Episode 21: PAT ROCCO DARES (1969)

In June 1968, Los Angeles’ Park Theatre held the world’s first gay film festival. Mixed in the usual works by figures like Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, and Andy Milligan was a new name: Pat Rocco. Though he’d only started making films that year, Rocco would quickly become the vanguard of a new, openly-gay film movement and a crucial figure in the history of gay liberation.

This week on the show, we’re taking a look at Rocco’s fourth theatrical film program, Pat Rocco Dares. Consisting of a number of cinematic ‘dares’ and firsts — including, most famously, a nude ballet shot on the Hollywood Freeway — DARES found Rocco testing and pushing the limits of what could be seen on the screen and done in public.