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Amos Lassen wrote on 02/10/2011:

“BEEFCAKE”
Say Cheese
Amos Lassen
Thom Fitzgerald, the director of “The Hanging Garden” and “” gives us “Beefcake” which could have been a wonderful movie but falls short of the mark. The movie is supposed to tell us about “beefcake” magazines, male physique publications of the 1950s, long before the widespread advent of porn. The movie focuses on Bob Mixer who was one of the most known photographers of the male form. Mixer was largely responsible for much of the oiled body, posing strap photography that gay men ate up (because they had nothing else). Now we look at the genre and laugh. Mixer ran the Athletic Model Guild which was a Hollywood agency for body builders until people with high and mighty consciousness and censorious minds shut it down because they believed it was a front for male prostitution. What Fitzgerald set out to do was t give us a comedy about Mixer and the men that posed but what he gave us is a stew in which he integrated documentary footage with live interviews and it is a mess (but an enjoyable mess). The best parts of the movie are the interviews and the theatricals of the story line falls short in comparison.
Fitzgerald’s portrayal of Mixer is as a nerdy example of manhood. He constantly rants and raves about the necessity of his models being clean-cut and asexual, boys next door type yet buff and oiled (?????????). On the documentary side those interviewed are introduced as if they are contestants on a TV quiz show and I think that what was meant to be serious is taken as a joke. The models in the movie come nowhere near the original real thing with the exception of the strikingly beautiful ex-Warhol star, Joe Dallesandro who rises above the muck to be the star of the film.
“Beefcake” is a slick attempt at being slick. What results is 90 minutes of campy humor and lines that were not meant to be funny manage to get guffaws. I think the main fault with the picture is that it just doesn’t know what it is supposed to be—a biopic? a mockumentary? a comedy? or a drama? The subject of the film, man’s physique magazines, could have been a great framework with which to present a really good movie falls flat on every thing it tries to do. The fact that Mixer was in the closet could have made a great subplot. I have read that after filming began, the director changed its direction and this is what probably caused the disaster that resulted. Yet there is a message here and it concerns bigotry and shows how society suppresses what it doesn’t understand. Thus is the reality of life and it went on in the fifties and is still going on today. Fitzgerald could have played that aspect up but he chose not to moralize. Instead he relied on his imagination to make this movie and some of it just did not work. With its faults there is a lot of energy in “Beefcake” and as bad as it was, I had fun watching it.

Mark wrote on 12/02/2002:

Got to admit it was a good one. History 101 for Hollywood queens, with eye candy, actually footage, and more. Well done.

Appolo wrote on 10/18/2001:

This movie is wonderful and not just because of the eye candy(which there is plenty of), but because of the wonderful acting, fascinating interviews and the overall storytelling. I really didn't know what to expect when I put this Dvd in but boy was I pleased. This film had me from frame one to the last. Be sure to watch this movie you won't be disappointed.

skinnyebert wrote on 07/24/2001:

Full of nudity and funny as hell. Totally enjoyable! The perfect group get together movie.

DuaneSimolke wrote on 05/16/2001:

Countless people will watch this DVD just for the...well, beefcake. And they'll find an abundance of that. But Beefcake is surprisingly funny. It also provides an interesting study into human desire, as well as attempts to destroy those desires, or disguise them as something else.