The Fruit Machine 1988

The Fruit Machine 1988
1h 43min | Drama | 17 August 1989 (Australia)
Storyline:
The 16 years old gay Eddie runs away from home, where he's constantly harassed by his father. With his friend Michael he witnesses at the gay disco "Fruit Machine" how it's owner is slayed by killer Echo. They run away, but now the killer's after them – however after Eddie visits a dolphin show, he's more concerned about their life than his.
User review:
A beautiful, powerful and very much underrated British gritty gay thriller from the late 80's, released in the UK as The Fruit Machine and in the US as Wonderland. It is passionate, resolute, beautifully directed, filmed and played that I would have thought it would have been higher in the book Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time than the ranking it was given.
The Fruit Machine is a wonderful and poignant tale of growing up, it combines the rite of passage, buddy flick with a road movie genres in perfect symmetry and also shoves in a bit of a thriller just for the sake of it. BAFTA winner Philip Saville directs Emile Charles and Tony Forsyth as Eddie and Michael, two gay mates on the very brink of adulthood as they head into the adventure of their lives. These two friends may both be gay but their sexuality is the only thing they seem to have in common. In all other respects, they are as different as the proverbial chalk and cheese, Eddie is soft, gentle, sensitive and fragile. He adores nothing more than watching old classic black and white movies with his mum. Michael is much more streetwise, tough, manly and loves video games.