Saturday, December 22, 2012

Life and Death on the A-List available on DVD

from: corcoranproductions.com
Director and producer Jay Corcoran has made this chilling documentary available on DVD for the first time for $29.99. I have a bad VHS rip to DVDr paying around somewhere and I was told that this has a lot better transfer (nor sure if from 35mm or what) than the rare VHS copies that were being sold for $50+.



For those who may not know, this movie documents the deterioration of Tom McBride (Friday The 13th: Part II)  and death from complications (PML-- essentially a brain infection) from AIDS. It's a chilling picture and for fans of McBride, a pretty sad journey to his death in 1995.

McBride’s “All-American” good looks made him a familiar face in television commercials, print ads and films through the ’70s and ’80s. He even became that most emblematic of masculine images: the Winston man. For many gay men, McBride became an icon exemplifying life on the “A-List” — the whirl of sex, drugs, theme parties, and summers on Fire Island that made New York’s gay scene famous. But McBride’s glamorous life was stalked by his sexual obsession and compulsive drive.

Corcoran’s film takes an unsparing look at one man’s relationship to his beautiful body and how he copes with its disintegration. More profoundly, LIFE AND DEATH ON THE A-LIST is about us: our bodies, our fantasies, our dreams of sexual fulfillment. Tom McBride is a fallible, tragic hero pointing the way to a more humane vision of how we all — gay and straight — might view our lives, bodies, and the endless possibilities of life.



4 comments:

  1. He was my Uncle. Thank You for the most eloquent description of his life. My Father would not let me visit Uncle Tommy when he was dying. I was about 14/15 years old during this time. I understand why now, but I wish I would of had a chance to say goodbye to him. He lived a long time with the AIDS Disease. A lot longer than most people but it was still too short. He is more famous in his death than he was his life, but then again, isn't that how it always is?

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    1. Thanks very much for your comment. Tom is very beloved by the Friday the 13th fans and consider him one of the most memorable characters of the franchise. I can imagine his demise not being something your father would had wanted you to witness. I'm not sure if you have seen the movie that he stars in, but he does a very good job.

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  2. Hello Ms. Katy,

    I an vouch for everything that Jak said as being true. I am a life-long fan of the franchise (part of my severe Asperger' Syndrome is that I really find these entertaining, healthy & athardic film journeys of esapeis for all of what they are).

    Indeed your uncle was a great man. I need to order this documentary a I am a huge documentary fanatic & oleltor as well. From what I have seen of your uncle onscreen, he was a fine gentleman & he played a great memoriable character indeed. I am however very saddened to learn that you were not allowed to say your final good byes to him. He seemed like a wonderful super sweet & sensetive gentlean. May be find eternal peace somewhere up there...

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  3. I look very forward to seeing the film.

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