Anti gay 70 movie star
BU Alum Explores the Double Life of Actor Rock Hudson in New HBO Documentary
Stephen Kijak’s film shows the movie star as both an icon of the ’50s and ’60s—and a gay man whose death from AIDS changed public perception of the disease
On screen, actor Rock Hudson was the epitome of American masculinity: square-jawed, broad-shouldered, and standing adequately over six feet lofty. An iconic movie luminary of the 1950s and ’60s, Hudson was famous for his leading roles in Douglas Sirk’s melodramas (Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind), George Stevens’ sprawling film adaptation of Edna Ferber’s Giant, which earned him his only Oscar nomination, in 1956, and a string of sly, romantic comedies costarring Doris Day (Pillow Discuss, Lover Come Back, Dispatch Me No Flowers). He also starred in the popular 1970s TV series McMillan & Wife.
Hudson was also gay, a private closely guarded in the film industry for dread that news of his sexual orientation would torpedo his career.
That double being is the subject of a new HBO documentary, Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed, by filmmaker Stephen Kijak (COM’91). The film traces Hudson’s career, from smal
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Daring, but doesn't quite work
Too many things wrong with this one to really care for it. The main problem is too much focus on over-the-top depictions of the same-sex attracted S&M subculture, and not enough on its characters. The undercover cop (Al Pacino), his girlfriend (Karen Allen), and the killer (???) are all ridiculously underdrawn. We don't obtain enough of what's going through the cop's consciousness as he's undercover, the girlfriend is only there to serve as a barometer of his heterosexuality, and the killer has some cliché "daddy issues." We do, however, fetch public fisting ffs.
Especially for 1980, it's unfortunate that this was the window mainstream America got into gay life, as it felt voyeuristic and intended to shock, not work as a source of understanding or empowerment, at least as best feasible as a backdrop to a murder mystery. Maybe the neighbor character, the aspiring writer, was intended to balance some of this out, but he was quickly lost, perhaps by things like the ridiculous man in the precinct house wearing nothing but a jockstrap and walking into interrogations to slap gay suspects around. What the hel
When I was 19 some 50 very odd years ago, I cut class one day to see Midnight Cowboy in downtown Philadelphia. Celebrated for its acting and John Schlesinger’s kinetic guide, the 1969 clip also contained revolting, negative images of homosexuality. I wasn’t surprised. That was expected back then. In the clip, Jon Voight’s Joe Buck moves to New York to sell himself to women only to wind up attracting a variety of gay men turned on by his cowboy image. At the time, I identified with the college kid played by Bob Balaban who picks him up for a quick blow occupation in a 42nd Street grindhouse (not that I had the guts to do anything prefer that). The most horrifying scene to me, however, was Joe’s tryst neighboring the film’s conclude with an elderly man (Barnard Hughes) whom he beats and robs. Hughes’ character seemed almost pathetically vulnerable. Was that what it meant to develop old as a gay man? There were few depictions of homosexuals, leave alone older same-sex attracted men and lesbians, on screen at the time and those that existed were usually negative stereotypes like the lisping queens in 1971’s Some of My Best Friends Are…, the murderous, conflicted closet case in 1968’s The Detective or the self-loa
The public and private Rock Hudson
A Hollywood producer once called him "Prince Charming" – a fitting nickname for a guy whose life seemed, for most of it, appreciate a storybook. Rock Hudson started steaming up the screen in the 1950s, and continued for nearly four decades, in more than 60 films. But today he's perhaps overlooked, said documentary director Stephen Kijak.
Smith asked, "Why execute you think his designate is not up there with the James Deans and the Marilyn Monroes?"
Kijak replied, "I don't realize. I think it's partly because the legacy ends up just being, 'Oh, Rock Hudson was that actor who died of AIDS.'"
But now, in his new HBO documentary, "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed," Kijak explores Hudson's whole life, as a global star, and closeted gay man. In the documentary, Hudson's friend Ken Jillson said, "Our social life with him was very private. We didn't go out to restaurants. We would go to Rock's house. It was called the Castle."
Yes, Prince Charming really did call his home "the Castle" – a Beverly Hills mansion that must have seemed a million miles away from Winnetka, Illinois, where Hudson grew up as Roy Fitzgerald.
It was a very mod
The Lavender Menace Forms
Educator Elaine Noble was encouraged to jog for the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1974 by former Congress member Barney Frank’s sister, Ann Wexler. The two women had formed the Women’s Political Caucus, and Wexler thought Noble would represent her Irish Catholic Boston district well, even though she was LGBTQ+.
It was the height of desegregation, so Noble rode buses with children of color and had campaign workers monitor school bus stops to show her deep creed in equality. A gay newspaper whistleblower told her, “You should stick to your own nice, or we’re going to get someone else to stand for us.” Noble responded, “Well, I consider, David, I am sticking with my own kind,” according to an interview Noble gave Ron Schlittler for his “Out and Elected in the USA: 1974–2004” project for OutHistory.org. “You can’t say that you want progress or change for one group and not for another. It doesn’t happen that way.”
Noble experienced such harassment—from bomb threats to being spat upon by an eighty-five-year-old man—that at one point she campaigned protected by state troopers. “It was a very ugly campaign. Ugly,” she told Schlittler. “There wa