Gay Video Review	Gay Video Reviews Archive

An opening crawl cites Charles (The Gay Metropolis) Kaiser's observation that during World War II, the U.S Army "acted as a great, secret unwitting agent of gay liberation by creating the largest concentration of homosexuals inside a single institution in American history." The filmmakers go on to lament that the Army, "once so forward-looking," has been tarnished by anti-gay witch hunts and sex scandals. Accordingly, Whatever You Say, Sir! tells "the story of one command's attempt to turn the tide with a special training course for the fittest and finest...."

View our poll archive

Seven recruits are escorted to a small encampment in the heart of nowhere. The unspoken purpose of the exercise is to encourage gay sex. "This new Army requires a lot of new thinking," someone observes. Confined to the camp, billeted at close quarters in an airless tent, ordered not to "do anything alone," the trainees are left to their own devices under the watchful eyes of a lieutenant, a captain, and a drill sergeant. Although the crowded sleeping arrangements and lack of privacy present the promise that something outrageous will erupt, most of the ensuing sex is bland and mechanical, and between pairs who find ways to sneak off by themselves.

The standout among five sex scenes is a disciplinary encounter between two recruits (Kyle McKenna and Troy Halston) and superiors Captain Watson (Casey Morgan) and Sergeant Higgins (Mike Nichols). This sequence owes much of its success to Nichols's portrayal of Higgins as a fierce, authoritative no-bullshit top. McKenna and Halston, however, are not allowed to register much as passive, obedient bottoms, and Morgan fucks with the sort of zest he might bring to churning butter.

At the conclusion, when the recruits are congratulated on doing their part to help the U.S. Army become a "powerful and victorious force unequaled since the early days of ancient Greece," you may snicker, but feel shortchanged. And Captain Watson's parting advice "Remember: don't tell, don't ask, just do" may make you wonder if director John Travis and scenarist Tyler Adams really mean to endorse hypocrisy and lies.