Written and Directed by Carl Andress and Charles Busch
Starring Charles Busch, Julie Halston, Doug Plaut and Tim Daly
Running time 1 hour and 34 minutes
Premiered at Outfest and plays until August 22, tickets here

by Anthony Glassman, Contributor

COVID-19 is an absolute harridan. For a year and a half, one hasn’t been able to step foot in a supermarket without worrying about the thickness of one’s mask, cannot go to a restaurant free of the worry that the line cook might be, if not Typhoid Mary, then COVID Cary. The walls of the house were closing in during the strictest periods of lockdown; even my Playstation eventually just said, “I’m sick of this shit.”

Of course, there were those who picked up a hobby, crocheted an entire new wardrobe or made a prize-winning sourdough starter or kombucha SCOBY or taught themselves to paint in the style of Caravaggio. Those people can fuck right off for making the rest of us feel inferior.

Two people who actually got something accomplished over lockdown who are not on my shit list, however, are Carl Andress and Charles Busch, longtime friends and collaborators who used the enforced solitude to write a screenplay over Skype. Let me repeat that for those in the back: Wrote. A. Screenplay. Over. Skype. During. Lockdown. Shove that in your sourdough and smoke it. Er… bake it.

The minute the restrictions were eased, they got that screenplay produced, and we now have The Sixth Reel, a rollicking yet intimate adventure in the demimonde of film collectors in New York City.

Busch, known far and wide for his myriad Off-Broadway successes, Tony-nominated for The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and stellar onscreen in Psycho Beach Party and Die, Mommie, Die!, plays Jimmy, a collector and dealer in movies, memorabilia and ephemera, whose greatest successes come from befriending like-minded people who happen to be quite old and on the verge of death. It earns him the reputation for being a bit of a black widow, but as he reminds people when they accuse him of murdering the first of his friends, she was 90 and died of natural causes.

Jimmy stumbles into another dead body when he goes to visit Gerald, an elderly friend, only to discover that he died in his sleep. According to Detective Williams (T. Oliver Reed), Gerald has been dead for at least 24 hours. Jimmy, however, has other things on his mind, asking Williams, “Would you believe this is the fourth time I’ve discovered a dead body,” before winking subtly yet flirtatiously.

Jimmy is contacted by Gerald’s niece Helen (the fabulous Julie Halston), who wants his help getting rid of the estate. She was the only member of her family who kept in contact with Gerald, the black sheep of the family, and wants to be hands-on to make sure nobody makes off with any treasures. Jimmy suggests an estate sale at Gerald’s apartment, after they’ve organized and tidied. And this is where much of the rest of the cast comes into the film.

Well, except for Doug Plaut, who plays Jimmy’s best friend Rodney, a disturbingly adorable and eager young man whose love of films is equaled only by his lust for Jimmy. Think a ginger Pépé le Pew, and you’re not far off. Every one of his propositions is met with bemusement by Jimmy, but every dog has his day. Or skunk. Or redhead. Whatever. The audience meets him earlier in the film, but he is back for the estate sale, along with Tim Daly as Michael, the suave film professor who might be gay, might be from Indiana, but puts himself forward as a British lothario; Margaret Cho as Doris, the high-end art and collectibles dealer and Jimmy’s arch-nemesis, with a weakness for a shrimp tray; Heather MacRae as Martha, Gerald’s old friend and traveling companion; the iconic André De Shields as Gavin Plimsoll, a nefarious skinflint, and other assorted crazies like Virginia (Dee Hoty), a one-armed would-be bandit, and Richard Bekins as Leland.

After the estate sale/party, Jimmy and Helen discover that those vultures in attendance were right, and the rumors were true: Gerald had the sixth reel (and here’s our title!) of the legendary lost Lon Chaney film London After Midnight. Now, the only problem is turning that reel of celluloid into cash before one of the other collectors decides to punch their ticket for that great odeon in the sky.

Anyone who knows Charles Busch’s works, including his earlier screen collaboration with Carl Andress, A Very Serious Person, knows how flipping funny this movie will be. It’s also the first chance for most people to see Busch acting opposite Julie Halston, who has appeared in so many stage productions of his work, and whom he describes as his muse.

It’s a delightful, light-hearted and madcap little film that plays to everyone’s strengths. It is not a genre parody or paean, as were Psycho Beach Party and Die, Mommie, Die! Instead, it’s a slightly zany New York story about a bunch of horrible people who do something good, almost in spite of themselves, and make the audience laugh along the way.

The cast, who in normal circumstances would have all been too busy with stage productions, are all fantastic, and seeing them being so silly and having such fun in their roles is truly part of the charm of the film. It’s a great piece of cinematic love, and it can be streamed through the weekend through Outfest, at www.TheSixthReel.com.

Anthony also interviewed Carl Andress and Charles Busch about the film, and that interview is here.