Saturday Night At The Baths (1975/Water
Bearer DVD)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: B-
Note: This title has been reissued in an upgraded
version by Water Bearer with a few extras on DVD.
Along with A Very Natural Thing in 1974, David Buckley’s
Saturday Night At The Baths (1975) was a vital part of the brief cycle
of groundbreaking and truly independent films about gay persons and gay life
that lasted until AIDS and Reagan come in during the 1980s. The story involves piano player Michael
(Robert Aberdeen) being hired to play at a very popular bathhouse. He has a girlfriend (Ellen Sheppard) and the
relationship seems very happy, but a gay employee (Don Scotti) is asking him
personal questions from day one and is either interested in him or just nebbing
about his sexuality.
The majority of the film is the narrative story which is
not bad, but has dated somewhat, though was much more challenging in its
time. It is shot at an actual bathhouse,
a relic of the pre-AIDS era by now and a mostly unthinkable place to have still
30+ years later. No one producing the
film could have imagined how valuable this film would really be. The story is slightly dated, but between the
sincere performances, other locations and documentary-like footage of dancers
and female performers, it is a priceless time capsule of an era too brief and
not that long ago before a certain darkness set in.
The letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image is sadly not anamorphically
enhanced, while the print has some flaws and the film looks like it was shot in
16mm. The Movielab color stills looks
decent considering the age of the print and the cinematographer the late Ralf
D. Bode, whose impressive work included Saturday Night Fever, Cousins,
Uncle Buck, The Accused with Jodie Foster, Coal Miner’s
Daughter (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and Brian De Palma’s Dressed
To Kill. All before those successes
and early work with John G. Avildsen, his talent with the camera is very
obvious here. It is visually a solid
film, though the slight softness and flaws are the same throughout. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is a bit clearer
and both music (hit records included) and dialogue sound good. There are no extras, but this is yet another
key release from Water Bearer long overdue on DVD.
- Nicholas Sheffo
