Straight And Butch

By: Raymond Murray
In-House Review - Sep 04 2012

Director Butch Cordora came up with an intriguing idea for a calendar: recreate a famous photo image for each month and stage each with him (way openly gay) and a straight man... both in the nude. Apart from the creativity and titillation, the idea also promised to explore the often rocky and often uncomfortable relationship between gay and straight men.

This documentary follows the behind-the-scenes making of the calendar - from Butch's efforts to find 12 willing men to the execution of each photo shoot. But more importantly, it captures the often insightful comments from his straight co-stars on both their willingness to bare all and pose with Butch. Working with different photographers, most notably Tony Ward, the results are striking and provocative ? from the re-staging of the Cindy Crawford/kd lang Vanity Fair cover to John and Yoko's iconic nude embrace. But it's the unconventional straight men that provide the best insight and humor - from the badass tattoo artist to the long-haired college student to a quietly tough salesman.

By: Jwann87

Some guy who has way too much money decides to make a calendar in which he poses with straight guys. He takes some really hot guys and makes them shave thier hair off of thier body and takes picture of them with him in various settings. Not worth the time or money to watch.

By: Amos Lassen

"Straight & Butch"
Month by Month
Amos Lassen
Evidently people in the northeast know Butch Cordora. He is a popular TV host in Philadelphia and he is gay. He had the idea to create a calendar in which popular comic iconic photos from pop culture would be updated to feature Butch, naked, with a different straight model(s) for each month that would also be naked. He wanted to recreate the famous shot of Abbey Road when the Beatles took their famous album cover, there were some wonderful covers of "Rolling Stone" to be copied and the recreations would be done in the altogether.
The movie is a record of what went on behind the scenes as a team searched for models and then had conflicts in how a photo shoot was to be handled. I have not had this much fun watching a movie since "Blazing Saddles" and while the humor comes nowhere near Mel Brooks, we see what it takes to make a calendar and that it is indeed possible for all of us-straight and gay-to get along. We see from the basest foundation of all, that there is really little difference between gays and straights when are not clothed. An amazing detail is that straight men willingly volunteered to take part in the photo shoots and had no trouble shedding their clothes. I am sure that Butch Cordora thought about what could happen between straights and gays as they stood together naked and it did happen. The area between the men which always seemed to be large and expansive turns out to be quite small and very easily bridged-if the desire is there.
Butch had to find at least twelve men to produce the calendar and he does. Some volunteered readily (as I have already stated), some came out of curiosity but the important thing is that the men came together on common ground. I loved the banter between Butch and the straight men and more important was the camaraderie that developed. The final photographs, taken by different photographers are amazing and the film is a pleasure to watch (and not just because of the nudity. We are taken over by the wittiness and humor of the straights but that is okay. Life often requires us to give and take. The important thing is the end result and if both sides learned something about acceptance and brotherhood, then everything was worth it. This small step can grow to be something bigger but at least both straights and gays are out of the closet and we owe Butch a big thank you for that. ...Oh, I almost forgot, the movie is excellent.
I feel I must mention something about Butch, the man. It is no wonder that he has a successful following on his TV show. The man oozes charm and his charisma draws you in the moment he opens his mouth. There should never be any doubt as to whether this calendar will succeed. I think everything Butch touches is bound to succeed.