[TRANSGENDER MOVIE POSTER 1972]. "I Don't Want to Live the Rest of My Life as a Man... I Want What I Want... To Be a Woman

Good. Theatrical release movie poster (40.5" x 27"), printed in color, with a large illustration of a shirtless man gazing into a standing mirror in which he sees reflected a women wearing a bra and panties. Folded three times to create 6 panels (NB: this item must be shipped folded as such), short tears at folds, WRINKLED, but overall in good condition. GIGANTIC, SENSATIONAL 1972 TRANSGENDER MOVIE POSTER. THIS BOLD ILLUSTRATION DEPICTS THE MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL STRUGGLE OF A TRANS WOMAN AND IS ONE OF THE FINEST OF THAT ERA.

While the film "I Want What I Want" was a commercial and critical failure, students and scholars of 60s and 70s transgener issues have recognized its significance. Starring Anne Heywood as Roy / Wendy, and directed by John Dexter, the film was cheaply made in England and released in in the UK and USA in 1972 (although our poster is copyright 1971 and was litho-printed in the USA). This black and white film was based on the equally obscure novel of the same name written by Geoff Brown (London, 1966), published just prior to the 1967 Sexual Offenses Act.

The novel upon which the film was based has been described as "THE FIRST -- THE VERY FIRST -- NOVEL TO DEAL IN A REALISTIC MANNER WITH A NEW MINORITY THEN EMERGING: TRANSSEXUALS [emphasis ours]. It dates back to 1966, the year before Christine Jorgensen published her autobiography and Dr. Harry Benjamin published his groundbreaking medical book, The Transsexual Phenomena; Gore Vidal's spoof Myra Breckenridge was not yet published -- it would follow in 1968." (SOURCE: "The Hunt for Geoff Brown -- Author of I Want What I Want" online at TGforum; NB: The first fiction / non-fiction book on transsexuality is believed to be "Man Into Woman" by Niels Hoyer, an account of the first known sex reassignment surgery in 1931 Germany, of which the first edition is very rare).

In "I Want What I Want," the protagonist seeks to transition from male (Roy) to female (Wendy). Roy leaves his abusive father's house and starts life anew as a woman. Roy receives a small inheritance which would allow him to receive the sex reassignment operation, but the film is concerned only with his pre-op transition. In her pre-op transition Wendy is so successful that a man, not realizing that Wendy was born male, falls in love with her, but the deception ends in tragedy.

The film's dialogue is at times compelling:

Roy's Father: I've heard about people like you. But God knows I never thought my own son... You mad? You mad? Where did you get that awful thing that you're wearing? Hmm? Wasn't this one of your mother's? You crazy little bugger!
[her shoe comes off]
Father: Pick it up. Go on, pick it up. Pick up your little girl shoe. Go on!
[he knocks her down]
Father: Look at me. Go on, look at me. Hold your head up like a man, even if you're aren't one. What are you, for Christ's sake? Have you no pride? Go on, get up. Get up, you little pansy. You make me sick. Get up, get up. You, you humiliate me would you, you little bastard?
Roy: If you don't stop, you'll kill me.
Father: Better tell me about it, hadn't you? Go on, tell me about it. How long has this been going on?
Roy: All my life.
Father: What's that supposed to mean?
Roy: All my life.
Father: You've got to learn to be man.
Roy: It's no good.
Father: What do you mean, it's no good?
Roy: Being a man. I've tried.
Father: There are doctors who can cure this sort of thing. I'll have you cured no matter what the cost.
Roy: No. It's useless.
Father: Don't tell me that. Don't you want to be a man?
[she shakes her head]
Father: Why not? Are you a homosexual? Are you one of these people that go to pubs and places and get picked up by men?
Roy: No. I'm not.
Father: I don't understand. I just don't understand. It's a great thing to be a man. Why can't you be a man?
Roy: Because I don't feel like one.

This is a vintage promotional poster (not a reproduction!) that was created for display in theaters, and it is preserved in surprisingly good condition.