USCCB - (Film and Broadcasting) - Torch Song Trilogy

Torch Song Trilogy

Alphabetical Listing of Movie Reviews

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Torch Song Trilogy -- Screen version of Harvey Fierstein's play about a homosexual (Fierstein) who works as a female impersonator in a drag revue and his unfulfilling love life and ongoing mother-son conflicts. Directed by Paul Bogart, the movie compassionately and often raucously shows the common threads that connect heterosexual and homosexual family relationships, courtship and love, but its validation of homosexuality and depiction of promiscuity in the 1970s is disturbing, especially in light of the AIDS epidemic. A few fleeting scenes of male kissing and discreet touching, a scene of a brutal beating, much rough language with homosexual innuendoes and a few bawdy musical drag numbers. (O) (R) ( 1988 )

These movies have been evaluated for artistic merit and moral suitability by the media reviewing division of Catholic News Service. The reviews include the CNS rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

A-I -- general patronage;
A-II -- adults and adolescents;
A-III -- adults;
L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
O -- morally offensive.

Note: Some movies previously were designated A-IV. Older films with this classification should be regarded as classified L.