Friendship between men on TV, in books etc?

[SleepyWitch]

my bf and me are watching TOS (the original Star Trek series) these days and I'm once again amazed by the friendship between Kirk/Spock/McCoy.
I've noticed they hug, touch and pat each other all the time and are always there for one another.(apart from saving each other's life a couple of times).
In the films Spock "dies" (temporarily) and Kirk steals the Enterprise to go and save him. He risks his own career with Starfleet to save his friend. I sometimes wonder if one of my bosses was in need, would my other boss go to save him like this or would he stand back respectfully and leave him to his own devices?
Grumpy McCoy tells and unconsious Spock "I'm gonna tell you something that I... never thought I'd ever hear myself say. But it seems I've... missed you. And I don't know if I could stand to lose you again." aaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwww :bawling:

do you know any other TV shows or books that show such close friendship between men? recommendations please?

why don't we see more of this on TV (I hardly watch any TV, so maybe there is more of it??)? would it be considered "gay" today?

[mcvv09]

Friendship between men?

Do you men like a sexual friendship or a regular friendship? One story that depicts a tragic friendshi between men is Truffaut's Jules and Jim. However, they are not the main characters.

[SleepyWitch]

thanks Mc.
nope i don't mean a sexual friendship, I mean real friendship.. where they are really close (not superficial or just grunt at each other like lots of men do) without there being any sexual overtones
edit: come to think of it, I couldn't name any book, TV series or film that deals with friendship off the top of my head.
sorry girls, Friends doesn't count, coz everyone pairs up with everyone else at some stage...
all the books/films etc. i can think of are about romance, romance, more romance, hetero love, i.e. romance again, or family ties (e.g. father goes to rescue his son)

[Pensive]

In The Kite Runner, the friendship between Hassan and Amir is a great example! Very close indeed.

[papayahed]

Brians Song.

[applepie]

I love Star Trek:) Anyway, I'm having trouble thinking of anything too. The Lord of the Rings comes to mind. The friendship between Frodo and Sam, and Merry and Pippin was ver true to one another. I can't seem to think of anything more modern than that. You'll have me paring close attention to the TV shows that I watch to see if there are any real friendships between men or if they are all of the grunting and slapping variety. Good question SleepyWitch

[Pensive]

The Lord of the Rings comes to mind. The friendship between Frodo and Sam, and Merry and Pippin was ver true to one another.

That's probably the best example! I remember Frodo having said something like this in the end:

"Frodo would have been nothing if Sam was not there for him." (I don't remember the exact words though)

[SleepyWitch]

I love Star Trek:) Anyway, I'm having trouble thinking of anything too. The Lord of the Rings comes to mind. The friendship between Frodo and Sam, and Merry and Pippin was ver true to one another.
hehe, LotR was the only one apart from Star Trek I could think of, too.

papaya, what is Brian's Song?

Pensy, that book's been recommended to me a couple of times lately (for different reasons) I guess I should read it.
I noticed that in so-called Islamic countries it's no problem for boys to be close friends. i've seen footage of boys walking hand in hand or 'cuddling' in public and they are as straight as they come.
over here, that wouldn't be possible for straight men.

[Pensive]

Pensy, that book's been recommended to me a couple of times lately (for different reasons) I guess I should read it.
I noticed that in so-called Islamic countries it's no problem for boys to be close friends. i've seen footage of boys walking hand in hand or 'cuddling' in public and they are as straight as they come.
over here, that wouldn't be possible for straight men.

Where would you get friends from if they can neither be boys nor girls? :) In so-called Islamic countries, having friends who are boys is common because staying alone with people of the same gender is not forbidden in Islam although staying alone with someone from opposite gender is as far as I know strongly disliked.

And often you know boys of ten-fourteen don't know the difference between straight and gay (as it's a taboo topic on many places). Not something they show on telivisions or movies.

[LadyWentworth]

Brians Song.

I thought the same thing. "Brian's Song" is the true story of the friendship between Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo of the Chicago Bears.

[Nightshade]

?

Pensy, that book's been recommended to me a couple of times lately (for different reasons) I guess I should read it.
I noticed that in so-called Islamic countries it's no problem for boys to be close friends. i've seen footage of boys walking hand in hand or 'cuddling' in public and they are as straight as they come.
over here, that wouldn't be possible for straight men.

Yes I was shocked by this when I moved to the Uk back in Egypt boys are always hugging and throwing there arms around each other holding hands etc ...
Its pretty normal almost offensive really if a guy doesnt hug a guy hes knows well.... but here its really strange to see.

[bluevictim]

This is probably not exactly what you were looking for, but the friendship between J.D. and Turk is hilarious in Scrubs.

Here's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL4L4Uv5rf0) a funny song they sing in a musical episode about "guy love".

[LadyWentworth]

the friendship between J.D. and Turk is hilarious in Scrubs.


Oh, God, I can't believe I forgot about the most loving and meaningful realtionship on TV!!! No "couple" warms the heart more! Shame on me for forgetting about them!

[SleepyWitch]

This is probably not exactly what you were looking for, but the friendship between J.D. and Turk is hilarious in Scrubs.

Here's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL4L4Uv5rf0) a funny song they sing in a musical episode about "guy love".

hey blue, that's fantastic :) i don't know Scrubs, but guy love is exactly the word I was looking for :) :thumbs_up

[chasestalling]

i like comparing how kirk gets into scottie's kitchen as opposed to the foyer which is as far as piquard goes when his engineer declares the task at hand to be an impossibility.

[Demian]

I think you might like The Chosen by Chaim Potok(?). The friendship between the two boys in this book was close, but not really physical, because of the culture they grew up in. Like Spock and Captain Kirk's friendship, I think it showed really well that you can love a friend completely without understanding them completely.

[papayahed]

Stand by me/The Body - The movie and the book.

[SleepyWitch]

Brians Song.

from amazon:

The story shows real friendship between two different people with many differences. The two go beyond race and personality differences. You see this when the two help eachother when Gale is hurt and when Brian is sick.

hey, papaya, this sounds great, friendship between guys from different backgrounds and it's a true story on top of that. might even be better than Kirk/Spock/McCoy :) I'll buy it in October.

[Virgil]

my bf and me are watching TOS (the original Star Trek series) these days and I'm once again amazed by the friendship between Kirk/Spock/McCoy.
I've noticed they hug, touch and pat each other all the time and are always there for one another.(apart from saving each other's life a couple of times).
In the films Spock "dies" (temporarily) and Kirk steals the Enterprise to go and save him. He risks his own career with Starfleet to save his friend. I sometimes wonder if one of my bosses was in need, would my other boss go to save him like this or would he stand back respectfully and leave him to his own devices?
Grumpy McCoy tells and unconsious Spock "I'm gonna tell you something that I... never thought I'd ever hear myself say. But it seems I've... missed you. And I don't know if I could stand to lose you again." aaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwww :bawling:

do you know any other TV shows or books that show such close friendship between men? recommendations please?

why don't we see more of this on TV (I hardly watch any TV, so maybe there is more of it??)? would it be considered "gay" today?

Sleepy, I don't know about TV, but there are lots of novels where friendship is a major theme. Here are some off the top of my head:

Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
Huck Finn and Jim
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza
Ishamael and Queequeg (Moby Dick)
David Copperfield and Traddles
Pip and Herbert (Great Expectations)
Quentin and Charles (Faulkner's Absolom, Absolom)

I'm sure there are lots more.

[BlueSkyGB]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Redford/Newman

and the other movie was.....?
Oh man I cannot remember the Title....but had good ragtime music....

[Granny5]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Redford/Newman

and the other movie was.....?
Oh man I cannot remember the Title....but had good ragtime music....

The Sting:yawnb:

[papayahed]

Young Guns

[Granny5]

What about Red Dawn? Those guys were really close until they had to shoot some for being traders

[motherhubbard]

did anyone say The Outsiders?

[Granny5]

The Lone Ranger and Tonto

[Granny5]

And all those Cartwright boys on Bonaza

[Bakiryu]

Lestat and Nicholas!

[Granny5]

starky and hutch

[Bakiryu]

Yugi and Yunoichi!

[Granny5]

Johnny Carson and Ed McMann

[Bakiryu]

Kazuma and Kimishima!

[mtpspur]

From TV:

Tod Stiles and Buzz Murdock (Martin Milner/George Maharis) -- Route 66
James West and Artemis Gordon (Robert Conrad/Ross Martin)-- The Wild Wild West
Kelly Robinson and Alexander Scott (Robert Culp/Bill Cosby) -- I-Spy
Sonny Crockett/Ricardo Tubbs -- (Don Johnson/???sorry) -- Miami Vice

[bluevictim]

Oh, God, I can't believe I forgot about the most loving and meaningful realtionship on TV!!! No "couple" warms the heart more! Shame on me for forgetting about them!Shame on you indeed! :)


hey blue, that's fantastic :) i don't know Scrubs, but guy love is exactly the word I was looking for :) :thumbs_upI guess my work here is done! If you want to see some episodes of Scrubs, go to Google Video and search for "scrubs 301". You can replace "301" with other numbers, where the first digit is the season number and the last two digits are the episode number (so "301" is the first episode of the third season). It seems to work for seasons 3 and up right now, but they will probably be pulled sooner or later.

A more serious treatment of a deep friendship between guys that I like is the friendship between Matt and Danny (played by Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford) in the NBC show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip". It's probably not distributed in Germany, though, unfortunately (it was barely aired here in America).

I know you only said TV and books, but there are lots of good movies about "guy love", too. One that I like is "Bottle Rocket" (directed by Wes Anderson), which is about Dignan (Owen Wilson) and Anthony (Luke Wilson) ineptly trying to be criminals.


Quentin and Charles (Faulkner's Absolom, Absolom)Do you mean Henry and Charles? Did Quentin even meet Charles?

[Mortis Anarchy]

In The Kite Runner, the friendship between Hassan and Amir is a great example! Very close indeed.

VERY GOOD example...such a good book. Phineaus and the other guy from A Seperate Peace also...

[Virgil]

Do you mean Henry and Charles? Did Quentin even meet Charles?

Ooops, I meant Quentin and Shreve. I said it was off the top of my head. :p

[papayahed]

Eye of the Dragon - Stephen King

[bluevictim]

Ooops, I meant Quentin and Shreve. I said it was off the top of my head. :pI thought for a second there that I was really confused about that novel!

[Petrarch's Love]

Sleepy, I don't know if you get the show Boston Legal in Germany, but the friendship between William Shatner and James Spader on that show speaks exactly to the topic of this thread. It's a very cleverly written show, and the friendship between the two main characters is a big reason to watch. They're both very straight men, and constant womanizers, but their deepest relationship is very clearly with each other and the writers have a lot of fun exploring the boundaries of what's considered too "gay" in the context of a male friendship.

[LadyWentworth]

Andy and Red in "The Shawshank Redemption" (one of the absolute most beautiful films ever made, in my opinion)

I feel that their friendship is a lot deeper in the film than in the original story, but it is a true friendship, nonetheless.

[SleepyWitch]

Sleepy, I don't know if you get the show Boston Legal in Germany, but the friendship between William Shatner and James Spader on that show speaks exactly to the topic of this thread. It's a very cleverly written show, and the friendship between the two main characters is a big reason to watch. They're both very straight men, and constant womanizers, but their deepest relationship is very clearly with each other and the writers have a lot of fun exploring the boundaries of what's considered too "gay" in the context of a male friendship.

cool :) yep we've got BL here (it's dubbed though and I don't watch dubbed films/series as a matter of principle, so I'll have to get the DVD to watch it in English). thanks :)
hehe, thanks to everyone :) now I've got a whole "guy love" reading/watching list

[SleepyWitch]

In The Kite Runner, the friendship between Hassan and Amir is a great example! Very close indeed.

hey Pensive, I'm reading The Kite Runner. It's awesome. thanks for recommending it

[Pensive]

hey Pensive, I'm reading The Kite Runner. It's awesome. thanks for recommending it

Hi! I am glad you are liking it, though it can bring a person on the verge of tears on a few places but that emotional bit is also good about this book. I am myself trying my best to find author's other book known as A Thousand Splendid Suns but am having no success in that yet.

[Sweets America]

Stephen King actually portrays friendships very well, I just love this side of his books. Some part of me has always wished I were a guy just so that I could feel this kind of friendship between men. I just love it. It's different between women I think.

[SleepyWitch]

Some part of me has always wished I were a guy just so that I could feel this kind of friendship between men.
that's so cute :) I'm happy to be a girl (even though I'm not a very girlie one), but I feel that way about my boss (who's my role model). Sometimes I wish I were a guy so I could have 'guy love' with him :)

[Sweets America]

that's so cute :) I'm happy to be a girl (even though I'm not a very girlie one), but I feel that way about my boss (who's my role model). Sometimes I wish I were a guy so I could have 'guy love' with him :)

I'm glad you see what I mean. This is true that I have always wanted to be a guy just so that I could have a 'guy friendship' with other guys. Girls tend to me more judgemental, and they criticize the others about their clothes and such.
Look, that is true that girls are judgemental: I am the proof of it because what I just wrote was actually judgemental, and this was a stupid generalization. Pft. :p

[AuntShecky]

Male friendships -- to use the pop psychology term, "bonding" goes way way back to Greek Mythology, ie. Damon and Pythias. That such friendships do not necessarily indicate homosexuality is correct; however, there is another term for it called "homoeroticism," which most often takes a Platonic form.
Deep friendship among males is a common motif in American literature, esp. in Melville and most notably in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the masterpiece by Samuel Clemens. The relationship between Huck and Jim is nearly an archetype. For more info, refer to Love and Death in the American Novel by Leslie Fiedler, the chapter titled "Come Back to the Raft, Huck Honey."

[Shalot]

What about that old Mel Gibson movie The Man Without a Face? I don't know if it really counts but it a male ex-teacher and a boy become friends one summer when the boy goes to the teacher for tutoring. Both have tragedies in their pasts and they form a friendship sort of based on that. And then later the teacher is suspected of sexually abusing the boy, but in the end, they remain friends.

[SleepyWitch]

What about that old Mel Gibson movie The Man Without a Face? I don't know if it really counts but it a male ex-teacher and a boy become friends one summer when the boy goes to the teacher for tutoring. Both have tragedies in their pasts and they form a friendship sort of based on that. And then later the teacher is suspected of sexually abusing the boy, but in the end, they remain friends.
cool, sounds interesting. thanks, Shalot

[B-Mental]

The movie 'Reign Over Me" was excellent, and the two main characters demonstrate this freindship. One of them has some mental issues about grieving, and the other goes way out on a limb to help him. I recommend it. Can't think of any books right off hand.

[SleepyWitch]

The movie 'Reign Over Me" was excellent, and the two main characters demonstrate this freindship. One of them has some mental issues about grieving, and the other goes way out on a limb to help him. I recommend it. Can't think of any books right off hand.

who is it directed by?

[AimusSage]

Reign over me (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0490204/) a link with all the info you need, or not, but quite a lot anyway.