Sick and Dirty

Revelatory . . . Koresky wears his erudition lightly, teasing out the mixed messages of code-era films with aplomb. It’s a sterling work of film criticism.

Publishers Weekly, starred review

Koresky analyzes Judy Garland as a gay icon and probes the portrayal of the social outcast in Tea and Sympathy and in Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly, Last Summer. Such movies resonate for queer viewers, Koresky asserts, because they capture the longing for acceptance . . . A sensitive response to a rich trove of movies.

Kirkus Reviews

Koresky is a beautiful writer, and his scholarship accommodates bursts of lightheartedness . . . ‘queer cinematic’ history comes to shimmering, affirming life in Sick and Dirty . . . In this uncommonly insightful critique, Michael Koresky identifies, dissects, and celebrates the queer coding found in Hollywood movies from the Motion Picture Production Code era.

Shelf Awareness

The film historian delivers an erudite and personal history of gayness in cinema, from the thematic smuggling in classic Hollywood to the more recent out-and-proud movies of the American independent film movement. The book is both very serious and unabashedly fun.

The Boston Globe

Erudite and accessible . . . Koresky’s engaging, spirited discussions . . . serve as a superb reference guide.

The Gay & Lesbian Review

Astute yet tender.

The New Art Examiner

An engaging and thought-provoking book recommended for LGBTQIA+ and film studies collections.

Library Journal

In Koresky’s capable hands we meet some of the most remarkable queer figures of classic Hollywood . . . combining scholarly and historical rigor with accessibility . . . The power of a book like Sick and Dirty lies in its ability to deeply excavate the painful and conflicted histories of queerness in Hollywood.

Omnivorous

From the 1930s through the 1960s, film production codes forbade ‘any inference’ of LGBTQ+ lives. Still, many found ways to inject queer-coded themes into movies. Michael Koresky's riveting and insightful new book, Sick and Dirty, celebrates the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community and reframes early pieces of queer cinema.

Entertainment Weekly

Excellent . . . Koresky demonstrates how queerness occupied a complex, often contradictory position in the industry . . . Koresky’s style has always foregrounded clarity and rigorous attention.

Defector

Keenly researched . . . If Sick and Dirty returns to some well-known material, the author breathes new life into it by creating meaningful connections between this divergent group of movies and their creators. And while focusing on decades-old films, given the new era of censorship into which America has rapidly been pushed, the book feels unnervingly timely and relevant. Koresky’s writing style is invigorating and his clear knowledge of cinema makes the book a commanding read.

Cineaste magazine

A rollicking work of scholarship . . . But what’s most valuable about Sick and Dirty, more even than the extensive research and his punchy, insightful prose, is the author’s willingness to take a close, thoughtful look at pictures deemed ‘problematic’ by today’s standards.

Crooked Marquee

From its elegant and impassioned introduction through a text that is historically grounded and glittering with insight, this is destined to become an instant classic. Koresky brings his strength as one of the finest and most knowledgeable film critics writing today to locating the strands of queer cinema within the history of cinema writ large, especially through the years of censorship. He knows the importance of confronting 'negative' images, not as anathema but as rich sources of competing and interrelated tropes. His portrait of The Children’s Hour and its various permutations is a spellbinder in itself.

Molly Haskell, film critic and author of FRANKLY, MY DEAR: GONE WITH THE WIND REVISITED

An emotional celebration of artists gay and straight who bucked the Motion Picture Production Code of the twentieth century that aimed to erase queer lives. In a new age of censorship and book bans, Sick and Dirty feels itself like a glorious act of defiance. Koresky's writing crackles with urgency, and thank goodness because it's a history we're in danger of repeating.

Steven Rowley, New York Times bestselling author of THE CELEBRANTS and THE GUNCLE

While The Celluloid Closet anatomized the tragic fate of the homosexual on the big screen, Koresky examines queerness itself as an unwitting by-product of the Production Code censors in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Philip Gefter, author of COCKTAILS WITH GEORGE AND MARTHA

The word ‘critic’ is too limiting when applied to Michael Koresky. He is one, of course, but he's also a historian, an enthusiast, a passionate guide. Whatever you want to call him, Sick and Dirty amply demonstrates what those of us who've followed him for years already know: he's one of the best in the business. Blending together keen biographical detail, wonderful storytelling, and insightful reads of films both famous and not, Sick and Dirty illuminates the hidden queerness of Hollywood's Golden Age. The results are an important, revelatory addition to both LGBTQ history and film studies, and wonderful fun to read.

Isaac Butler, award-winning author of THE METHOD

Koresky writes in a clear, direct, always natural style that complements the sincerity and generosity with which he approaches the art. One can always sense that he writes about films because he loves them, not because he wants to conquer them. He is fascinated by the way films of different eras reflect the collective political psychology of their time, and he is an inquisitive and engaged historian.

Ari Aster, director

Excellent . . . He shows his immense skill as a writer . . . Koresky’s book, in all its tautness and lucidity, encourages us to think outside the lines.

Paging Dr. Lesbian Substack

Michael Koresky is one of the finest film critics of his generation . . . His captivating prose, intelligence, and sheer passion for the era guide the reader . . . When he tackles queer film history, he expands my own theoretical ideas around the subject, and I have a healthier relationship to cinema as a result.

Willow Catelyn Maclay, co-author of CORPSES, FOOLS, AND MONSTERS, for The Queer Review