Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

What a nostalgic and historical view of the post world war 2 era of Hollywood in the mid 1940's through the next few decades provided by ninety (90) year old "the arranger" Scotty Bower. He remains quite the personable and charming character even as a nonagenarian house hoarder with charisma running through his old veins.

Am I a believer in Scotty Bowers claims? Absolutely. He hob nobbed with many Hollywood gay stars of the 1940's - 1970's, and kept their trysts on the QT until some decades later after all had passed in to the heaven's gates. Most of us had heard the many rumors about some of the biggest stars such as Rock Hudson, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Randolph Scott, and Cary Grant preferring same sex partners but Scotty explaining his intimate interactions with these A lister Hollywood stars came across as if he was talking to his closest friends and not as if he was BS'ing us all.

What I really found quite interesting about Scotty's secret history of the Hollywood stars, royalty and Hollywood executives was how forthcoming some of these stars became as they grew older and how good it must have felt to finally be able to come out of the proverbial closet, even if it was Scotty who had to convince us his stories were all true.

Scotty is definitely a house hoarder and his was a pimp and prostitute lifestyle that he emphatically declares he chose to live and quite enjoyed every minute of living. This is a documentary that I will most likely watch again as Scotty's unabashed proclamations are now considered historical God rest his weary soul. RIP Scotty.

As a heterosexual male I give this documentary an 8 out of 10 IMDB rating.

Scotty Bauers' book about his business as a Hollywood procurer in his book, Full Service, is a prelude to this not-quite-salacious documentary about his life servicing the sexual needs of mid-century Hollywood elite, especially the gay ones. Although Scotty's personal life is disorganized and cluttered, his procuring activity as Hollywood's "pimp to the stars" was universally acclaimed by those who used his services.

Getting dates, or providing " an introduction service" as Scotty calls it, for the likes of Walter Pidgeon and George Cukor was all in a day's work for the Hollywood Blvd. Richfield Gas Station attendant he was while he arranged liaisons there and around town. This brief explanation of the documentary might make it seem juicy, but I assure you it is not quite that. Despite the cast of characters in need of same sex dates like Kate Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, most of Scotty's revelations are not new and hardly in depth.

Randolph Scott, Tyrone Power, Cole Porter, and Charles Laughton are among the others who used Scotty's services, including his own. His three-way adventure with sex goddesses Lana Turner and Ava Gardner is one of the more alluring bits of gossip, but again only a fleeting mention. Those limited details are what make this a superficial if not charming doc.

Most of the doc centers on Scotty, now 94, an impish gossip whose obvious aging seems the opposite of the well-kept elderly like Cary Grant, who appears several times as a young gay star guarding his orientation better than Rock Hudson. As Scotty shows us the dumpy houses where he stores his personal junk, this inveterate collector is just not that interesting; you'd think he must have some stars' memorabilia-not.

Although director Matt Trynauer jazzes it up with male frontal nudity and vintage Hollywood footage, Scotty's shuffling senescence lends the dusty mood of an old album full of his photos and too few of Hollywood stars. Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood guards those secrets too well for my adolescent-like curiosity.

I love celebrity autobiographies but I don't like gossip. So I thought I wouldn't care much for this documentary but watched it anyway, and came away surprised at how interesting I thought it was. It's not that juicy, and it's not that revelatory, but it surely proves that Scotty is no liar. (Almost) every word that comes out of his mouth rings true and sincere, and he has old friends and lots of photos to back up his claims. The film is part comedy, part tragedy, and partly a grim look at what hoarding can do to a person. Much like the interesting documentary "The Projectionist", it's a big raunchy, but it doesn't make the subject out to be any sort of hero or any sort of demon. He just was, he existed. Scotty had a very interesting life, whether you approve of it or not, and I'm glad that he told his story.

My immediate reaction was to get wrapped up in the scandalous tell-all book Full Service authored by Scotty Bowers, the subject of this documentary. The reality is that not much screen time is devoted to the juicy details of his book, which I have not read; and quite honestly, I don't find much of it truly shocking. I'm 60 years old as I write this, and I promise you that I knew at 15 years old that Hollywood was never, ever what it wanted the world to think it was and that the people who it represented were getting it on with anyone and anything if only because they could.

About halfway through the film, I became interested in the complexity of other issues touched upon:

hoarding hypersexual/nymphomania psychological denial PTSD, especially associated with war Puritanical ideology distrust

The big topic in reviews is the question whether Scotty Bowers was entirely truthful. It's a legitimate point of view and one I won't bother debating. In the end, it truly doesn't matter because almost everyone he references in the film has been dead for some time now and therefore has no voice to explain and vehemently deny what's presented.

Regardless, I personally conclude that Scotty Bowers was obsessed with sex.

True story of Scotty Bowers. He was a young. Handsome guy who (in the 1950s and 60s) provided men and women to closeted actors and actresses. Most of the movie consists of Bowers (still alive and in his 90s) talking to the camera and recounting his life. It also has him visiting people he worked with who back up his story 100%. There's also talk about who was gay back then. Naturally all the stars they talk about are conveniently dead. There's also some hardcore gay sex footage. (It's not rated but would easily get an NC-17 if it were).

This isn't a bad movie but I was bored silly. I actually dozed off a few times! The film says the same things multiple times over and none of the revelations of who was gay are shocking. It just shows us again and again that Bowers is a compulsive hoarder--the state of his house is downright disgusting. So it was somewhat interesting but I was bored.