The Roundabouts 1972 | Boys in movies [BiM]

The Roundabouts 1972
| 1h 28 min | Adult | 1972.

Plot:

Gay adult vintage movie.

User review:

Generally lauded as one of the better producers of early gay hardcore, Jaguar Productions largely whiffs it with THE ROUNDABOUTS, a limpid well shot melodrama.

The dimestore paperback plot, gender-swapped for the lavender set, centers around Mark and Glenn, a loving couple in their 20s. Glenn is supposedly a doctor at a nearby military base, though nothing about his demeanor suggests a medical professional – he mostly lounges around the house in nothing but a pair of cutoffs – while Mark works as an attendant at a filling station along the Pacific Coast Highway. Receiving a letter from an old school friend, Glenn flashes back to their youthful dalliance, remembering they promised to meet ten years after graduation. Now, former lover Darryl has come calling.

The film makes an endless game of cat-and-mouse out of this, with Darryl first – quite coincidentally – pulling into Mark’s filling station and asking if he knows the way to the young doctor’s house. Mark demurs, getting jealous and huffy when Glenn comes to pick him up. Later, after the two make love, Mark decides to crash, leaving Glenn to go to a nearby gay bar unattended. Darryl’s already there, getting cruised by handsome Roy Clark, though showing no interest. Instead, he immediately locks in on Glenn, who apparently doesn’t recognize him, and the two go for a walk on the beach, leading to sex. It’s only after that that Darryl admits who he is, and Glenn suddenly turns prudish, insisting he’s faithful to his boyfriend and can’t pursue a relationship. Apparently fidelity excludes one-night stands.

Darryl salves his wounds by hooking up with Roy, then picks up Mark and takes him to the beach to even out him and his partner’s bedpost notches. Having sworn off Darryl romantically, Glenn nevertheless decides to hang out with him again (in front of his jealous boyfriend, no less!), leaving Mark to find the letter. Who ends up with whom in this erotic roundelay? The real question is, who cares?

Director: Dick Martin
Writer: Art Gamble(story)
Stars: Mark RichardsGlenn BrockDarryl Hughes
Country of origin: United States
Language: English.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3247674/