Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed

Intrigued by its clever title and interested in the subject matter, I watched this documentary on the life and career of Rock Hudson with some anticipation. At the end, while I certainly knew more about the man than I did at the start, it seemed to me that the producers were far more interested in examining Hudson's legacy in relation to the LGBTQ+ movement than his artistic legacy as a popular actor on film and television for over thirty years.

Using as one of its principal devices the extraction of clips of Hudson in his movie roles into the narrative here as if they were supposedly commenting on his own life, which must have taken hours of research, it has to be said that he did have to utter a lot of ambiguous statements which could have been interpreted as relating to his gay lifestyle, so much so that it made you wonder how many people in Hollywood were in on the secret. What's made clear is why he had to do so, with the homophobia evident in an early 50's America already whipped up to a frenzy by the House of UnAmerican Activities Communist witch-hunt that it seemed to be as terrified of what they slightingly termed "pinkoes" as well as reds in the bed. Some of the things printed in the down-market magazines don't just border on hate-speech, they comprise a full-blown invasion.

With historic audio and occasionally video interviews with the main players in Hudson's life both inside and outside Hollywood, the wonder is that his secret was kept in the background for so long, right up until the headline-grabbing revelation that he'd contracted AIDS just before his death. As the first major celebrity afflicted by the terrible disease, the film then considers the impact of his going public with the news and in so doing "outing" himself as a gay man after years of playing the strong, masculine and what were presumed to be 100% heterosexual lead roles. There's the inevitable discussion as to whether he could or should have come out earlier but you only have to witness the trail of careers destroyed by doing so before to understand why he felt the need to cover his traces, even to the extent of going through with a sham marriage just before he turned thirty to pacify the gossip-mongers.

All this of course is fascinating in its way but for me, I found it imbalanced the film and would have appreciated if more consideration had been afforded to his acting ability and career in general. Yes, mention is made of the superb Douglas Sirk-directed films he graced in the 50's and also the remarkable John Frankenheimer movie "Accidents" which he made in 1966, but clearly the film-makers here had their own agenda in lining up a succession of his former boyfriends to relate their experiences with Hudson and even airing a privately taped telephone conversation with him actively procuring an obviously upcoming sexual encounter with a suitably qualified young male.

It's no surprise to learn that on-set Hudson garnered more sympathy and understanding from women than men, as witness the support received from the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day and Linda Gray. Much is made of him kissing the latter in an episode of "Dynasty" when he almost certainly knew he was carrying the AIDS infection, when he was at pains to do so closed-mouth. There probably wasn't time and it's unlikely in any case that Hudson felt the need to go completely public with a reveal-all interview, even as he surely knew he was dying. Could be have done more for the acceptance of homosexuality in society by so doing is the question this film wants to agonise over.

While I get the contemporary relevance of this, I personally prefer not to sit in judgement of the choices the man made in what must have been a difficult life and instead focus on the too-often underrated performances he gave in his long and distinguished career.