Him (lost gay pornographic Jesus film; 1974)



Him is a 1974 movie loosely referencing the life of Jesus Christ that heavily features hardcore gay pornography. It was confirmed as being played at the 55th Street Playhouse, New York (a theatre specialising in hardcore gay films) from 27th March to 23rd May 1974.

Despite the name and implication, the film is not about Christ himself, but rather a man that has an errotic obsession with Christ. It first received mainstream attention in 1980, when it was featured in the book The Golden Turkey Awards, for which it won "Most Unerotic Concept in Pornography". On the very next page of the book was this quote "Over 425 actual films are described in this book, but one is a complete hoax. Can you find it?", leading many to believe that Him was a hoax, and in fact nonexistant. However, it was quickly discovered that the fake film in the book was Dog of Norway (which feautured a "screenshot" that was in fact a photo of one of the editor's pets), and not Him.

Several fragments relating to the movie have been uncovered, such as a few newspaper advertisements, reviews, and write-ups, as found in online newspaper archives. Additionally, the identity of the late actor portraying Jesus was uncovered by his former partner, that being of New York muralist Tava (aka. Gustav Von Will). A photo of Von Will dressed as Jesus for the film was also released by the same person.

Although the film's existence has now been confirmed, no actual footage has been seen since 1974.