BURNING BLUE IS RELEASED TOO LATE FOR AN IMPACT
In 2011, the “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” policy was abolished, filmviewers are reminded at the end of the poorly written Burning Blue which, if released earlier, might have influenced passage. D.M.W. Greer, the director, had written a play based on his own experiences that got attention on Broadway in 1995. But sometimes fiction is better than fact as a basis for an exciting film. More than half of the film shows the social life of four navy airmen who live in a room with two bunk beds—alcohol, parties, and the women to whom they are attached. During a stopover in New York, they find a bar to be wild enough for their enjoyment, where the female prostitutes strip shirts off two of the men; soon, they dance together. When aerial accidents occur, another navy soldier, also at the bar, suggests to NCIS that two or more are gay, and an investigation is launched with the flimsiest of evidence. The investigation, in turn, forces two of the pilots to question their sexual orientation, but the only evidence filmviewers see is an unexpected kiss. MH