This past weekend, a new Rambo movie hit theatres, the first in 20 years. Recently, we've also seen a new Rocky film arrive 16 years after the previous one, a Die Hard sequel that took 12 years to reach theatres and a fourth Indiana Jones film - 19 years after Indiana Jones and the Lost Crusade - is expected to draw huge audiences in May.

Seeing so many characters return after a long absence got me thinking about the various gay characters who'd I'd like to see again and gay films that deserve a sequel more than Rambo does:

Parting Glances

The complicated relationship of Parting Glances is one that really leaves me wondering what happens next with Robert (John Bolger) running away to Africa to avoid the grief his partner, Michael (Robert Ganoung) will experience when Michael's ex-boyfriend Nick (Steve Buscemi) succumbs to his battle with HIV. Would Robert and Michael's relationship be able to survive Nick's death -- especially when Michael's lingering feelings for Nick was straining the relationship when he was still alive?

The Lost Language of Cranes

In The Lost Language of Cranes, Philip Benjamin (Angus McFayden) came out to his parents, only to eventually learn that his father, Owen (the unbiqutous Brian Cox), was hiding in the closet, as well. At the film's end, Owen had finally come out to his wife and son, moving out of the apartment he shared with his wife for many years. Even though the David Leavitt book that inspired the movie ended there, I've always wondered where Owen and Philip's journey went next -- how a man who comes out late in life like Owen adjust to such a change? How does a young gay man handle being more mature than his father when it comes to love and relationships?

Maurice

Much like, The Lost Language of Cranes, Maurice ends just as the main character has begun to accept himself as a gay man. That's the end of one journey, but the beginning of another. How did Maurice (James Wilby) navigate the homophobic atmosphere of early 20th century England?

Trick

The thing I loved about Trick when it came out was that this was a romantic comedy more about the differences between its two leading men than about being gay. They spent the movie realzing that they had more in common than they expected and whenever I see Trick I find myself imagining the challenges Gabriel (Christian Campbell) and Mark (JP Pitoc) would face while dating... Gabriel was surprised to learn that Mark found Gabriel interesting as a person, but would Gabriel see more in Mark beyond a hottie who found noticed him? How would the two navigate their very different circles, would Mark pull away from his friends, finding Gabriel's circle more interesting?

The Sum of Us

The Sum of Us seemed to end at a point when Jeff (Russel Crowe) was looking at a very different life, now having to take care of his father (Jack Thompson) after a stroke. It looked like he was about to start a serious relationship with Greg (John Polson) -- a man's first serious relationship while dealing with the stress of caring for a disabled father, that's enough of a story to fill another movie.

Of course, that's just a start... which gay movies have you wondering what happens next?

One of my favorite movies from the 80's, Parting Glances will be screened at Los Angeles film festival Outfest with a restored cut. The 1986 film starred Richard Ganoung, Steve Buscemi. John Bloger and Kathy Kinney focusing on a love triangle between Ganoung, Bolger and Buscemi's characters, with Buscemi playing a man dying from AIDS. Parting Glances has a rather tame love scene early in the film, one that's always felt much steamier than it really was because of the tenderness displayed by Bolger and Ganoung.

What stands out for me, though, is the following comment:

"The preservation of Parting Glances is an important first step in ensuring the survival of important and endangered LGBT works," said Stephen Gutwillig, Outfest Executive Director. "Unfortunately many other films are in imminent danger of fading away-their original exhibition prints in tatters, their negatives in woeful storage conditions, or even lost," he continued. "The Outfest Legacy Project is working to raise funds to rescue these films, strike new prints for widespread public exhibition, and expand access to researchers and the public.

I remember volunteering once for a small gay and lesbian film festival and we had to make last minute changes to our schedule because of issues with the prints for current films (one arrived needing repairs while another was held from us because the previous festival to show it discovered a need for repairs). Since most of these films weren't wide releases and didn't get a major release budget, the producers juggled a small number of prints. I hadn't thought about it, but the state for older films must be even more precarious, coming from a time when gay cinema was even smaller than it is today. It's a disquieting wrinkle to consider.