Stonewall Uprising
First Run Features | Release Date: June 18, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleDavid Wiegand
The film's final words are simple and to the point, and come from the retired cop, Seymour Pine: "You knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that?" Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Stonewall Uprising does an evocative job of coloring in the oppression of gay life before Stonewall, so that when the eruption happens, we feel its necessity in our bones. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Methodically ticks off the forms of oppression visited on gays and lesbians in the days before the gay rights movement. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A moment had come that had to be seized, which in turn gave birth to the gay rights movement. On June 28, 1970, New York held its first gay parade, and as one of its participants remarks, "Stonewall lives on" in all the gay parades ever since. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeMark Feeney
"This was the Rosa Parks moment,'' another participant says, "the time that gay people stood up and said, 'No.' '' Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The film gracefully telescopes a lot of information in its brief running time. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianStan Hall
As the eye-opening documentary Stonewall Uprising shows through interviews and frequently horrifying old footage, homosexuality in this country was once a highly illegal behavior, widely viewed, at the very least, as a mental disorder, possibly even psychopathic. Read full review
80
VarietyRonnie Scheib
In astounding detail, Stonewall Uprising recalls the now-famous three-day riots in June 1969 after a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a popular Greenwich Village gay bar, as homosexuals finally, openly fought back. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
For an event of such seismic social importance in the modern era, the 1969 Stonewall riots went shockingly undocumented. Almost no archival footage exists, which gives Kate Davis and David Heilbroner's documentary feature Stonewall Uprising the frustrating air of an oral history lesson. But it's a vitally important one nonetheless. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
The film takes awhile to get going -- the depiction of homophobic 1950s suburbia has a familiar feel. The movie hits its stride only when eyewitnesses to the events at the Stonewall tell their stories. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Davis and Heilbroner lean a bit too hard on the most outrageous forms of abuse in the pre-Stonewall era, as opposed to the everyday traumas of living in the closet, but Stonewall Uprising picks up momentum once it starts detailing the event itself, drawing on the vivid memories of the people who lived it. Read full review
75
NPRMark Jenkins
An evocative overview of anti-gay hysteria in the 1960s, a period when homosexuality was illegal in every state except Illinois. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
Unfortunately, for the bulk of the film's running time -- its first two-thirds or so -- Davis and Heilbroner oversaturate viewers with scene-setting material, describing the climate for gay men and lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
The first half of the film dusts off some kitschy picket-fence footage and alarmist news reports to invoke an era when homosexual acts were illegal in 49 states, and gays were subjected to arrest, electroshock and sterilization. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderFred Camper
Some say that the revolt was initiated by black and Latino drag queens, a fact not presented here, but there are affecting moments. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazinePam Grady
Educational rather than entertaining. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith Uhlich
The filmmakers do a good job of laying out the whos, whys and wheres through diagrams, reenactments and testimonials from veterans on both sides of the skirmish. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Many witnesses offer emotional recollections of the ensuing riots, but equally powerful moments come courtesy of old footage, in which anti-gay "experts" expound with a confident ignorance that sounds chillingly familiar even today. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
Tellingly, it's not the queers, but a cop--Seymour Pine, the 90-year-old retired NYPD morals inspector who led the raid on the Stonewall Inn--who gets the last word. Read full review
50
Washington PostDan Kois
For a movie about a groundbreaking gay rebellion, Stonewall Uprising plays it much too straight. Read full review
More From This Movie

74 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL