Peter de Rome: There Wouldn’t Be Gay Porn Without Him
It’s not an exaggeration to say that without Peter De Rome, NakedSword probably wouldn’t exist today. Hell, without Peter De Rome, there might not be such a thing as gay porn. Period.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that without Peter De Rome, NakedSword probably wouldn’t exist today. Hell, without Peter De Rome, there might not be such a thing as gay porn, and you wouldn’t be able to log on to websites to jack off to horse-dicked studs loading each other up. Who was Peter De Rome? Let’s just say, he did it all first. A scene where two guys fuck on the subway, late at night? Peter De Rome did it long before Sean Cody. Sex on the beach in Fire Island between hung studs? Peter De Rome did it before Wakefield Poole. Gay porn horror films? Peter De Rome did it before Randy Blue. Thanks to his fearlessness and skill at convincing boys to drop trou and do dirty things on camera, the world changed for gay people for the better.
Naked Sword Film Works (NSFW) is pleased to add Ethan Reid’s acclaimed documentary PETER DE ROME: GRANDFATHER OF GAY PORN, which tells the late great porn pioneer’s story and features interviews with De Rome, Wakefield Poole, Kristen Bjorn, Hand in Hand editor Bob Alvarez, porn star Jake Genesis and more. NSFW is also adding De Rome’s two visionary porn features ADAM & YVES (1974) and THE DESTROYING ANGEL (1976), little known today except by porn scholars, as a complement to the documentary. Together, the three films offer audiences a new opportunity to consider the legacy of this pioneering figure.
While last month’s premiere NSFW title SEED MONEY, profiled Falcon founder Chuck Holmes, another major figure whose work influenced porn, Reid’s documentary focuses on the early days of porn, before formulas had been put in place and before equipment made the look of the genre slicker and more glossy. 
The film traces De Rome’s life through the early ‘60s, when he was busily making underground porn shorts to screen for friends, to the ‘70s, when De Rome partnered with Jack Deveau of Hand in Hand films and released the wild and very atypical porn titles ADAM & YVES (1974), which boasts the final screen appearance of legendary Hollywood star Greta Garbo, and THE DESTROYING ANGEL (1976), a dark horror gay porn tale based on an Edgar Allen Poe story and featuring music by avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, before effectively retiring from the business in the ‘80s and settling into a new life in the UK.
A diminutive unassuming figure, the charming, elderly De Rome recounts the ups and downs of his career in preparation for an excavation of his work to be screened at the British Film Institute in London. Though De Rome passed away not long after the making of the film, his work lives on, as fearless, bold, and yes, hot, as ever. We invite you to watch PETER DE ROME: GRANDFATHER OF GAY PORN, ADAM & YVES, and THE DESTROYING ANGEL, and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
[Watch PETER DE ROME: GRANDFATHER OF GAY PORN at NakedSword]
Explore “Nova Dubai”, “Zolushka”, “Raspberry Reich GR”, “Doors Cut Down”, “I Want Your Love.” “100 Boyfriends Mixtape,” “Hattie Goes Cruising,”, “Catharsis” and all of films selected for NakedSword Film Works (NSFW).
Tags: Jake Genisis, NakedSword Film Works, NSFW, Peter de Rome
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[…] written as a porn short for director Peter de Rome, the subject of last month’s NSFW title Peter de Rome: Grandfather of Gay Porn, but never filmed until executive producer David McGillivray found it during the making of that […]