The Boys in the Band

Director: William Friedkin
Year Released: 1970
Rating: 3.0

Michael (Kenneth Nelson) and his homosexual friends host a birthday party for Harold (Leonard Frey) in NYC, but when Michael's 'heterosexual' college roommate Alan (Peter White) shows up, it throws off the whole dynamic.  As others have noted, it does play like a George Cukor film with the ladies replaced by fellas, and it too often seems like a caricature of the gay lifestyle with forced 'bitchy' patter and nearly every single line of dialogue having to do with 'being gay' (what, is there nothing else to them besides who they're attracted to?), but it is a landmark play (by Mart Crowley) that made people more aware of the non-straight part of society and their fears and concerns.  The last third is especially notable: Michael has them play a cruel game - involving calling up someone they love on the telephone - that ends up with him breaking down instead (the self-loathing is quite distressing).  Most of the cast died at an alarmingly young age - many of them from AIDS-related complications - which makes viewing this even more chilling.