"Vapors" is an American 32-minute live action short film from 1965, so this one is already half a century old, a bit more even. Fittingly for its time still, this is a black-and-white movie and even if he did some acting before, here we have the very first filmmaking effort by director Andy Milligan. Not too familiar with him really, but I thought I'd mention. The writer is Hope Stansbury, who adapted her own play for the screen here. Funnily enough, the characters are all male, homosexual males actually, in this bath house set drama movie. It is very dialogue-driven and all about the communication between the protagonists and the quantity increases more and more the longer it goes. Overall, I would not say it is a failure, but the conflict in here aren't on a level either where I really cared for the characters or what is about to happen to them. The cast that does not really include any well-known actors here did not make a great impact either or impress me with their range. That's why, as a whole, I give this little movie a thumbs-down. Very bleak, but not very intriguing. Just too mediocre overall. Watch something else instead.

Renowned exploitation favourite Andy Milligan made his feature debut with this short film that works largely due to a degree of intimacy. A lonely gay man, Thomas (Gerald Jacuzzo),checks out an NYC bath house for men, where regulars are quick to tell him the rules. Soon, an enigmatic stranger named Mr. Jaffee (Robert Dahdah) is making overtures of friendship, yet in this short amount of time they are together, they make a connection beyond mere pleasures of the flesh.

All in all, "Vapors" is an effective ode to loneliness. While other regulars come and go, Milligan remains focused on the dialogue and relationship between Thomas and Jaffee, with the latter revealing unhappy details about his life. He's married, and a father, but has fallen out of love with his wife and no longer derives sexual pleasure from being with her (if indeed he ever did). We don't learn so much about Thomas, but no matter. There's still a real poignancy in seeing these two men become acquainted.

While not really "great cinema" (Milligan opts to mostly just "point and shoot"),there is a stark efficiency to it. Milligan does capture the inherent seediness of this place, and the cattiness of the other regulars.

There are two decent performances at the core of the film from Jacuzzo and Dahdah. Milligan aficionados will note the presence of Hal Borske, who later had a role in his familial horror film "The Ghastly Ones", in a supporting role.

All in all, this is not as exploitative as some viewers might think: no violence, not much nudity, and little in the way of objectionable language. Milligan aimed for something a little deeper here, and succeeded pretty well.

Seven out of 10.

If I were going to try to convince someone of the value of Andy Milligan's work, VAPORS would be the film I'd show. In fact, I HAVE shown it to a few people over the years with that purpose. It's a gritty 16mm black-and-white feature set in a gay bathhouse and it seems very much like a "small theatre group" play, which makes sense since Milligan himself ran a few such theatre groups. The film transcends the gay aesthetic it represents and is really a meditation on loneliness--gay, straight, or whatever. While the room-tone echo on the recorded sound takes a little getting used to, it should not diminish the quality of the acting, which is quite moving in the case of the two leads. While the late Mr. Milligan was a unique filmmaker, Warhol always seemed to be his main-man artistically, and that's clearer here than anywhere else in Milligan's work. Milligan obviously knew what it meant to be lonely, to be afraid, and to reach out. This beautiful but raw film captures that as well as, for example, any Bergman film or Saul Bellow novel. History will view this film as a pioneering work of cinema. Please be warned, though, that it is NOT for the casual viewer or the viewer who cannot see beyond the film's lack of traditional qualities of slickness and "professionalism." Seeing this on a big screen at the time of its minimal release must have been a revelation!!! If Milligan had never made another film, this would rate him as a major filmmaker in my book.