Advise and Consent

I watched the 1960s film Advise and Consent over the weekend and enjoyed it once the story actually got cranked up and going. Watching a movie about trying to get a Secretary of State confirmed sounds like a snoozer (and parts of the film were snooze-worthy), but the backstory was interesting, particularly the story of the Brig, the senator from Utah who ended up getting blackmailed for his vote because he'd had a homosexual affair before he got married. Seeing Brig walk into a dark, smoky New York gay bar looking for the ex-lover who sold him out is both sad and ridiculous. Sinatra is playing on the jukebox, the bartender is filling glasses, and men are drinking and having a good time in the company of other men. It looks like a place where the boys are free to be who they are. But to the closeted Senator Brig, it's a hellhole. Disgusted and horrified, he runs from the bar only to be chased after by his former lover, Ray. Ray, buff and blond, like a 1960s Sam Champion, tries to explain to Brig that he only sold him out to the blackmailers because he needed money, but Brig doesn't want to hear it. He shoves his former lover in the gutter and hops a cab out of Queertown. Then he goes back to DC and kills himself. So much drama.