Distant Moment of Artful Eroticism
Robert Adams recalls working with Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.
BY GARY M. KRAMER
Following PinkLabel.tv.’s
restoration of Arthur J.
Bressan, Jr.’s “Passing
Strangers” (1974) in June,
the director’s other gay adult feature,
“Forbidden Letters” (1979), is
available August 22 for streaming
on the PinkLabel website.
In “Forbidden Letters,” Larry
(Robert Adams) is a young man in
San Francisco whose older lover,
Richard (Richard Locke), is serving
jail time for assault and robbery.
As Larry awaits Richard’s
release, he refl ects on their relationship.
Bressan fi lms the explicit
scenes in “Forbidden Letters” artfully
— one arresting sequence
has Larry and Richard naked and
masturbating on opposite sides of
a jail cell wall. But he also includes
tender, romantic moments, as
when Larry recalls seeing Richard
at a Halloween party or being in
Richard’s arms at San Francisco’s
Lands End.
Adams, who also appeared in
“Passing Strangers,” spoke with
Gay City News about making “Forbidden
Letters” and remembering
Arthur J. Bressan, Jr.
GARY M. KRAMER: How did
you meet Artie and decide to star
in his adult fi lms?
ROBERT ADAMS: Artie saw me
standing in Union Square in San
Francisco. I was the picture of the
character he had in mind. He asked
me if I was interested in doing this
fi lm. I don’t know that I knew what
kind of fi lm it was, but when he did
tell me it didn’t matter to me. The
sex was not a turn-off. I was full of
hormones in my 20s.
KRAMER: Was there any impact
of these fi lms on your career?
Did you have plans to cross over
into Hollywood fi lms?
ADAMS: There wasn’t. I never
pursued an acting career. I’m not
sure why, exactly. Artie wanted to
make it a trilogy. At the time of the
proposed third fi lm, I wasn’t feeling
great about my body and I was
self-conscious. He didn’t care, but
Robert Adams and Richard Locke in Arthur Bressan, Jr.’s 1979 “Forbidden Letters.”
it never really came together. I’m
curious what he’d had in mind. If I
had it to do over, I would have.
KRAMER: Can you talk about
Artie and his style of working?
ADAMS: He was fi rst and foremost
a lover of movies, too. His infl
uences were Preston Sturges and
Frank Capra, and I think you can
see that in how he framed shots.
He had a real artistic eye for creating
a look. His music choices create
a mood through sound and image.
There are moments of melancholy.
He was very gentle. He was a large
guy — tall and big-boned and kind
of a hippie, but very outgoing. He
was very optimistic. I was 24, and
there were times when I was kind
of a little bitch, frankly, and he
would look at me like I was breaking
character. I respected him as
an artist and looked up to him. He
defi nitely liked sex — that’s apparent
in his fi lms — but he never hit
on me. Artie played against type —
most folks would think I’m the bottom,
the younger, submissive one,
but in the anal sex scenes, I was
the one on top. Even on the carousel,
I was kissing down and Locke
was in the female role. I am sure
Artie set that up on purpose.
THE ROBERT BRESSAN PROJECT
KRAMER: What is it like now,
seeing these fi lms and watching
your younger self have sex?
ADAMS: That’s just really hard
to describe. How many people get
to do that — go back in time and
watch themselves having sex in
their 20s? It’s a strange experience.
I liked it. He certainly was
obsessed with cum shots. I lost
count how many times sperm was
spurting out of me.
Some of the porn distributors
balked at the fi lm because of the
story. Artie wanted to tell a story.
He did cut a video version with
only the sex scenes. They put a different
actor on the cover, and they
marketed it that way, as just sex
scenes with a rudimentary story.
When I saw the full version, I didn’t
remember a lot of it.
KRAMER: Can you describe
fi lming the scenes in the jail cell?
It is very atmospheric.
ADAMS: “Forbidden Letters” was
shot on Alcatraz. Doug Dickinson,
who appears in the fi rst scene in
the fi lm, was a park ranger there.
He got a section of the park cordoned
off so we could do the jackoff
scene in there. Clint Eastwood was
STREAMING CINEMA
fi lming a movie on the other side
of jail. If they had known what we
were doing!
When I’m watching it, I’m so
enraptured by the artistry of his
shots, it’s not even sexual to me.
The focus is not “this is sex” and
making me horny, but what a
beautiful silhouette. It is unclear if
it is Robert’s fantasy or my character’s.
KRAMER: There is a fabulous
sequence at the San Francisco Halloween
party, as well as scenes in
gay porn theaters and in the Castro
and elsewhere. What do you recall
about being in San Francisco
in the 1970s in the pre-AIDS era?
ADAMS: It was an exciting time
— the Castro was becoming this
hub of gay activity. It was sort of
at the tail end of Haight-Ashbury
Summer of Love. There were remnants
of that around, and this was
a new emerging movement so it
was exciting. It was before AIDS,
so no one thought about safe sex
— you just had sex, and if you got
gonorrhea you got a shot and everything
was curable.
There was a downside to everyone
experimenting in their newfound
freedom, that there was
a shallowness in terms of making
friends and relationships; sex
could become an obsession. It
wasn’t very fulfi lling.
One weird thing about these
fi lms is that I’m the only one left.
Doug Dickinson died of AIDS.
Richard Locke, Artie, and Robert
Carnagey Adams’ costar in “Passing
Strangers” died of AIDS. I look
back and wonder, how did I escape
this?
KRAMER:Are you a big romantic,
like Larry is?
ADAMS: Yeah, defi nitely. I drew
on that side of myself for the fi lm.
I didn’t do very well with it in real
life. I’m single now.
FORBIDDEN LETTERS | Directed
by Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. | The Bressan
Project | Available for streaming
Aug. 22 via pinklabel.tv/on-demand
GayCityNews.com | August 13 - August 26, 2020 21
/GayCityNews.com
