Vapors was Andy Milligan's first official film. It was first released as an underground gay film in selected art houses in 1965 and to the general public in 1967. Today, it could really play anywhere, not in adults only theaters.
Directed by Milligan and written by Hope Stansbury, all of the interior shots were filmed in a vacant apartment floor on 199 Prince Street in Manhattan, the same apartment building where Milligan lived. The clerk scene was shot in a candy store and the opening exterior shot of the bathhouse was filmed outside the actual St. Marks Bathhouse on 6 St. Marks Place in the East Village, a location famous at the time for hookups when gay sex was illegal in New York City. Keep in mind this was just over fifty years ago.
The entire movie takes place inside the St. Marks Baths, as a young man named Thomas sits on a bed and observes the other men and their personalities. He's joined by an older man named Mr. Jaffe They get pasty their opening lies - Thomas is not a frequent visitor, Jaffe is not a first-timer - and begin to discuss their lives. Jaffe has been married for 19 years and wants nothing to do with his wife any longer. Sixteen years ago, their son drowned and life has never been the same. He sees something of his son in Thomas and has to leave, but promises to send him a gift. The loudness of the baths continues as a paper sunflower arrives for Thomas, who cries upon Mr. Thomas leaving, but is soon greeted by another man who disrobes for anonymous sex with the young man.
This movie feels like a place that I am invading and not just because I am a heterosexual. It's because Milligan has so completely created a privacy between these two men that only they should share and we're just as bad as that peeping tom looking through a hole in the wall. It's fascinating to see this movie, one free from murder and the supernatural, and see where Milligan's movies went after this.
Directed by Milligan and written by Hope Stansbury, all of the interior shots were filmed in a vacant apartment floor on 199 Prince Street in Manhattan, the same apartment building where Milligan lived. The clerk scene was shot in a candy store and the opening exterior shot of the bathhouse was filmed outside the actual St. Marks Bathhouse on 6 St. Marks Place in the East Village, a location famous at the time for hookups when gay sex was illegal in New York City. Keep in mind this was just over fifty years ago.
The entire movie takes place inside the St. Marks Baths, as a young man named Thomas sits on a bed and observes the other men and their personalities. He's joined by an older man named Mr. Jaffe They get pasty their opening lies - Thomas is not a frequent visitor, Jaffe is not a first-timer - and begin to discuss their lives. Jaffe has been married for 19 years and wants nothing to do with his wife any longer. Sixteen years ago, their son drowned and life has never been the same. He sees something of his son in Thomas and has to leave, but promises to send him a gift. The loudness of the baths continues as a paper sunflower arrives for Thomas, who cries upon Mr. Thomas leaving, but is soon greeted by another man who disrobes for anonymous sex with the young man.
This movie feels like a place that I am invading and not just because I am a heterosexual. It's because Milligan has so completely created a privacy between these two men that only they should share and we're just as bad as that peeping tom looking through a hole in the wall. It's fascinating to see this movie, one free from murder and the supernatural, and see where Milligan's movies went after this.