Following the success of his television biography “The Naked Civil Servant” Quentin Crisp (John Hurt) is invited to America to lecture on How To Be Happy, and falls in love with New York's more permissive ambience. Agent Connie Clausen enables him to be a 'resident alien', writing film reviews and dispensing words of wisdom. Curious about but impervious to trends, he describes AIDS as a "fad, nothing more", actually to divert heterosexual anger but he is misinterpreted and reviled by many gays. A return to popularity occurs when he helps Patrick Angus, a young,AIDS-afflicted artist attain fame for his paintings and his healthy cynicism is marketed by performance artist Penny Arcade, putting him back in the limelight. Poor health causes him to refuse a lecture tour of England but he gives a triumphant final audience at a gay club in Tampa.

MacDougal Street and Minetta Lane, Manhattan.

Minetta Street and 6th Avenue, Manhattan.

East Village Cinema, 181 2nd Avenue and East 12th Street, Manhattan.

otsoNY Comments: Continuity in films is always an interesting subject and the scene where John Hurt exits the East Village cinema on 2nd Avenue and East 12th Street and takes a leisurely stroll. Within a few moments he is on 9th Avenue on the West side of Manhattan.

Cheyenne Diner, 411 9th Avenue and West 33rd Street, Manhattan.

Patrick Angus' Loft, Desbrosses Street and Washington Street, Manhattan.

Gay Street and Waverly Place, Manhattan.

Joe the Art of Coffee, 141 Waverly Place and Gay Street, Manhattan.