The Cockettes is the most celebratory document of sexual transgression since Paris Is Burning.

Full Review | Apr 5, 2022

Not even Woodstock captures the era's sense of wide-open artistic and personal freedom like this indelible chronicle...

Full Review | Oct 15, 2020

The effect is to actually bring to life the idealistic spirit of the times, to provide a context more resonant than simply the fashions and the music.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 15, 2020

Its long term value as a timeless well-crafted documentary is considerable.

Full Review | Sep 15, 2020

The film ... is a must see for anybody wanting to learn about alternative forms of drag and for those who want to know about a forgotten slice of pop culture.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Mar 4, 2017

Joyously re-creates the brief but resplendent reign of the legendary freakadelic drag troupe.

Full Review | Jul 6, 2010

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 12, 2005

Maybe it's the old-timey, silent film title cards, or the vaudeville piano tinkering on the score, but The Cockettes produces a yearning wistfulness for another time and place -- specifically, 1970s San Francisco.

Full Review | Mar 10, 2003

This is one of those rare docs that paints a grand picture of an era and makes the journey feel like a party.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 28, 2002

Much has been written about those years when the psychedelic '60s grooved over into the gay '70s, but words don't really do the era justice. You have to see it.

Full Review | Oct 21, 2002

One fantastic (and educational) documentary.

Full Review | Oct 4, 2002

Cockettes has the glorious, gaudy benefit of much stock footage of Those Days, featuring all manner of drag queen, bearded lady and lactating hippie.

Full Review | Sep 6, 2002

As Weber and Weissman demonstrate with such insight and celebratory verve, the Cockettes weren't as much about gender, sexual preference or political agitprop as they were simply a triumph of the indomitable human will to rebel, connect and create.

Full Review | Sep 6, 2002

Gaudily filmed, tenderly imagined.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 23, 2002

An insightfully cheeky entertainment.

Full Review | Aug 21, 2002

This expert, heartfelt movie establishes them as being as much a part of swingin' San Francisco as the Grateful Dead or the Beats.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 9, 2002

Manages to transcend the sex, drugs and show-tunes plot into something far richer.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 8, 2002

It's a warm, vibrant visit with a flock of freaky creative people and proves that being a total weirdo is a very good thing indeed.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Aug 2, 2002

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 28, 2002