it dealt with homosexuality in a sympathetic manner - something which was shocking in 1960s England, which had rather strict laws which sent homosexual men to prison. The X-rating was originally created by Hollywood to get around the Hayes Code for movies like "The Graduate" and "Midnight Cowboy" before it dropped the X-rating which they failed to trademark/copyright and was taken over by Porn Industry. "Victim" was not a pornographic movie by any stretch of the imagination.
Melville Farr is a successful barrister with a thriving London practice. He is on course to become a Queen's Counsel, and people are already talking of him being appointed a judge. One day, Farr receives a call from Jack "Boy" Barrett, a young working-class gay man with whom he previously had a romantic friendship. Farr, who is apparently happily married to Laura, assumes Barrett wants to blackmail him about their relationship, so he does not listen and tells Barrett not to call him again. In reality, however, Barrett has been trying to reach Farr to appeal for help, because he has fallen prey to blackmailers who have a picture of Farr and Barrett in a vehicle together. The image is somewhat compromising, as Barrett is crying and Farr's arm is around him, so Barrett stole £2,300 (£64,700 today) from his employers to pay the blackmail, but he has been found out and now the police are pursuing him, so he needs financial assistance to flee the country. After managing to borrow £20 from a friend, Barrett is picked up by the police, who quickly deduce that he is being blackmailed, and even make a connection to Farr when they recover a scrapbook of articles that Barrett was unable to successfully destroy before his capture. Knowing it will only be a matter of time before he is forced to reveal the details of the blackmail scheme and Farr's role, Barrett hangs himself in a police cell.
After learning the truth about how Barrett had tried to protect him, Farr decides to take on the blackmail ring, recruiting Eddy, Barrett's friend and roommate, to identify others whom the blackmailers may be targeting. Eddy directs Farr to Henry, a hairdresser, but Henry refuses to identify his tormentors to Farr. When one of the blackmailers, a young man who goes by the name of "Sandy", visits Henry's salon and begins to destroy it, Henry suffers a heart attack. Just before dying, he calls Farr's house and leaves a mumbled message that names another victim of the blackmailers.
Following up on the lead, Farr contacts a prominent stage actor named Calloway, but Calloway also refuses to help, as he would prefer to continue paying and keep his sexuality secret. Laura finds out about Barrett's suicide and confronts her husband. After a heated argument, during which Farr maintains that he has kept the promise he made when they married that he would no longer indulge his homosexual attraction, Laura decides that Farr has betrayed that promise by having a relationship with Barrett, even if it was not physical, and openly begins to consider leaving him.
Eddy identifies a car salesman named Philp as another victim of the blackmailers, and Farr gets Philp to let him go to an appointment with Sandy by offering to buy back the letters that are being used to blackmail Philp. Farr tells Sandy that he wants Phip's letters and the negatives of the pictures of him and Barrett. Sandy consults with his partner, and then, to put pressure on Farr, vandalizes Farr's Chiswick home by painting "FARR IS QUEER" on the garage door.
Undeterred, Farr works with the police to capture the blackmailers after they pick up his money for the letters and negatives, and they discover that Sandy was working with Miss Benham, who wants to make homosexuals "pay for their filthy blasphemy", and that the duo started getting information about their marks from Philp once he could no longer afford to keep paying them. Farr promises to testify at the blackmailers' trial, even though the ensuing press coverage will certainly destroy his career and reputation, as he hopes his involvement will help draw attention to the problems with the existing laws against homosexuality.
Surprised to find Laura still at home, Farr tells her to leave town before the ugliness of the trial. When she asks if she should return afterward, he says he will welcome her back, as he will "need [her] so desperately." She responds that "need" is "a bigger word than 'love'" and says she thinks she has the strength to stand by him. After Laura leaves, Farr burns a print of the suggestive photograph of him and Barrett.
"Victim" ended up causing England's anti-homosexual laws to be revised to remove prison sentences.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Victim-Uk-Impo...
I've always been interested in movies like "Gentlemen's Agreement" and "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" for their willingness to tackle all types of prejudices head on. You might say that it was the result of the anti-Semitism I and my family experienced in the 1960s on up to the 1990s in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Hollywood used to brilliantly handle social prejudices and the impact these prejudices have on the individuals who experience them. Not so in this modern era of Hollywood.
Oh, yes, as frequent readers of my reviews here on various Social Media websites know, I have always stated that I will not watch X-rated movies, and "Victim" was originally rated X because it dealt with homosexuality in a sympathetic manner - something which was shocking in 1960s England, which had rather strict laws which sent homosexual men to prison. The X-rating was originally created by Hollywood to get around the Hayes Code for movies like "The Graduate" and "Midnight Cowboy" before it dropped the X-rating which they failed to trademark/copyright and was taken over by Porn Industry. "Victim" was not a pornographic movie by any stretch of the imagination.
Melville Farr is a successful barrister with a thriving London practice. He is on course to become a Queen's Counsel, and people are already talking of him being appointed a judge. One day, Farr receives a call from Jack "Boy" Barrett, a young working-class gay man with whom he previously had a romantic friendship. Farr, who is apparently happily married to Laura, assumes Barrett wants to blackmail him about their relationship, so he does not listen and tells Barrett not to call him again. In reality, however, Barrett has been trying to reach Farr to appeal for help, because he has fallen prey to blackmailers who have a picture of Farr and Barrett in a vehicle together. The image is somewhat compromising, as Barrett is crying and Farr's arm is around him, so Barrett stole £2,300 (£64,700 today) from his employers to pay the blackmail, but he has been found out and now the police are pursuing him, so he needs financial assistance to flee the country. After managing to borrow £20 from a friend, Barrett is picked up by the police, who quickly deduce that he is being blackmailed, and even make a connection to Farr when they recover a scrapbook of articles that Barrett was unable to successfully destroy before his capture. Knowing it will only be a matter of time before he is forced to reveal the details of the blackmail scheme and Farr's role, Barrett hangs himself in a police cell.
After learning the truth about how Barrett had tried to protect him, Farr decides to take on the blackmail ring, recruiting Eddy, Barrett's friend and roommate, to identify others whom the blackmailers may be targeting. Eddy directs Farr to Henry, a hairdresser, but Henry refuses to identify his tormentors to Farr. When one of the blackmailers, a young man who goes by the name of "Sandy", visits Henry's salon and begins to destroy it, Henry suffers a heart attack. Just before dying, he calls Farr's house and leaves a mumbled message that names another victim of the blackmailers.
Following up on the lead, Farr contacts a prominent stage actor named Calloway, but Calloway also refuses to help, as he would prefer to continue paying and keep his sexuality secret. Laura finds out about Barrett's suicide and confronts her husband. After a heated argument, during which Farr maintains that he has kept the promise he made when they married that he would no longer indulge his homosexual attraction, Laura decides that Farr has betrayed that promise by having a relationship with Barrett, even if it was not physical, and openly begins to consider leaving him.
Eddy identifies a car salesman named Philp as another victim of the blackmailers, and Farr gets Philp to let him go to an appointment with Sandy by offering to buy back the letters that are being used to blackmail Philp. Farr tells Sandy that he wants Phip's letters and the negatives of the pictures of him and Barrett. Sandy consults with his partner, and then, to put pressure on Farr, vandalizes Farr's Chiswick home by painting "FARR IS QUEER" on the garage door.
Undeterred, Farr works with the police to capture the blackmailers after they pick up his money for the letters and negatives, and they discover that Sandy was working with Miss Benham, who wants to make homosexuals "pay for their filthy blasphemy", and that the duo started getting information about their marks from Philp once he could no longer afford to keep paying them. Farr promises to testify at the blackmailers' trial, even though the ensuing press coverage will certainly destroy his career and reputation, as he hopes his involvement will help draw attention to the problems with the existing laws against homosexuality.
Surprised to find Laura still at home, Farr tells her to leave town before the ugliness of the trial. When she asks if she should return afterward, he says he will welcome her back, as he will "need [her] so desperately." She responds that "need" is "a bigger word than 'love'" and says she thinks she has the strength to stand by him. After Laura leaves, Farr burns a print of the suggestive photograph of him and Barrett.
"Victim" ended up causing England's anti-homosexual laws to be revised to remove prison sentences.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Victim-Uk-Impo...
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