Milk (2008)

The story of Harvey Milk, and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official.

Director:

Gus Van Sant

Writer:

Dustin Lance Black

Stars:

Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch

Won 2 Oscars. Another 61 wins & 141 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Penn	...	Harvey Milk
Emile Hirsch	...	Cleve Jones
Josh Brolin	...	Dan White
Diego Luna	...	Jack Lira
James Franco	...	Scott Smith
Alison Pill	...	Anne Kronenberg
Victor Garber	...	Mayor Moscone
Denis O'Hare	...	John Briggs
Joseph Cross	...	Dick Pabich
Stephen Spinella	...	Rick Stokes
Lucas Grabeel	...	Danny Nicoletta
Brandon Boyce	...	Jim Rivaldo
Howard Rosenman	...	David Goodstein (as Zvi Howard Rosenman)
Kelvin Yu	...	Michael Wong
Jeff Koons	...	Art Agnos

Storyline

Using flashbacks from a statement recorded late in life and archival footage for atmosphere, this film traces Harvey Milk's career from his 40th birthday to his death. He leaves the closet and New York, opens a camera shop that becomes the salon for San Francisco's growing gay community, and organizes gays' purchasing power to build political alliances. He runs for office with lover Scott Smith as his campaign manager. Victory finally comes on the same day Dan White wins in the city's conservative district. The rest of the film sketches Milk's relationship with White and the 1978 fight against a statewide initiative to bar gays and their supporters from public school jobs.

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Plot Keywords:

gay activist | gay | gay rights | california | gay pickup | 

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Taglines:

Never blend in

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some sexual content and brief violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 January 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled Harvey Milk Project

Filming Locations:

San Francisco Fire Department, Fire Station 43 - 720 Moscow St, San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,453,844, 30 November 2008, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$31,841,299

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$57,293,371

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features,Axon Films,Groundswell Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Banned in Samoa.

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Goofs

During the Proposition 6 election, the characters mark Imperial County in red, discuss losing Imperial County, then mark it on the wall board.

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Quotes

Harvey Milk: Okay. First order of business to come out of this office is the city-wide gay rights ordinance, just like the one that Anita shot down in Dade County. What do you think, Lotus Blossom?
Michael Wong: I think it's good. It's not great.
Harvey Milk: Okay, so make it brilliant. We want Anita's attention here, in San Francisco. I wanted to bring her fight to us. We need a unanimous vote - we need headlines.
Jim Rivaldo: Dan White is not going to vote for this.
Harvey Milk: Dan White'll be fine, Dan White is just uneducated. We'll teach him.
Dan White: [...]

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Connections

Featured in On demande à voir: Episode dated 4 March 2009 (2009)

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Soundtracks

Happy Birthday to You
Written by Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill

User Reviews

Moral, ethical, honestly Christian

I never vibrated together with Van Sant, but this time I must say he convinced me.

The main merit of "Milk" is that it conveys A MORAL PRINCIPLE - in an extraordinarily powerful, and stylish too, way. Or, as it's also stated: "What matters is the fight, more than the outcome!" The script, very dense and well organized, follows the fastidious steps of building up a message, at the same time respecting the ingrate historic chronology - the perpetual dilemma of the docudrama. All around this structure, the direction skilfully grows-up the flesh of the human content, social layers and ethical matters. It turns out a definite lesson of movie-making, for all to see and learn.

I should also add that my country, Romania, is just passing through the historical stage that "Milk" is depicting: pushing homophobia into obsolescence and reaching normality. As such, initially our rating commission came with a positively ludicrous decision: banning "Milk" for the 18- audiences, because (hear this, as a pearl of idiocy!) "It makes propaganda for a certain sexual orientation!" I gave them a piece of my mind, in my own review, pointing out that the movie only MAKES PROPAGANDA FOR MORALS, so it should be recommended to ALL AGES AUDIENCES, no matter how young! In the end, after an official complain, they relented and lowered the rating to "not recommended to under-15". Still silly, but one can't have it all, can we? Thank God, audiences who don't care about this movie will ignore it, and those who do, will see it nonetheless. And become better human beings.