Christopher Siters

ENGL245
09/22/2022
Tex’s Mess
This week’s focus was on the film, The Boys in the Band. While I really enjoyed the

movie, there was this glaring sort of elephant in the room; specifically, The Cowboy Tex. For

being as much a part of the events as any of them were, he wasn’t really discussed in class, and I

honestly don’t feel that his character was done justice. I feel like he could possibly be the most

complicated character, simply for the fact that nothing is known about him, not even his real

name.

Yes, I will concede that Cowboy Tex was not meant to really be part of the evening, but

he became trapped just like the rest of them. Just how everyone treats him, assuming that

because he is, what…attractive? Buff? Young? That he doesn’t have a thought in his head.

Today, the term for that is a himbo, much like bimbo, but for him; someone so ridiculously

attractive and fit that god clearly couldn’t have given them any brains, they don’t need ‘em. He is

written off from the time he walks through the door in his Stetson and kerchief.

If we are thinking in the timeframe of the 1960’s, odds are that a good-looking, muscular

young man is going to be a farmer, or in some sort of rural/agricultural upbringing. He probably

had a good home life, happily married parents etc., but he probably made his way to the big city

because he knew he was questioning his sexuality and/or he knew he wouldn’t be accepted as

gay. In the opening sequence, your first introduction to Tex is him sucking on a popsicle outside

of an adult store/theater in Times Square. He is obviously trying to turn some tricks, but his

mannerisms and body language convey a sense of awkwardness or discomfort. He either didn’t

really know what he was doing or didn’t really like what he was doing; or both, they aren’t

mutually exclusive. The fact that he has turned to prostitution indicates that any skills he may

have from previous life experience aren’t transferable to his new setting; there isn’t much
Christopher Siters
ENGL245
09/22/2022
demand for agriculture in Manhattan. So, one is left to assume that he is making a living using

what he has at his disposal: his body.

From the time he arrives, they lay into him for singing to the wrong person and wanting

to leave early to go to the bars (since he hurt his back exercising). After Harold finally shows up

to the party, he’s looking Tex up and down, commenting on his nice body and face, but that he’s

turned off because Tex can’t talk intelligently about art. They didn’t even really give him the

chance to. Harold goes on to say, “how could I ever love someone like that?”, still right in front

of Tex, right to his face. But they conclude he’s hot enough to sleep with so that’s all that

matters. Michael and Harold discuss Beauty, and Harold says that if he could find his soul, he

would sell it for some cheap, transitory Beauty.

Throughout the evening, snide remarks are made to or about Tex. While a rural

upbringing doesn’t necessarily foster the kind of exploratory, “intellectual” thinking as, say,

Michael, he isn’t stupid. If anything, he might not understand some words, but I’m sure he’s

aware of when he’s being made fun of, most people can pick up on that. Tex probably just

doesn’t acknowledge that sort of thing in situations like this because he isn’t being paid to be

smart, he’s being paid to be pretty.

At the end of the movie, however, when everyone is slowly making their way out the

door, Harold is leaving with Tex and asks him if he’s good in bed, and he says, “I try to show a

little affection, keeps me from feeling like such a whore.” And Harold was visibly taken aback

for a second by this self-awareness; that Tex is not emotionally fulfilled in his line of work. If he

can be affectionate and think about it as making love a little more than about how he’s a
Christopher Siters
ENGL245
09/22/2022
prostitute, it really helps him reconcile his actions. Whether it’s a night or a lifetime, yourself or

someone else, at the end of the day, everyone is just looking for somebody to love.