My first gay couple

I've never told anyone this before.

You're the first, dear blog reader.  Or possibly not, depending on how many people have read this already.  Also, does that sound strange, 'dear blog reader?'  It's not 1953.

And that's where I'm going with this, sort of.

The Great Race - 1965

These guys were my first.  I didn't really know what sex was at the time, except that it was icky.  I certainly didn't think of them in those terms.  I just knew it made me feel warm and glad inside whenever they did things together.  I loved Max's loyalty more than anything else about this movie.

I couldn't understand what anyone saw in Natalie Wood's character.  She wanted to be seen as equal to the men but always used her body to get her own way.  I found it disgusting.  On the other hand, no one else seemed to notice how loyal and sweet Max was towards Professor Fate.  Fate was a villain, right?  But Max gave him such loyalty, it was incredible.  He played the bumbling buffoon, but to me, he was the ideal of loyal love.  I could never see Max as evil.  He went along with Fate's plans because he cared about him so deeply, he never questioned their validity.  He loved perhaps not wisely but well.  I still have a fond spot for him.

I never told anyone how I felt about it; I knew even at that young age that no one else seemed to focus on the same thing as me regarding these characters.  It was all about how pretty Natalie Woods was, or how handsome Leslie, or how funny the slapstick elements.

But I held close the relationship between Fate and Max and cherished it in my blushing breast.  (Well.  You know what I mean.)  But I never told anyone before.

As I said, you, dear reader, are the first.

To Max.