Becket

People have said of this 1964 film that the gay subtext is so blatant, it's virtually text. And having seen the film for the first time recently, I would agree that it's difficult not to construe Peter O'Toole's character as bisexual or even gay by the end.

The filmmakers really aren't shy about this. We start off with a lot of misogynistic pre-feminist horseplay with busty blondes and brunettes - but the first seriously hoyayish note is struck when O'Toole's Henry II gazes intensely into the eyes of Burton's Thomas a Becket, and says "It's funny - I can't bear the thought of you in pain."

Henry's wilfulness and his intense emotional dependency on Becket are quickly established. Then he starts throwing himself on Becket's bed and announcing that he's staying the night. He snarls at his wife that he dislikes his children and that family life bores him. His wife calls his "obsession" for Becket "unhealthy and unnatural". They agree that he is behaving over Becket as if he were a woman. Etc, etc.

In some ways it reminded me of Oliver Stone's Alexander in the way it depicted an intense emotional relationship between two powerful men - one a ruler and one his companion. It's pretty staggering that they got away with this in 1964 - and picked up an Oscar and near-universal critical acclaim in the process.