Parting Glances

Parting Glances is an American film released in 1986. With its realistic look at urban gay life in the 1980s during the Ronald Reagan era and the height of the AIDS epidemic, many film critics consider it an important movie in the history of gay cinema. It was also one of the first American films to address the AIDS-HIV pandemic. Director Bill Sherwood died of complications due to AIDS in 1990. This is also the first film featuring actor Steve Buscemi.

Description
The story revolves around a gay male couple, Robert and Michael, who are in their late twenties and live in New York City. Robert (John Bolger) is about to leave for two years on a work assignment in Africa while his partner Michael (Richard Ganoung) stays behind. Michael's ex-boyfriend Nick (Steve Buscemi), for whom Michael cooks meals, looks after, and is still in love with, has AIDS.

Parting Glances takes place during a two-day period, with many of the scenes at a farewell party for Robert hosted by the couple's friend Joan (Kathy Kinney) and at a dinner party hosted by Robert's employer Cecil (Patrick Tull) and his wife Betty (Yolande Bavan); the two have an unconventional marriage.

While classified as a drama, the film also contains many comedic moments. Critics have praised the movie's witty, realistic dialogue and detailed evocation of gay and gay-friendly urbanites in 1980s Manhattan. Parting Glances was also one of the first motion pictures to deal frankly and realistically with the subject of AIDS and the impact of the then relatively-new disease on the gay community.

Bronski Beat songs "Love and Money," "Smalltown Boy" and "Why" are included in the film.

Preservation and Restoration
In 2006, Outfest and the UCLA Film and Television Archive announced that the film would be the first to be restored as a part of the Outfest Legacy Project.

On Monday, July 16, 2007 as a part of the Outfest Legacy Project, a restored print of Parting Glances received its world premiere at the Director's Guild of America in Los Angeles. The four major stars of the film, Richard Ganoung, John Bolger, Steve Buscemi, and Kathy Kinney were all in attendance and participated in a panel discussion after the viewing.

The restoration print will receive its New York City premiere on October 29, 2007 at Lincoln Center. (More info is available here: http://www.outfest.org/partingglances.html)

Reviews and recognition
Parting Glances gave Steve Buscemi his first major movie role. "It is to both his and the film's credit," wrote Janet Maslin in her New York Times review, "that the anguish of AIDS is presented as part of a larger social fabric, understood in context, and never in a maudlin light."