In
The Trip, twenty-four-year-old Alan Oakley (played by Larry
Sullivan) lands a job in 1973 as a reporter for a Los Angeles
newspaper. A son of strict military father, who taught
him to avoid becoming a homosexual, he is living in a city
with many liberated gays. For his first book, he decides
to write an exposé of "the homosexual lifestyle
through the ages." One evening, at a Hollywood party
arranged by attorney Peter (played by Ray Baker), he meets
nineteen-year-old Tommy Ballenger (played by Steve Braun),
an actor who confides that he is proud to be a gay rights
activist. Alan then invites Tommy for a home-cooked meal
at his apartment; what Alan has in mind is an in-depth
interview for his book, but Tommy believes that he has
been invited to a hot date. When Tommy arrives at Alan's
apartment, he finds Beverly (played by Sirena Irwin) present,
so he infers that she is Alan's girlfriend. Soon, Tommy
feels discomfort from the situation and leaves early, but
Alan uses the new interview material from that evening
for his writing, and he invites Tommy out again. Soon,
Alan finishes his book, an exposé entitled The
Straight Truth, but Peter tells him that a publisher has turned
down his book, so he forgets about his literary effort.
Meanwhile, Tommy realizes that Alan is a latent homosexual;
he tries to make an advance, and Alan responds after some
initial hesitation. From 1973 to 1977, Alan and Tommy are
inseparable, living and loving together, but they never
take a honeymoon. Tommy suggests a trip together, but job
requirements preclude time off. In 1977, during the Anita
Bryant crusade to repeal Miami's gay rights ordinance and
then to take her campaign nationwide, Peter sees an opportunity
to make money by secretly arranging to have Alan's homophobic
book published, knowing that the contents will so embarrass
activist Tommy that the couple will break up. Depressed
when Tommy ends the relationship, Alan seeks Peter's shoulder
to cry on, but Alan has no idea that Peter has manipulated
the situation. Alan and Peter then become lovers. In 1984,
while still with Peter, Tommy calls Alan from México,
wanting to see him, as he is in the end stage of AIDS.
Alan flies to meet him, and the two attempt to board a
Mexican airline to return to the United States, but the
check-in person refuses to allow Tommy on board because
he might spread his disease. Accordingly, the two rent
a car and embark on the long-postponed road trip together.
The trip is perilous, Tommy dies as they speed toward the
border, and Alan then publishes The Trip as his second
book, thereby serving to recant the material in his first
book. Directed by Miles Swain, film footage of historic
gay rights protests during the film provides a context
for the plot, which clearly indicts America's homophobic
culture as a cause of many unnecessary psychological and
social problems. Yet the principal characters exhibit few
such maladies, and stable relationships of four to seven
years suggest the opposite. Even Alan's latent homosexuality
rather easily fades away. In contrast with naïve Alan,
who does not question the mystery of the delayed publication
of his first book, filmviewer sympathy goes out to Tommy,
who perseveres in dating Alan, has to break off the relationship
to avoid being seen as a gay rights hypocrite, and then
tries to stay alive, friendless, in rural México,
until he brings the love of his life to his side. Nevertheless,
Alan matures through the experience of caring for someone
with AIDS, in contrast with many gays and straights who
shut those with AIDS out of their lives. The film is at
its best in showing how Alan's personal transformations
peel off layers of homophobia. MH
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