Widescreen Dreams: Growing Up Gay at the Movies

In 1973, a ten-year-old boy named Patrick Horrigan saw the television premiere of the film version of
Hello, Dolly!
starring Barbra Streisand. His life would never be the same.
Widescreen Dreams
is the coming-out story of a
generation Xer
who came of age in the 1970s. Horrigan’s dreams revolved around the movies and this chronicle of his coming out focuses on five Hollywood films that were touchstones of his personal evolution. Ranging from
The Sound of Music
and
The Wiz
to
The Poseidon Adventure
and
Dog Day Afternoon , the films reflect Horrigan’s sense of isolation and sexuality, as well as his complex relationship with his large Irish Catholic family. The book is an autobiography as well as a work of cultural criticism, offering an exploration of what it has meant to be young, gay and alive within the movie palace of American culture.