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The Naked Civil Servant (TV) More at IMDbPro »
| Index | 10 reviews in total |
16 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Excellent!, 28 March 2006
Author:
gary olszewski from Henderson, Nv. USA
I had a copy of this film back in the early 80s, it's long gone, but
I'll never forget its power. I'm not a homosexual, nor had I ever heard
of Quentin Crisp before, but watching the film, I was very impressed by
his determination to stand up for his God-given right to be himself,
whatever that "self" might be. I didn't see it so much as a
proclamation of his homosexuality, but rather, an individual determined
to live life on his own terms, rather than kowtow to the wants of
society. To this fact I strongly relate. Crisp was a man who faced the
ostracism of society head-on, and soldiered on through in spite of it.
And for that I admire him strongly. After watching the film, I quietly
said "Thank You" to Crisp for his forthrightness and honesty.
John Hurt's portrayal of Crisp was absolutely magnificent, and I've
been a fan of his ever since. He's the most versatile actor of his
generation, having played everyone from Jesus Christ in "History of the
World part 1" to the guy in "Alien" who has the little monster jump out
of his body to the inimitable Quentin Crisp in this film! However, some
of his films are hard to find, given that he's not a household word
name as an actor. Too Bad, He's among the best!
16 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
WAY ahead of its time, 13 January 2006
Author:
Wayne Malin (wwaayynnee51@hotmail.com) from United States
This was broadcast on American TV (with absolutely no fanfare) on one
summer night in the late 1970s. I was just idly switching channels and
started watching by accident. It's a movie about Quentin Crisp--a gay
man who came out in the 1920s. He introduces the film and then it
starts--done in documentary style it traces his life. The first image
is of him as a young boy dressed in woman's clothes admiring himself in
the mirror. I've never had a desire to wear women's clothes, but being
a closeted high school kid when I saw this it had QUITE an effect on
me.
The film follows his life, how he found others like him and his fame
and fortune. It doesn't sugarcoat things--he comes across as vain and
pompous sometimes and he is very brutally threatened in one scene.
Still it shows how he survived and lived life on his terms. It was
liberating--for me at least. Remember--this was the era when "Boys in
the Band" was considered an accurate representation of gay life!
This was WAY ahead of its time--for TV. I'm shocked that it was even
SHOWN on American TV (albeit VERY quietly--and late at night). John
Hurt is superb in the title role--he sounds, looks and acts like Crisp
did! An excellent TV movie--still relevant today and beautifully done.
A 10 all the way.
9 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Fun and Inspiring, 17 September 2007
Author:
Afzal Shaikh from London, England
The Naked Civil Servant is a TV film based on famous gay wit Quentin
Crisp's autobiography. John Hurt gives a characteristically committed,
outstanding performance. His Crisp is both a bon vivant and a serious,
determined man who, underneath his outrageously camp exterior, is
anything but frivolous, flamboyantly using his wit and dress like
weapons as a defence to the repressive, smug and specious attacks from
the mainstream English establishment and society, which regards his
sexuality as criminal and deviant.
Hurt's Quentin Crisp is an unlikely crusader, made appealing not only
by his inspiring moral force in facing prejudice, abuse and rejection
with honesty, courage and an uproarious sense of humour, but by the
fact that he never loses his belief in humanity, living his life
undaunted and surrounded by friends who he treats with warmth and
compassion.
Jack Gold's direction is wonderfully theatrical and so suited to
Crisp's eccentric world, and the dialogue is incandescent.
Nevertheless, the film's narrative, as it ranges over Crisp's long
life, is episodic and at times sketchy. Also unnecessarily, Quentin
Crisp himself appears in a sort of preface at the beginning of the
film.
7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Any film, even the worst, is better than real life, 3 December 2009
Author:
Ali_Catterall from London, England
"Do you intend to spend your entire life admiring yourself?" "If I possibly can." Oh Quentin, you came and you gave without taking. Unless he was taking the michael, which he did, you know, from time to time, in the most wonderfully poised and self-effacing manner. It's not hard to see why this was voted number 4 in the BFI's TV 100 poll: in two words, John Hurt - giving the Bafta-winning performance of his career as the "stately homo of England", enduring the catcalls, pratfalls and furtive dalliances which were the staples of gay life during the pre-and-and-post War years - virtually another planet compared with today's (allegedly) more tolerant society. The legal alien is terribly missed.
9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Funny and touching, 6 July 2000
Author:
Matthew Ignoffo (mermatt@webtv.net) from Eatontown, NJ, USA
I had the good fortune to meet the late Quentin Crisp several times. This
film is a delightful and moving story of his evolution as a human
being.
Like Oscar Wilde, he was the brunt of jokes and nasty stories because he
dared to be himself -- and, to use his own word, a very "autre" self indeed.
John Hurt does a wonderful job showing us the spirit of a man who didn't
grovel to the conventions of society and dared to give the world a free
spirit.
The ironic conclusion of the film is an observation by Crisp himself that
the "autre" which was once his alone became the commonplace of the late
1960s and early 1970s.
This is an unusual film worth seeing for the performances as well as for its
lessons in living. We are who we let ourselves be. We can be who we desire
to be, or we can surrender to the drab molds of the society around
us.
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
wonderful film to introduce someone to homosexuality, 14 November 2004
Author:
VictoriousDust from North Carolina
In 1976, at 24 I thought I knew enough about gay men, but I was not aware of flamboyant male homosexuality. It can be difficult to watch the beginning of the film if you're like I was and never saw such behavior, but if you stay with it, it pays off big in very touching ways--and not only with regard to homosexuality but to living life in general. This film teaches you about yourself as good art always does. Note: Quentin Crisp (the main character) plays the part of Queen Elizabeth I in a film called "Orlando." And another movie that might be good to introduce someone to male homosexuality is "The Sum of Us" with Russell Crowe, though that film is more lighthearted and sweet than "The Naked Civil Servant."
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Amazing true story of Quentin Crisp, based on his autobiography., 6 May 1999
Author:
cricket-14 from Northern Mid Atlantic
Long before it was fashionable to come out of the closet, Englishman
Quentin
Crisp did so. He was rather effeminate, also wearing make up which made
him
stand out even more.
This is his fascinating story, marvelously portrayed by John Hurt.
(P.S. The queenly Quentin plays the kingly Queen Elizabeth I in the movie
"Orlando")
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
A very inspiring & enjoyable film, 5 October 2008
Author:
kimdino-1 from United Kingdom
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
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.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Quentin Crisp (and John Hurt): A fine combination of wit, honesty, humanity and mascara, 28 July 2008
Author:
Terrell-4 from San Antonio, Texas
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
"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.
3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Remarkable, 11 August 2007
Author:
Gordon-11 from Hong Kong
This film is the autobiography of Quentin Crisp, a gay man living in
the conservative times of 1920's to 1970's.
The story is simple but deep. It portrays It also portrays how people
lived in fear and loneliness during those days. A particularly
remarkable moment is that, after Quentin's friend is released from he
mental institution, his friend pronounced his love for him. Quentin
says something to the effect of "This is how lonely he is, and how low
I can get". This little sentence means so much. Acting by John Hurt is
excellent. This film is really quite remarkable, as homosexuality was
still considered as a mental illness back in 1975.
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