Just as Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band is essential gay drama for every gay person to experience, the documentary on the creation of this gay cultural phenomenon, Making the Boys by director Crayton Robey, is no exception.

More than just a documentary on the play and it’s eventual adaptation to film, Making the Boys outlines the history of the gay rights movement, the contributions the play made to the movement, and it’s vilification and eventual recognition as an important part of gay history.

The documentary starts out setting the tone with clips from the 1950’s public service announcement created by the Inglewood Police Department for the Inglewood Unified School District, called “Boys Beware“. This PSA warned people about “homosexuals” and outlined the “tactics” they use to prey on young boys.  We know from this point that Robey is going to reveal to us a kind of documentary that highlights the effects The Boys in the Band has made on the perceptions of gay culture.

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