JUNE 28 will mark the 41st anniversary of what has become known as the Stonewall Uprising. On that night, the NYPD raided the Stonewall Inn, a raunchy, mob-run gay bar on Christopher Street in the West Village that served stolen, watered-down booze.
Much to the surprise of cops, the patrons refused to go quietly, leading to three days of street disturbances.
Those events serve as the jumping-off point for “Stonewall Uprising,” a documentary directed by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner.
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.
They include rioters, reporters who were allowed inside the Stonewall during the uprising and Seymour Pine, the now-
retired inspector who led cops on that fateful night, which is credited with starting the gay-rights movement.
“We didn’t have the manpower, and the manpower for the other side was coming like it was a real war,” Pine remembers. “And that’s what it was. It was war.”
But perhaps the most amazing revelation in “Stonewall Uprising” is that affable Ed Koch, seen back then and today, didn’t have hair — even 40 years ago.
More on the Stonewall
riots at nypost.com.