Top ten moments in NYC gay culture

10 Midnight movies find an audience
Perhaps beginning with El Topo in December 1970, midnight screenings attracts a kind of camp audience. Continuing in 1972, John Waters's Baltimore-based production, Pink Flamingos, becomes an instant if controversial cult classic. Audience participation often involves eating a chocolate dessert during the closing scene, in which Divine, one of the characters, famously eats dog shit. The late-night film tradition probably peaks with the 1976 debut of Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Waverly Theater (now the IFC), though it does continue—albeit on rather tired legs—today.

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