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crepesuzette2023 · 10 days

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So whats like the general consensus about Stu and John? Do we think they ever messed around or not?

Ooooh, I won't burn and scar my typing fingers on anything like "general consensus," and my cop-out answer is: depends on who you ask. I mean, if you're living in a world where 'a man being with a woman' = straight, or 'a man who never came out unequivocally as queer' = straight, then John and Stu very much never messed around, and, more importantly, didn't feel the desire to.

But I think if you look at it with an open mind, without being afraid of the possibility, you'll see it's more likely they did than that they didn't.

First, you have John, with his life-long romantic idea of being in love with your creative partner (see: his comments on Yoko and Paul)—an idea that fits Stu seamlessly, and perhaps even started with him. In the Hunter Davies bio, John (in '67) calls Stu Paul's predecessor in the 'my trusted partner in art' role.

There is also this conversation with Stu's girlfriend, Astrid Kircherr, as related by Backbeat director Iain Softley:

Paying tribute to Astrid this week, film director Iain Softley revealed her moving words from his interviews with her when he made 1994 movie Backbeat about her and Stuart’s romance.

They hint at a complex relationship between her, Stuart and John. She said it was only after Stuart died that she and John “took a load of pills” and talked for 12 hours about “all the things on our minds about Stuart”. “‘He was jealous when Klaus and I fancied Stuart more, and took him home and left John out,” she told Iain.

“He told me he really loved Stuart, but was afraid of the feeling.”

Iain adds: “I think she thought he meant as a friend, I don’t think there was any suggestion they were in a relationship. But Stuart had always been John’s best friend, they shared a flat in Liverpool. John would write to Stuart as ‘Jesus Christ to John the Baptist’, in the sense Stuart was showing him the way. He looked up to him.

“There was a sense John didn’t want Stuart taken away from him, he didn’t want Stuart to stay in Hamburg.

“At the same time he was very fond of Astrid, but I think there was a conflict there.”

If John was afraid of the feeling, then I'm thinking he felt something that, at the time, and probably still today, was a scary thing to feel. I'll leave it at that.

Also, they were, what? 18, 19, 20 years old? At that age, odds are you do fool around, even if you regret it afterwards. Nothing wrong with that.

Look at this picture of Stu (r.) with Astrid and Astrid's ex, Klaus Voormann. Klaus, who later said he and Astrid didn't work as a couple because she wanted him to be exactly like her image of him, and whose marriage (to a woman) was a platonic marriage of convenience, according to himself. We have now reached the beautiful stage of come onnn! "Straight" was at the party, but so were many others. These relationships were messy! That's awesome!

And how do we feel about John feeling up Gene Vincent, while Paul and George look on knowingly, and Pete Best blanks out? We feel joyous and unsurprised.

A word about Paul vs. Stu, since we're (sort of) at it.

It's possible (what an understatement) to think of their rivalry as sexual rivalry. This is, once more, hinted at in Backbeat, where Stu is more or less giving away John to Paul.

And yet. I think it was more than that. I think everyone, back then, was fighting for more than a bed-partner. They were fighting for their future, for a life unlike their parents'. Paul was fighting for the band, Stu was fighting for John to join him on his artist's way (even giving 'rock'n'roll' a try), and John..

John was, on the one hand, the person either of the others felt he needed in order to realize his dream. But on the other hand, he was the least decided of the three. He may have perceived that, within the trio, he had the fewest fall-back options: Stu had his obvious, much-mentored artistic talent. Paul had a possible academic future bwxt to his musical talent, plus a clear determination to make it in music. John had talent in spades, but perhaps less of a clear-cut idea of where and how to apply it. So he tried keeping both of them close...?

With fun scenes like these as a result:

John sure is feeling campy/cuddly, while Paul is incandescent with rage. A hot look for both of them.

In the end, we don't know if they ever did fool around. My usual reply in those cases is: I hope they did, if they both wanted it. I hope it was good.

I need to check out this book:

John and Paul look happy.

#asks #Stuart Sutcliffe #John Lennon #Astrid Kircherr #Paul McCartney #Backbeat #Iain Softley #mclennon #lenncliffe #it's just handy to fuck your best friend #until it isn't

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specific90saesthetics · 10 months

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#'90s aesthetic #'90s nostalgia #1990s #90s #'90s #hackers #jesse bradford #matthew lillard #jonny lee miller #angelina jolie #laurence mason #iain softley #90s movies #90s films #90s fashion #1995 #'90s aesthetics

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soapdispensersalesman · 8 days

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Hackers (1995)

Dir. Iain Softley

Costume design by Roger Burton

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bloodaria · 8 months

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The Skeleton Key (2005) dir. Iain Softley

#the skeleton key #iain softley #horror #stills #horrorstills #the OG get out #m*

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mark-hoffmans · 2 years

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The Skeleton Key (2005) dir. Iain Softley

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da-vedere · 1 year

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Hackers (1995) ☰

#hackers #Iain Softley #Jonny Lee Miller #Angelina Jolie #Jesse Bradford #Matthew Lillard #Laurence Mason #Renoly Santiago #Fisher Stevens #Alberta Watson #azione #action #film da vedere #da vedere #movie to watch #to watch #1995 #gif

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theseimmortalcoils · 9 months

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Helena Bonham Carter as Kate Croy in Iain Softley's The Wings of the Dove (1997), based on Henry James' novel from 1902.

#helena bonham carter #henry james #the wings of the dove #kate croy #iain softley #edwardian era #film stills #edwardian london

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smashing-yng-man · 3 months

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Hackers (1995)

#hackers #iain softley #film #jonny lee miller #matthew lillard #jesse bradford #renoly santiago #hackers (1995)#mass surveillance #tech #internet #world wide web #social media #app tracking #personalized ads #orwellian #george orwell

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90sagony · 2 years

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#236 Domestic studies: Hackers (1995)

#hackers #hackers movie #iain softley #jonny lee miller #angelina jolie #jesse bradford #matthew lillard #90s #90s movies #90s nostalgia #domestic #domestic studies #summer nights #summer movies #movie rec

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yewknee · 6 months

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Never-before-seen Polaroids from the set of cult cyber classic Hackers

#hackers #hack the planet #angelina jolie #jonny lee #matthew lillard #Iain Softley #Renoly Santiago #polaroid #polaroids #Roger K Burton

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xiadz · 2 years

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#fun fact I used to have the name trashandburn on AIM #hackers #gif #film #movies #iain softley #my gifs #crash and burn #crash override #acid burn #cereal killer #angelina jolie #matthew lillard #jonny lee miller

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brokehorrorfan · 11 months

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Hackers will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on August 22 via Shout Select. The 1995 crime thriller is directed by Iain Softley (K-PAX, The Skeleton Key).

Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Jesse Bradford, Matthew Lillard, Laurence Mason, Renoly Santiago, Lorraine Bracco, and Fisher Stevens star. Rafael Moreu (The Rage: Carrie 2) penned the script.

Hackers has been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative. Special features (on the Blu-ray disc) are listed below.

Special features:

The Keyboard Cowboys: A Look Back at Hackers - Interviews with director Iain Softley, actors Fisher Stevens, Matthew Lillard, and Penn Jillette, costume designer Roger Burton, visual effects artist Peter Chiang, consultants Nicholas Jarecki and Emmanuel Goldstein, and film critic Mark Kermode

Original trailer

While practicing the tricks of the trade, a neophyte hacker accomplishes the nearly impossible: he hacks the highly secured computer at the Ellingson Mineral Corporation. But in doing so, he unknowingly taps into a high-tech embezzling scheme masked by a computer virus with the potential to destroy the world's ecosystem!

Pre-order Hackers.

#hackers #90s movies #1990s movies #angelina jolie #matthew lillard #jonny lee miller #jesse bradford #lorraine bracco #fisher stevens #shout select #dvd #gift #iain softley #shout factory #penn jillette

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schlock-luster-video · 7 months

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On October 1, 1996, Hackers was released on VHS in Argentina.