2026 Subscribers: this is NOT included in your Subscription. If you'd like to purchase it, you will need to login to view your special 50% off SRP pricing.
This special limited edition J-card MediaBook slipcase (designed by Court Normandin) is limited to 5,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them. (Note: this Limited Edition includes a 60 page booklet)
Note: this release is available to be purchased on its own, or in the following two bundles:
Limited Edition Slipcase + the paperback book The Boys in the Band by Mart Crowley (book details can be seen below). Limited to 100 units. (Sold Out)
Limited Edition Slipcase + This Is Cinématographe: A Journal of American Cinema - Spring 2026
Taking its name from the Lumière Brothers invention of the same name, Cinématographe is a new sub-label from Vinegar Syndrome that seeks to fill gaps in the canon of American cinema. Offering a mix of auteur driven studio films produced during the New Hollywood era of the late 1960s and 70s all the way through the indie boom of the 1980s and 90s, Cinématographe will explore the wide breadth of American moviemaking, spanning numerous genres and scales of production. Curated and produced by Vinegar Syndrome's Justin LaLiberty, each limited edition release will be housed in a specially designed, cloth-bound, media book with embossed foil titles and custom molded disc trays accompanied by a slipcase featuring newly commissioned art and an individually numbered J-card.
Harold (Leonard Fray, Fiddler on the Roof) is turning 32 and his friend Michael (Kenneth Nelson, Off-Broadway’s The Fantasticks) is hosting a party for him in his Upper East Side apartment in New York City. The party guests—Emory (Cliff Gorman, All That Jazz), Donald (Frederick Combs), Bernard (Reuben Greene, Mikey and Nicky), Hank (Laurence Luckinbill, Such Good Friends), Larry (Keith Prentice, Cruising) and “Cowboy Tex” (Robert La Tourneaux), who is also Harold’s gift from Michael—all arrive to Michael’s apartment. Like Harold and Michael, the party guests are all gay men. That is, until Michael’s straight friend Alan (Peter White, TV’s All My Children) unexpectedly crashes the party. As the night gets longer, and the guests get more inebriated, the festivities turn darker and raw emotions surface.
Adapted for the screen by Mart Crowley, from his groundbreaking play of the same name, The Boys In the Band is a pivotal film in the early career of director William Friedkin, released just a year shy of The French Connection, which would award him an Oscar for Best Director. The ensemble cast of the controversial Off-Broadway play reprised their roles on screen, many acting on camera for the first time. The Boys In the Band is often regarded as one of the first films from a major studio to explicitly feature openly gay characters, with Crowley’s colorful language fueled text offering profanities that many moviegoers hadn’t heard in a film prior. Cinématographe is proud to bring this essential landmark of queer cinema to 4K UHD for the first time in the world, from a brand new 4K restoration of its original camera negatives.
directed by: William Friedkin starring: Kenneth Nelson, Leonard Frey, Peter White, Cliff Gorman, Frederick Combs, Reuben Greene, Laurence Luckinbill, Keith Prentice, Robert La Tourneaux 1970 / 120 min / 1.85:1 / English DTS-HD MA 1.0
Additional info:
2-Disc Set: 4K Ultra HD + Region A Blu-ray
4K UHD presented in Dolby Vision High-Dynamic-Range
Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
New audio commentary with writer and professor Farrah Freibert
Archival audio commentary with director William Friedkin
Your Place In the World - a new video interview with actor, and original Boys In the Band cast member, Laurence Luckinbill
Something Important to Say - a new video interview with film historian Mark Harris
Take It or Leave It - a new video interview with entertainment journalist Michael Musto
Who Is She? Who Was She? Who Does She Hope To Be? The Boys In the Band Past Present and Future - a new video essay by film historian Daniel Kremer
Friedkin Uncut - a feature length documentary from 2018, covering Friedkin's career
Turner Classic Movies introduction to the film by Ben Mankiewicz and Mario Cantone
New text essays by film critic Alonso Duralde, author of Hollywood Pride; film critic Caden Mark Gardner, co-author of Corpses, Fools, Monsters; film journalist Nat Segaloff, author of Hurricane Billy: The Stormy Life and Films of William Friedkin; and writer Kyle Turner, author of The Queer Film Guide
English SDH subtitles
The Boys in the Band - Paperback Book
By Mart Crowley
This seminal work of the Off-Broadway movement premiered in 1968 and was a long-running hit onstage later filmed with the original cast. In 2010 the play made a triumphant return to New York City in an highly praised production produced by Drama Desk and Obie Award winning Transport Group.
222 pages 8" x 5"
Overall rating: 4.8686867 / 5 from 99 reviews.
AI Generated Review Summary
The Boys in the Band is a landmark film in queer cinema, now available in a limited edition 4K UHD restoration. Customers praise the film's quality, the restoration, and the additional content. The special edition slipcase and booklet add to its collectibility.
Summary topics
Film Quality (32%): Many customers loved the film, describing it as great, excellent, and the best they've ever had.
Restoration Quality (20%): A significant number of customers brought up the fact that the transfer is great and fantastic for film.
"Great transfer, special features and film." — Thomas
"The image quality is excellent, with natural colors, excellent contrast, and an organic film like appearance." — Patrick F.
"The peerless VS restoration process was on full display with stellar sound and picture!" — Paul K.
Reviews
Excellent Cinématographe
"Super Cinématographe release of a great movie. Packaging is superb, and the bundled fanzine is cool as well."
— Jakob P. (5/5)
The more the merrier
"A terrific release of The Boys in the Band. The supplements are thoughtful and substantial, and the presentation is excellent. More than anything, I love seeing Cinematographe continue to select films this important, distinctive, and deserving of rediscovery. Exactly the kind of release that makes the label essential."
— Lucas S. (5/5)
Stunning, searing, powerful film
"I had never seen The Boys in the Band, and was absolutely undone by it. It is as devastating as it is hilarious. While these characters might seem one-dimensional at first, the way they are revealed as the movie progresses could not be more nuanced or more revelatory. Heartbreaking, euphoric, writing so crisp and the film so exquisitely paced, it almost plays as a thriller. It's thoroughly deserving of Vinegar Syndrome's Cadillac treatment, as I have come to expect from the Cinématographe line. There is a reason I have every single title in this collection. Could not recommend more highly."
— Jonathan M. (5/5)
What else can be said
"What else can be said at this point, if you are already in this deep with Cinematographe releases, this one will be a nice addition. Really like the features on this one for informing me on the source material for this film since I was unfamiliar with it."
— Charles S. (5/5)
"Life's a goddamn laugh riot. "
""Donald, you are a real card-carrying cunt. " Based on Mart Crowley's (who also wrote the screenplay) 1968 play, William Friedkin's THE BOYS IN THE BAND (1970) involves a group of queens in Manhattan at a birthday party crashed by a square, hetero friend. Full of manic energy, acerbic dialogue delivered in rapid fire succession, and dramatic camerawork, Friedkin's film remains divisive among audiences—a funny but sad, self-reflexive, self-criticizing, and self-pitying work, tackling stereotypes while remaining humanist."
— Daniel S. (4/5)
queer history
"the presentation looks fantastic m. beautiful restoration as well plentiful extras. the film is a beautiful piece of queer history with incredible performances front to back. just a great 60s film. can't get enough of it."
— Cameron C. (5/5)
Groundbreaking Masterpiece
"William Friedkin made his biggest impression in America yet with this adaptation of the seminal play, representing a milestone in cinema in various respects. The writing is superb, the acting fantastic, and the characterization quite wonderful. The previous HD releases of this film were really quite awful, so this new restoration is enormously welcome; the film finally looks like film on home video. Copious extras round out a must-have package."
— Kyle S. (5/5)
Underrated
"The Boys in the Band is a sharp, dialogue-driven drama that captures the complexities of friendship, identity, and self-acceptance with remarkable honesty. Its ensemble cast delivers powerful performances that bring both the humor and heartbreak of the story to life. Though firmly rooted in its era, the film remains emotionally compelling and historically significant."
— Shawn M. (4/5)
Another stellar Cinematographe release
"Wow, what a gorgeous 4K upgrade! The transfer is pristine. This package is loaded with informative extras as well. The artwork is a bit weak (my only grippe with this one). Recommend picking it up while it’s still available!"
— Matthew L. (4/5)
Comprehensive
"Extras package combining the 2008 Laurent Bouzereau featurettes along with multiple new features. Feature length doc about Friedkin along with an edifying interview with Mark Harris to contextualize the play and the film."
— Luis R. (5/5)
Q&A
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