Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (February 25, 2025)
With feature films such as Air and Blackberry, we got dramatized versions of how famous products made it to market. In a similar vein, we find 2022’s All Man: The International Male Story, a documentary about an influential print catalog.
Narrated by actor Matt Bomer, Man sets up the conservative nature of men’s clothing in the 1950s and introduces us to Gene Burkard, the founder/CEO of International Male. We follow his life/career and what led him to launch International Male in the 1970s.
From there we follow the company’s start and growth through the 1970s and 1980s as well as developments in fashion over those years. We see how things changed when Burkard sold the company in 1987, developments through the 1990s and the catalog’s demise in the 2000s.
For its interviews, Man involves Burkard, Fashion Institute of Technology chief curator Valerie Steele, fashion executives Peter Karoll and Donn Wilson, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Carson Cressley, The Advocate art/photo editor Christopher Harrity, International Male employees Maureen Dalton-Wolfe, Christopher Garcia, Dale Johnson, Ernie Edelstein, Susan Marmo, Maria Demme, Rick Steil, Eva Salas, Gloria Tomita, Deon Brown and Dennis Mori, fashion commentator Simon Doonan, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend actor Parvesh Cheena, stylist/influencer William Graper, comedian Frank Decaro, photographer Dennis Covey, business owner Larry Block, Hot in Cleveland actor Drew Droege, agent Omar Albertto, Scissor Sisters singer Jake Shears, and models Tony Ward, David Knight, Brian Buzzini, John Coulter, Robert Goold, Steven Lyon, and John Watkins.
Did I ever enjoy awareness that International Male existed in its 1980s heyday? As a nerdy completely fashion-unconscious teen, it would seem unlikely.
However, my best friend through that decade came out to me as gay in 1986 so… maybe? That relationship opened me up to domains of the culture I otherwise never would’ve known, albeit via my friend’s pretty closeted existence at the time.
In any case, International Male was never “officially” a gay publication, as it aimed for a broader sales approach. However, with its emphasis on flamboyant clothing and muscular men in revealing images, it gave gay guys an easy outlet for fantasies so it took on that vibe regardless of Burkard’s original intentions.
As a look at Burkard and IM’s impact, All Man proves reasonably entertaining but spotty. This happens because the film casts a broad net and can leap from one domain to another without a lot of clarity.
For instance, one minute All Male looks at gay empowerment and then it suddenly hops to the AIDS crisis. Perhaps other filmmakers could make this transition work, but here it flops.
Seriously, it comes across as a real jolt when the documentary hops from giddy discussions of masturbation to a dire health crisis. Perhaps the filmmakers hoped this would symbolize the way AIDS caused the gay community’s growing freedoms to grind to a halt, but that message doesn’t work.
We also find awkward shifts such as when the movie goes from the careers of the models to those aforementioned whack-off discussions. Again, one can probably find a link, but one must stretch to do so.
Still, even with these clumsy choices, All Man flows fairly well. It does more right than wrong in that department.
Despite its brief 84-minute running time, All Man can drag as it goes. Without question, the film’s first half works best.
After that, the movie tends to ramble and digress too much. In addition, the subject matter simply lacks the depth that requires even 84 minutes, as the topic doesn’t come with a tremendous amount of substance.
This means we get too many shots of men who tell us what the catalog meant to them. A little of that goes a long way, and because so many of the stories feel similar, they become redundant.
Despite these complaints, All Man manages some entertainment and educational value. Even with a mix of flaws, it becomes a watchable little flick much of the time.
