Saturday Night at the Baths

Unlike Fox, Dog Day Afternoon and A Bigger Splash, in which the central theme of homosexuality occurred within a larger framework, Saturday Night at the Baths approaches its subject on a more basic level. Against a semi-documentary background of New York's Continental Baths, the film traces a straight musician's progression from a heterosexual relationship to a homosexual one. It approaches the subject sympathetically and seriously, but finally becomes trapped by its own lack of resources: uneven acting and an indifferent script which does little more than put the characters through the motions. Good footage of the Baths, and the film's increasing confidence as it develops help it along.