The Gay Deceivers

The Gay Deceivers is a 1969 American comedy film written by Jerome Wish and directed by Bruce Kessler. The film focuses on Danny Devlin (Kevin Coughlin) and Elliot Crane (Lawrence P. Casey), two straight men who attempt to evade the draft by pretending to be gay men.

According to gay film historian Vito Russo in his book The Celluloid Closet, co-star Michael Greer, who played the flamboyantly gay Malcolm and who was himself gay, tried to work with the screenwriter and director to minimize the negativity of the characterization and present Malcolm in a positive light.^[2]

Danny and Elliot are two friends who try to get out of the draft by pretending to be gay. They are placed under surveillance by the Army and have to keep up the pretense. They move into a gay apartment building and try to blend in with the residents, all the while trying to maintain their romantic relationships with women and not get caught by the Army.

At the apartment building they meet their landlord Malcolm and his husband Craig. Throughout the story, Malcolm and Craig attempt to give advice to Danny and Elliot as they remember when they were a young couple. At first Danny and Elliot dismiss Malcolm and Craig as "two fruits" and try to play along to keep up their ruse. But they begin to see Malcolm and Craig as good people and begin to question what they were taught about homosexuals.

Tension rises between Danny and Elliot as Danny insists Elliot cannot have any relations with women for the duration of their ruse, while he himself keeps going on dates with his girlfriend Karen. After having a fight with Danny, Elliot knowingly enters a gay bar and allows a man to buy him drinks and flirt with him. After the man attempts to get sexual, Elliot punches the man and then leaves in a confused rage, not sure what he is feeling. Karen breaks up with Danny, believing him and Elliot to be a couple. Trying to prove her brother isn't gay, Danny's sister Leslie seduces Elliot, but he suffers erectile dysfunction further confirming the girls' suspicions. Later at a gay party hosted by Malcolm and Craig, Elliot attempts to sleep with a drag queen before being discovered by the Army investigator who was following him.

Even after the pair are caught, they are not inducted into the military: the Army investigators assigned to watch them are themselves gay and are trying to keep straight people out of the Army.

It was the film debut of Candice Rialson.^[3]

The film opened in Atlanta and San Francisco on July 2, 1969.^[4][1]

The Gay Deceivers was released on Region 1 DVD on May 2, 2000.

• The Gay Deceivers at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• The Gay Deceivers at IMDb