Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed

Clean-cut All-American Boy Roy Scherer Jr. Probably never envisioned the life he would eventually lead when he was growing up in Winnetka, IL. But, once he transformed into rugged, handsome matinee idol Rock Hudson, it all came together, even if it was not how and what he imagined. As one of Hollywood's most sought-after actors in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, Hudson emerged as one of Tinsel Town's biggest stars in the movies and on television. He was also someone who throngs of women lusted after as a romantic interest, an image that his handlers carefully crafted. There was just one snag in this plan: Hudson was a closeted gay man whose private life had to be discreetly managed to preserve his reputation and the future viability of his career. It was as if he were leading two lives - a public life as an allegedly straight regular guy and a private, judiciously guarded one in which he could be himself as a gay man. And, even though almost everyone in Hollywood's inner circle knew the truth about him, Hudson's public persona was successfully preserved, despite occasional (and widely discredited) tabloid rumors. However, when the idol was diagnosed with AIDS in 1984, the secret could no longer be contained, despite official denials to the contrary. Yet, with this revelation, Hudson became the face of this frightening new illness, a condition no one wanted to talk about. It was thus ironic how this once-heavily sequestered gay man would become an unwitting activist for patients suffering with this debilitating disease, helping to generate attention and funding at a time when the homophobic Reagan Administration refused to do anything meaningful about it. Director Stephen Kijak's new HBO documentary presents a comprehensive look at Hudson's professional and personal life, with ample contemporary and archive clips and interviews with those who worked with him, such as actresses Elizabeth Taylor, Linda Evans, Piper Laurie and Carole Cook, and with those who knew him privately, such as author Armistead Maupin, actor Peter Kevoian and biographer Mark Griffin. While much is known about Hudson's entertainment career, little has been publicly circulated about his personal life, a development that marks a significant change with the release of this new film. Interestingly, there's a fair degree of irony in the choice of movie and TV clips included here in that many of them are quietly telling about the actor's personal life when viewed in this new light, almost as if they represented muted, inside revelations at the time these works were made. Some of the content (particularly in the interviews about Hudson's private life) could be seen as sexually explicit, so sensitive viewers should take heed. In all though, this insightful, respectful look at the actor's life as both a gifted entertainer and an unlikely hero delivers a well-rounded biography of a man who toiled to strike a balance in his two worlds, both for his fans and for those who shared his secret, an effort that yielded a lot of good in both areas.

We learned quite a bit about his legendary Hollywood dominance and overall story. In the end, a very sad and tragic end to a man so full of life. This is a well-told and heartbreaking story for the most part. There are so many valuable contributors interviewed throughout the documentary. It was touching to hear their experiences and see their shared personal videos and photos of aspects and points in time of Rock's life. My only complaint is that we are treated to an (over) abundance of movie clips cleverly edited to help tell his/the story via dialogue from various movies . By the last half hour or so those clips became a bit grating. The cut back and forth with this creative approach took something away from the actual story and interviews.

As "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed" (2023 release; 104 min) opens, we see a clip of the TV show "This Is Your Life" in 1952, where Rock Hudson, then a rapidly up-and-coming film star, is feted. We then go back to "Illinois, 1932" as the then 7 yo Roy Fitzgerald grows up without distinction. After WWII, Roy ends up in Hollywood... At that point we are less than 10 minutes into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from director Stephen Kijak ("Shoplifters of the World"). Here he reassesses the legacy of Rock Hudson, one of Hollywood biggest matinee idols ever, and a child of Hollywood's "golden age" of the 1950s-60s. Alas, as we now know all too well, Hudson lived a secret life as a gay man in private, and utterly unable and/or unwilling to admit as much in public. It makes for a rather sad reminder of that era, to be honest. "Golden" era? I don't think so. The documentary uses tons of Hudson lovie clips, arranged in such a way as if Hudson os commenting on the various issues raided in this documentary. The documentary works best towards the end, as we witness how the AIDS crisis overwhelms the (mostly) gay population, while the Reagan administration brazenly stands by and does... absolutely nothing, year after year after year. For shame.

"Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed" recently premiered on HBO and is now streaming on Max, where I caught it the other evening. If you are a fan of Rock Hudson, or simply interested in learning how a man led separate public and private lives, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

A not bad documentary about a major movie star primarily in the 1950s. He had some film success in the 60's as well proving adept at light comedy, but it was the 1950s that was his heyday. He began the 70's with a big budget Hollywood musical about WWI (?!) that turned out to be a disaster entitled Darling Lili and that was pretty much the nail in the coffin for him being offered major film parts. A major hunk at the time who happened to be gay, this is primarily about how that was both hidden and/or not discussed in more polite times. For anyone interested in film history this will be something they will probably appreciate seeing. I did, though I didn't really learn anything that I hadn't already heard about at some point in time, but I enjoyed the photos and especially the film clips. I don't believe all of it to be true, though I suspect a lot of it is. I didn't like the way it used cuts from various films to make it appear that the actors were responding to each other when the clips were actually from different movies and those interactions didn't exist. That fakeness makes one wary of other aspects of this documentary, which is a shame. Rock Hudson wasn't a great actor by any stretch of the imagination though he did have his moments in a number of films, but to me he was only truly very good in two of them. They would be Giant and Seconds, the latter a film that should have revived his then weakening film career in the latter 60's, but it was ahead of its time and not really what his fans expected of him as is discussed in this film. He did have one more film in the 60's that I believe was a box office hit, Ice Station Zebra, but that was it. The gay factor and his limitations as an actor eventually caught up with him causing a turn to a tv career, something that's held in higher regard today than it was then. This was a different time, that's for sure. There is no way on Earth he could have hidden his sexuality from the public today especially not in the brazen way he led his life back in the day when people respected privacy, something that just about doesn't exist today. This is interesting and I enjoyed it, but it's nothing particularly remarkable other than a peek into the past that thankfully no longer exists for most gay actors, though I'd be surprised if there wasn't some still holding that closet door tightly shut. This film tries to make him a hero of the AIDS epidemic, but I do not recall it that way as he did everything he could imaginable to hide it and only at the last moment of his life did he try to attempt to make his terrible situation to be admirable. However, one cannot really blame him given his mindset after a lifetime of secrecy, One thing seems to be clear though and that is this was truly a very nice person. I don't recall ever hearing a negative remark about him as a human being. That's mighty admirable! He died relatively young in a horrible way, but he had a pretty fantastic life before that.

An icon as beloved as Rock Hudson deserves a thorough, thoughtful, and multifaceted documentary. So why is it that he got one that focuses so heavily on his sexuality and conquests, and not nearly enough on the man himself? No person is defined simply by their sexual orientation and nor should they be. This is especially true of one of the biggest movie stars of the '50s and '60s. Going from the Midwest to Hollywood, experiencing the ups and downs of stardom, and being closeted all the while all must affect someone in various ways. But we don't really learn how in this doc. Instead, it consists mostly of interviews with men he had flings with. There is some good insight here and there, but it mostly gets lost amongst talk of his romantic relationships.

Perhaps he was just too private for any truly meaningful content to be put together about him. If that's the case, it probably wasn't worth making this. I also seriously question the director's abilities because, as another review said, the movie clip usage grew tiresome and was uncomfortable at times. There were also a couple of highly unnecessary crude comments about Rock that were inexplicably not edited out.

I personally don't think Rock would appreciate his sexuality being the biggest talking point because I don't think anyone would. He was so much more than that. This is a skip.