User Reviews

This film was made from the autobiography of a man who spent more than fifty years battling for his individuality and right to be treated as any other human being. Though the story to be about an effeminate homosexual it provides inspiration for anyone willing to stand outside the crowd and not be beaten into conforming to the norm.

Quentin Crisp is a homosexual who stands up in a deeply homophobic society and shouts 'There is nothing wrong with me and you'll have to learn to accept the fact that we exist'. The film vividly portrays the shock & disgust felt by the vast majority to homosexuality during this period. One telling scene shows how fellow homosexuals, rather than support him, reject him in fear of being outed themselves.

The film shows how he built psychological barriers between himself and the world in order to protect himself and how these barriers enforced his isolation. Even the credits reinforce his isolated existence by listing only the central characters personal name. Even his closest friends are referred to merely as the 'Art Student' & the 'Ballet Teacher'. This film shows a man who lived out such an isolated existence that, though of a very generous caring nature, he was unable to feel love himself. How on the one occasion that his dream partner appeared and offered love, Crisp was unable to recognise & accept it.

There is sadness in the fact that, at that time of release, society had accepted and adopted his means of display while still rejecting his core message. We know, with hindsight, that society has come, largely, to accept homosexuals as normal people but the film shows that during the late 70s queer-bashing still went on while people dressed in a style previously regarded as effeminate.

Joy is to be taken from this film in that Crisps crusade was certainly not in vain, his stance paid off eventually. This film played a large part in British society accepting gays as okay people. For this reason I believe this film as, possibly, one of the 100 most significant films of the 20th century in the way it made us look at an oppressed minority in a new light.

The final scene summarises Crisps life well. This is where the well known 'Stately Homos of England' speech is given followed by his walking off up with head held high but isolated from everyone else in the park. Thus showing how strong his lifelong stance has made him while showing the terrible personal cost of this strength.

The above may make the film sound harsh & gritty but it is actually shot in a very colourful & entertaining manner. John Hurt gives an excellent performance which I am certain would have had him up for an Oscar had the film been made in Hollywood. Crisp later became recognised as a great wit & raconteur and this is reflected in his lines in this film. There are so many strong lines and witticisms that to put them on this articles 'Quotes' page would mean that a significant part of the script would end up there.

Though 'The Naked Civil Servant' has done its job in opening up our minds & attitudes it shouldn't be written off as it so entertaining while reminding us what life is like for our social outcasts. You can watch it and learn, or you can watch it and just enjoy it. It works extremely well both ways.

"Do you think a homosexual elephant has a terrible time of it?" Most of us undoubtedly have asked that question at one time or another, but I doubt if any except Quentin Crisp have asked it with such innocent interest. Crisp was, in his own words, an unregenerate degenerate. He was an English homosexual who saw no reason why he shouldn't be who he was. He was effeminate. He dressed flamboyantly, favoring broad-brimmed fedoras and flowing scarves. He wore make-up and hennaed his carefully coifed hair. He was witty but not malicious. He was willing to take people as they were, and saw no reason why he shouldn't expect the same for himself. Says Sting, who wrote a song about Crisp, "Quentin is a hero of mine, someone I know very well. He is gay, and he was gay at a time in history when it was dangerous to be so. He had people beating up on him on a daily basis, largely with the consent of the public. Yet, he continued to be himself."

The Naked Civil Servant, with a wonderfully nuanced performance by John Hurt as Crisp, takes us through Crisp's life until he was in his mid-seventies. Crisp died in 1999 when he was 90. Crisp apparently knew his own skin even as a child. As a young man, he tells us with innocent frankness, "I had already discovered for myself one fact of life, the only fact of life I've ever fully understood. I have a message for those who, like me, inhabit a world of make believe...sexual intercourse is a poor substitute for masturbation." That has to be one of the great autobiographical lines in English literature.

Crisp is important because he simply would not become what he wasn't. He also seemed to be a remarkably sympathetic person, amusing and perceptive without the burden of seeming to be wise. "Does he love you," a female friend asks about an awkward lover. "You are a woman," Crisp says. "You speak a language I do not understand. If love exists, which is something I wouldn't know, then love is never closing my hand even to the unlovable." He's not only realistic ("The sex was alright in a domestic sort of way, but never share a narrow bed with a wide, single man."), but also practical ("I have discovered a great labor-saving secret. After the first four years, the dust doesn't get any worse.").

For a year he was a prostitute. For years he made a small living as a paid model in art classes. "Being a model requires no education, no references and no previous experience. You have only to say 'I do' and you're stuck with it for life...like marriage. I became a naked civil servant." He came to admire America and, at 71, moved permanently to a small bed- sitter in the lower East side. "The great difference between the Americans and the English is that Americans want you to succeed because they feel you may drag them forward with you, while the British want you to fail because they fear you may leave them behind."

Fame comes when he writes his autobiography, "The Naked Civil Servant." The book is turned into a British television movie starring John Hurt, which achieves great acclaim. Crisp finds an admiring audience for his wit and for the honesty of his life. When he is accosted by some nasty children because of how he looks, he stares at them and says, "I defy you to do your worst. It can hardly be my worst. Mine has already and often happened to me. You cannot touch me now. I am one of the stately homos of England!"

Still, when he enthusiastically agrees to have a movie made about him, he says, "Any film, even the worst, is better than real life." He says it with a smile, but it's an unsettling judgment.

I finished the movie with a great deal of admiration for Quentin Crisp. And if anyone doubts that John Hurt is a superb actor, watch Hurt's performance.

Around the same time that John Hurt did an ancient drag act in "I Claudius" as the deranged Roman emperor Caligula, he broke other ground by playing the flamboyant Quentin Crisp in this British TV movie that has gained a huge cult following and made the real Quentin Crisp a hero in the gay and lesbian community. Crisp himself makes an appearance to introduce the movie, as delightfully flamboyant as ever and unashamedly still 100% himself. It's interesting that young Quentin as a little boy seems to be dressed up as Caligula.

Hurt is the bain of his father's existence and does all he can to get out from underneath his father's son which means turning tricks. He meets others as effeminate as him who basically mentor him into the image he takes on which results in insults from masculine homosexuals and physical assaults by both men and women on the street. He does find a good female confidante who completely understands him and enjoys his company. More acceptable straight people (mainly from the European mainland) are also accepting, showing the underground of society that rebelled against everything conventional and accepted other bohemians for who they were. He even finds an employer who hires him for his capabilities, ignoring his own prejudices.

The narration by Hurt has silent film like subtitles, demonstrating his sense of humor in spite of the ill treatment he finds in a cruel society. Crisp even gets laughs in court when he uses his own diagnosis of what people think he suffers from. There's romance here and there, the occasional snubs from the closeted community and Quentin's desire to lead a cause that the others aren't ready to fight.

In spite of his exibitionist persona and desire for liberation, you get to see the desire for romance in his life and the insecurities when he seems to find it. The use of vintage music (most notably "The Sun Has Got his Hat On" from "Me & My Girl" as he flutters down the street) aids in the mood, sometimes light-hearted but often sadly not like a 1930's gay musical comedy. This is just one view of the hidden gay lifestyle pre-Stonewall, and the view of the life of a man who shouldn't just be a mentor to young gay people of the future but anyone who finds the door slammed in their face for simply being themselves.

The scene in the court is truly wonderfully done. John Hurt's dialog in court is brilliant and unlike anything you might expect. John Hurt won the British Academy Award as Best Actor for his performance as Quentin Crisp. Crisp was a brave free spirit and John Hurt brings this out very clearly. This movie is drawn from Quentin Crisp's own book and that fact makes the story very exciting and pleasing. The cast is obviously sympathetic to the brave Crisp's travails and it all adds up to a great film. This film is one not to be missed and is available for purchase on line. I especially liked the friends he had who showed up in court to speak on his behalf. They simply said that he, Quentin Crisp, was a nice person and a great friend that they were proud to know him. He is a good honest man and had the courage to face the world with the truth. In spite of the ostracism and violence visited upon himself he remained the same, a witty non-violent good human being. This is a good movie about a good man.

First time since 70s. Brilliant and hilarious. I am highly Politically Incorrect and find homosexuality distasteful - I also regardCrisp as a hero because he had the guts to be himself !