Love! Valour! Compassion! *** (1997, Jason Alexander, Stephen Spinella, Stephen Bogardus, John Glover) – Classic Movie Review 3378

Eight gay men gather three times a year (Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day) in a country house in director Joe Mantello’s 1997 movie version of Terrence McNally’s Tony-award-winning Broadway play Love! Valour! Compassion! McNally writes his own wise and witty screenplay, and it is excellent as a filmed piece of theatre, though, as a movie, it remains stagy and slightly fusty.

Stephen Bogardus plays Gregory Mitchell, who invites the seven other friends to spend the summer at his large, secluded 19th-century home in up-state New York.

The performances are all expert, but John Glover stands out, recreating his Tony-winning stage dual role as John and James Jeckyll. Hence the cast of seven: also Jason Alexander, Stephen Spinella, Randy Becker, John Benjamin Hickey and Justin Kirk.

The stereotypical characters with their perfect Broadway show knowledge are an irritant. But it is still well-meaning, warm and appealing, with enough funny lines and real wit among the tears to be entertaining as well as thoughtful.

Alexander replaced Nathan Lane for the film but all the other actors originated their roles in the play. The play was produced off Broadway on 11 October 1994 by the Manhattan Theatre Club. The play then opened at the Walter Kerr Theater on February 14 1995 and ran for 248 performances, winning the 1995 Tony Award for the Best Play.

RIP playwright Terrence McNally who died of complications from coronavirus on 24 March 2020, aged 81. His first big success was The Ritz (1976), while Frankie and Johnny (1991) and Love! Valour! Compassion! were other notable hits. Lin-Manuel Miranda called him ‘A giant in our world’.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3378

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