Pamela Adlon as "Willy" in a parking lot with a bunch of 80s guys and a flirty woman in a leopard print shirtalr

Something Special AKA Willy/Milly

Jenni Olson in Conversation with Maria San Filippo
Screening on Film
Directed by Paul Schneider.
With Pamela Adlon, Patty Duke, John Glover.
US, 1986, 35mm, color, 86 min.
Print source: HFA

With an astounding plot premise offering unique pleasures for contemporary LGBTQ viewers, Something Special is a whimsical 80s teen comedy about a girl who becomes a boy. Pamela Adlon (Better Things) stars as Milly Niceman, whose wish to become a boy is fulfilled overnight when she discovers she's grown “a guy's thing down there.” When their parents insist they must now choose between being a boy or being a girl, they wisely quip, "Can't I be both?" After a crash course in maleness, Willy starts at a new high school where, of course, complications ensue. Pamela Adlon (née Segall) is uncannily butch and boyish as Willy/Milly, while Patty Duke and out gay actor John Glover are in fine form as their parents. Briefly released in 1986, Something Special quickly disappeared from view and has been virtually unseen since.

Something Special introduction and post-screening discussion with Jenni Olson, scholar Maria San Filippo and HFA Director Haden Guest.

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