Allan Moyle's 1980 teenage girl rock 'n roll adventure, Times Square, developed status as a lesbian cult film with showings at lesbian and gay film festivals in New York and San Francisco in the early and mid 1980s and continues to be a favorite at lesbian and gay film festivals in the early '90s. The film will be presented at the Chicago Filmmakers Saturday, Sept. 16.
Long-standing rumors about lesbian content removed from Times Square have provided ample fodder for lesbian readings of the teen girl buddy movie. Indeed, a look at Jacob Brackman's original unpublished script of May, 1979 (on file at the University of Southern California Script Library) reveals many erotically charged scenes between the protagonists, Nicky (Robin Johnson) and Pammy (Trini Alvarado). Some of these scenes were removed from the script prior to shooting, some of them were shot and then excised from the final cut of the film. A fragment of one such excised scene appears in the film's preview trailer-it is a one-second, barely perceivable, clip of Nicky and Pammy playing together in the river.
The basic plot of the film is conveyed in its publicity blurb: "In the heart of Times Square, a poor girl becomes famous, a rich girl becomes courageous, and both become friends." Pammy is the quiet and sheltered daughter of a prominent politician, Nicky is a streetwise troublemaker. Admitted to a hospital for the same psychiatric tests, the girls share a room and get to know each other. They escape from the hospital, create a home for themselves in a dockside warehouse and live their lives together against the gritty urban backdrop of Times Square. There's tons of erotic tension between the girls, and, most importantly-they love each other and they're not interested in boys. As their romance begins, Pammy's first feelings for Nicky are expressed in a poem she writes in her journal (which Nicky steals): "your ribs are my ladder Nicky, I'm so amazed, I'm so amazed."
In their poetry, music and other idiosyncratic forms of artistic self-expression, the girls perform for each other, and together, throughout the film. Each gives loving support to the other in their artistic pursuits as they encourage one another to grow and develop self-confidence.
While there's no explicit lesbian content in the film, the romantic tone of Nicky and Pammy's interactions is undeniable. The original script had several scenes and plot elements that developed the sexual tension between Nicky and Pammy, including a scene of their first meeting in the hospital, in which they have to undress in front of each other; two scenes where they take off their shirts and play together in their underwear in the river (the clip of which remains in the film's trailer); a wrestling scene; a scene of the first night that they sleep (sleep, not fuck) together and a scene of Pammy dancing topless at the Cleo Club. Most of the scenes removed from the script/film are scenes involving erotic tension or physical contact between the girls.
Times Square is also one of the most remarkable rock 'n roll soundtrack movies ever made (artists include Patti Smith Group, Pretenders, Talking Heads and Roxy Music), and the soundtrack often provides romantic commentary on the developing relationship between the girls. "You Can't Hurry Love" accompanies their escape from the hospital, and when Johnny (Tim Curry) the disc jockey learns that "you two sweethearts have a favorite song" he plays it for them. The song is dyke-rocker Suzi Quatro's "Rock Hard." In their own music, the girls range from the personal to the political. "Damn Dog" features Nicky's plea to Pammy, "I can lick your face/I can bite it too/My teeth got rabies/Gonna give 'em to you/I'm a damn dog." While their performance of "Sleaze Sister Voodoo," decries the hypocrisy and prejudice of the establishment as they proclaim: "Spic, nigger, faggot, bum/Your daughter is one."
Although the removal of so much material from the original script gives the film a fragmented feel and sometimes sloppy continuity, the bond between the girls is always clear, and always has some lesbian resonance to it. As such, Times Square is a marvelous experience not only for lesbian youth, but for any girl who's ever had a crush on a girl or who's wanted to see girls on film without boys in the middle.
For information about Times Square and about the upcoming November Chicago International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, call Chicago Filmmakers at (312) 384-5533.
"I was very surprised when you called," says Robin Johnson from her home in Los Angeles. "I didn't know there was that kind of interest in the film." In a recent phone interview, Johnson still conveys the dynamic personality and charisma of her fifteen-year old Times Square character, Nicky Marotta. The thirty-year old Johnson, now engaged to be married, and working as a traffic reporter for KFWB radio in L.A. charmed a generation of young dykes with her raw, screen debut in the 1980 rock 'n roll cult classic.
Although it's a bit disappointing to find out that Johnson didn't grow up to be a lesbian, she seems genuinely pleased when I tell her that Times Square has become a dyke cult film. "It was always about freedom of expression," she responds enthusiastically. "I got lots of fan mail from men, not as much from women, and not from gay women. The letters were mostly from young people saying the film inspired them to do their music, leave home, change their hair, whatever. But it's great if it helped people coming out in any way, shape or form. It makes me happy. If it helped anyone to have any more freedom that's a wonderful thing."
The story behind Times Square is a saga in itself. Director Allan Moyle was fired during the editing process when producer Robert Stigwood insisted on cuts that Moyle refused to make. Stigwood wanted to cut out dialogue scenes to include more music, to make the soundtrack a double album. In the end, Moyle was fired (and didn't make another film for ten years, until he did Pump Up The Volume with Christian Slater in 1990), Stigwood made the cuts, and, Johnson says of the resulting product, "It was disappointing. It could've been so much more powerful. I'd love to see what Allan's cut would've been."
Johnson explains that since the producing Robert Stigwood Organization was a record company, "They packaged it and made a big deal out of the music. But the strength of the movie is the girls' relationship, the music was supposed to be a backdrop. So people were disappointed and the film was not very well-received."
As I press her with detailed questions about the distance between the original script and the final cut of the film, Johnson is incredibly helpful in trying to reconstruct how the film turned out the way it did. "The script was changed before we started shooting," she explains. "And, lots of scenes were cut after they were shot."
Johnson remembers that the scene where the girls sleep together was changed. The original script had developed Nicky's nervousness as they're getting ready to go to bed on their first night in their new home. "There's not a sexual aspect in the film… There was nothing overt even in the script. But [Nicky's] clearly more uncomfortable about it, and it was a very natural interplay between two girls of that age." Johnson speculates that because of the film's harsh language and violence the producers were already concerned that they were "pushing the R envelope" and were probably worried about pushing it any further.
Describing some of the other scenes that were cut after shooting, Johnson recalls the removal of a scene where they henna each other's hair and then play together in the river, "There was more physical contact. It was really beautiful, and it would've supported the story line more. But that was cut, Allan [Moyle] was very disappointed about that."
She acknowledges that the scene of Pammy dancing topless at the Cleo Club was changed (in the film she's clothed) at the request of the then twelve-year old, Trini Alvarado. "She was very young and she came from a religious background. She just didn't want to do it." Johnson speaks fondly as she reminisces about her co-star. Alvarado was cast as Pammy after Johnson, an unknown Brooklyn high school student, got the part of Nicky from the producer's cattle call. "Trini and I had a really great offscreen relationship. She was 12 and I was 15. We really liked each other alot. We hung out and our familes knew each other, we were great friends."
And, the big question, was there any discussion of the girls' relationship as lesbian? "Not overtly," Johnson says. "But the younger girl's crush on the Nicky character, yes. She's really taken by this other girl's energy. That was clear."