Paper Dreams

Paper Dreams isn't perfect, but it's worth the money for all of the beautiful pictures. Why can't guys have natural bushes these days? I loved seeing all of that beautiful hair!

This has to be the best Toby Ross effort I have seen. This is an interesting history worked in with what was going on in the world that influenced changes in this media along with the impact of vhs. Well worth watching.

It's O.K. Interesting history of male magazines before video took over.

The worst quality item I have ever purchased on Amazon. Makes the National Enquirer look like fine literature.

tremendous history of gay life through time

Excellent and fun documentary. Nice overview of a history I knew very little about.

Not what I expected Was very disappointed,. Would not recommend this to anyone.

Toby Ross describes PAPER DREAMS in the opening credits asA loving look back at turn-ons that changed our lives. It is that and so much more. It’s the story how dirty pictures in magazines evolved into gay self-identity and pride.This is a remarkable documentary that is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. PAPER DREAMS chronicles male pornography from the 1960’s loincloth era through the 1970’s and just before HIV/AIDS epidentic. The scholarship is impeccable, sort of like a doctoral dissertation. This is a PBS worthy history film that borrows as much from Ken Burns as Gus Van Sant. Toby Ross is a true curator and historian.PAPER DREAMS is also technical success. The video and audio quality is far, far superior to the typical gay porn film. The soundtrack is luscious and warm. The editing is flawless; the narrator is a good storyteller with an impish impulse. The archival footage makes this film a must see. Years from now it will be shown college classes and libraries. PAPER DREAMS is perhaps the finest gay porn documentary ever made.My favorite chapter in the film is Hopes and Dreams, the early 1970s go-go years when young men from around the world tripped-out to San Francisco and LA. They came for the vibes, the mind expansion and to fulfill their sexual desires. These young men caused a sensation in magazine and movie sales because they looked like the guy next door. Maybe they were the guy next door. It was possible.PAPER DREAMS felt like pages from my own life. I was that sweaty, nervous teen boy buying a gay porn magazine at a seedy dirty book store. Like Toby Ross, these magazines told me of a world somewhere and inspired him to go there. Toby Ross captures that freedom in PAPER DREAMS.The film centers on Ross’ own story. He began his gay porn career in 1973 as a photographer and magazine publisher. My favorite scene is one where Ross appears on camera as a TV reporter in the mod 1970s. The film is a screen test for a new male model. Ross uses it to talk about the mind of a photographer.Another of my favorite scenes, early in the film, shows with the beefcake era. A simple loop from the period of one hunky model is combined with the song Alley Oop by The Hollywood Argyles. (Kim Fowley would have been proud of Ross’ use of it.) Toby Ross is a master at setting a time and place with music. For example, an instrumental version of Everybody’s Talking from the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy behind images from exact same moment.Absolutely the film’s greatest achievement is that it humanizes the models. Ross talks about the young men he filmed and photographed – who they were as people. He says their names and shares their backstories. We get to know the real person as we crave him. PAPER DREAMS is about hopes, dreams, and dignity.