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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From One of the Actors in Leather Jacket Love Story, June 8, 2009
This review is from: Leather Jacket Love Story (DVD)
I just wanted to say Thank You to all you guys (and gals) who left the nice reviews.
I played 'Kyle' in Leather Jacket Love Story and got casted about a week before shooting.
Most takes were done just once.
It was a tough shoot in the sense that we didn't have a big budget, weren't paid very much and as mentioned, didn't get the chance to really do any re-takes.
However it was a film I wanted to do.
I was offered the part after approx 500 guys had auditioned.
David, the Director came to my acting class a week prior to shooting and told me he had been looking and looking for the lead for his new film and after seeing me in my acting class wanted me to play the part. Chris, who plays 'Mike' had been casted several months before I was.
I accepted the part then pretty much crammed to learn the ever-changing script in about a week.
This film was shot in 1996. Prior to this they were not showing sex scenes between two men like they do in many straight full feature movies.
Typically when the sex scenes would start in gay movies previous the camera would fade, or cut to a silhouette or move to bedroom curtains blowing in the night sky, hehe
The Director and Producer of this film believed the time had come for gay films to start showing sex scenes like straight ones do and they wanted ours to be the first.
It was for this pioneer element that I agreed to do the role.
I've read the reviews and noticed one reviewer writes that I got the part because I agreed to do the nude scenes. That isn't exactly accurate.
I got the part after David saw me in my acting class, then was told of the nude scenes afterwords but agreed to do those scenes because I felt the pioneer element of not having those kinds of scenes in a full feature before was an important step to our community.
We took alot of heat for doing this, people even walked out of the editing room because they were so discomforted by it..but eventually things would lead to more gay films now following this, mainstream TV shows like Queer As Folk and many others that would also take this route many years later.
The original script was quite a bit different from what me and Chris saw in the actual theater. Scenes ment to go at the beginning were now placed in the middle, and scenes Chris and I both thought were very important to the film were cut-out entirely.
I have now been reading reviews and feedback about this film for years. Yeah, I've read the vicious stuff, the cruel stuff and the stuff that made me feel pretty bad.
I guess I just wanted to leave this response to say 'Thank You' for those of you who have left the supportive positive comments that were awesome, brightened my day and made me feel proud to make this film a few years ago.
Thanks guys, I really appreciate it : )
For your kind words, support and for just being AWESOME!
Thank You.
Much Love & Hugs,
Your Bud,
Sean Tataryn, 'Kyle' in Leather Jacket Love Story
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Much to admire in deeply flawed comedy-drama, April 2, 2003
This review is from: Leather Jacket Love Story (DVD)
LEATHER JACKET LOVE STORY
(USA - 1997 - black and white)
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Theatrical soundtrack: Mono
An aspiring young poet (Sean Tataryn) relocates from the Valley to LA's Silver Lake district where he's distracted by drag queens, sex clubs, gay bashers and a hunky older stud (Christopher Bradley) with whom he falls in love.
Shot in ten days for $60,000 in 16mm black and white, and inspired by Jean-Luc Godard's MASCULIN-FEMININ (1966), David DeCoteau's LEATHER JACKET LOVE STORY is something of an acquired taste. DeCoteau had toiled in the lower echelons of the exploitation movie business for many years (BEACH BABES FROM BEYOND, TEST TUBE TEENS FROM THE YEAR 3000, you get the picture) before commissioning screenwriter/poet Rondo Mieczkowski to write the gay drama DeCoteau had always dreamed of directing, and it took a year for the project to finally come together. But all good intentions are scuppered by a combination of threadbare production values and a reckless shooting schedule, both of which are characteristic of DeCoteau's directorial 'style'. Furthermore, the central romance isn't remotely believable, because - at the risk of sounding crude and disrespectful - Tataryn isn't attractive enough to warrant all the attention (he was chosen for no other reason than his willingness to perform the nudity and sex scenes!), and he plays the character as little more than a socially awkward debutante, completely at odds with Bradley's exerienced older guy, with whom he appears to have little in common.
Howard Wexler's low-tech cinematography struggles to maintain the fairy tale ambience suggested by Mieczowski's ambitious script, and as usual, DeCoteau allows too many dialogue scenes to continue well beyond the limits of endurance. In a commentary recorded for this DVD, DeCoteau chides those critics who trashed his 'feel-good' approach in favor of the 'heavy dramas' which he himself seems to dislike, refusing to countenance the idea that some viewers simply weren't taken by his amateurish scribble of a movie!
But there's still much to admire in this flawed venture. Mieczkowski's script may be dramatically uninspired, but his dialogue is smart and colorful, and he manages to prick the bubble of pomposity which informs his company of eccentric Silver Lake characters. Similarly, the cast is a mixed bag of newcomers and cult favorites: Bradley is an experienced actor (URBANIA, BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN KISS, etc.) and director of animated shorts ("Backstage With Little Lorenzo"), and he has the kind of dazzling good looks which can stop any movie dead in its tracks. His full frontal nude scenes here are genuinely impressive! Exploitation fans will be surprised to see Nicholas Worth (THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT) playing an ultra-theatrical gay poet, given his reputation as a fearsome screen villain, and he steals every scene in which he appears - his poem-readings are a hoot! Fashion model Geoffrey Moody makes his only screen appearance to date as Tataryn's best friend, a sluttish pretty boy with a penchant for rough sex, and it would have been interesting to see him cast in Tataryn's role (DeCoteau mentions that Moody was OK with the sex scenes but wasn't prepared to do full frontal nudity, which could have been accommodated without threatening the film's erotic potency).
Also included in cameo roles are Andy Warhol/John Waters favorite Mink Stole (PINK FLAMINGOS, DESPERATE LIVING) and veteran gay activist Morris Kight, and DeCoteau's commentary reveals that Joe Dallesandro was considered for a major cameo in the movie, but he couldn't be found in time! Watch out for a truly memorable stripper (Dennis Larkin), and a hilarious cameo from Bob Prest as an irreverent doctor who pierces nipples and other body parts for a living!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An entertaining, positive movie about twinks, leathermen and drag queens..., April 29, 2007
This review is from: Leather Jacket Love Story (DVD)
This is a movie about a Yin-Yang affair between a "Twink" and "Leather Man", both classic gay sexual personae that have been around forever. Cute as button, blonde and blue eyed Sean Tataryn plays a overly romantic, somewhat naïve "Kyle" who falls for the dark and brooding "Mike" played by Christopher Bradley. The movie delivers a lot of laughs and positive, touching conclusion.
I strongly disagree with all the other reviewers who dismiss Sean Tataryn in his role of the central character, "Kyle". On the contrary, casting Tataryn as "Kyle", as the teenager from the suburbs who writes romantic poetry was inspired! Tataryn plays the role of "Kyle" with the perfect amount of innocence and naiveté that one would expect from a suburban kid exploring his options in the gay scene.
Christopher Bradley is believable as "Mike", the blue collar, leather jacket wearing, motorcycle riding object of Kyle's lust and affection. Mike is sort of "Peter Pan" character, cynical about love, hardened by life, and emotionally unavailable.
Kyle turns out to be the perfect yin to Mike's yang, so the sexual tension between them is interesting to watch as their affair unfolds
At first, Kyle's angelic looks and vulnerability stirs Mike's lust. But Kyle challenges Mike about his promiscuity, and stirs in him repressed feelings for emotional intimacy that Mike finds uncomfortable. The ending scene where "Mike" is so moved by Kyle's reading of a poem he wrote about their affair that he tears up the phone number of the "trick" he was seeing was as powerful and touching moment as I've ever seen in any romantic drama. .
The movie has it's flaws, not the least was it`s $60,000 budget. The movie was shot 10 days with a circa 1969 camera in B&W and combined with the generic 1950's soundtrack, which you may find out of context with the plot and the characters. But the worst flaw in my opinion, is that the movie couldn't seem to decide if it as a serious romantic drama or romp through gay camp. It's not surprising to learn that director was responsible for forgettable flicks with titles like Voodoo Academy and Creepozoids. I found the flood of drag queens and gratuitous sex scenes overwhelmed the dramatic potential of the plot.
Leather Jacket Love Story DOES delivers a positive feel-good experience that is often hard to find in gay fiction and movies. It may even become a gay classic. Sadly this plot, the script and these actors could have delivered a much more complicated and moving picture then this feather duster. On the other hand, it's simple laughs and romantic plot make it the perfect "fluff" movie to curl up with on a friday night when you are too tired to go out, and too lonely to just stay home. I've watched this movie serveral times, and still watch it from time to time a few years later.
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