The Golden Boy's blade cut up
By John Esther
Born Roy Fitzgerald in 1925, Rock Hudson became a "World Film Favorite." Caressed and cared for by Universal Studios and others, Hudson could never do wrong in the eyes of the American people. That is because the overwhelmingly homophobic American public of the time never knew that Hudson preferred sex with men. If they did, the ladies' man's man career would be kaput. A layered contradiction, for millions of ordinary Americans Hudson was the epitome of cinematic iconography, a terribly handsome exterior with a frightfully good heart underneath. And for millions of Americans, Hudson was the first person they knew, by name, whom died of AIDS.
Using some blatantly flawed faux historical footage (i.e. shots of ArcLight Theaters; 24 Hour Fitness), inane scenes of the beach (surfing?), a ridiculous segment dedicated to Hudson's 1954 film, Magnificent Obsession, starring Jane Wyman (what a piece of mawkish claptrap) and a few interviewees whose observations are, at best, contestable -- gossip columnist Rona Barrett comes off as a fool, again -- for the most part of the documentary, it is very difficult to watch such a haphazard, pretentious work.
Fortunately, there are some bright, shining moments courtesy of Hudson's intelligence; an inside look at the wonderful film, Giant; a few notes on what the notorious Hollywood agent Henry "The man who invented Rock Hudson" Wilson did for stars and wannabes and what he could do to those who dared threaten his clients; Hudson's fake two-year marriage with secretary and semi-closeted lesbian Phyllis Gates; plus interviews by author Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City) who was "unable to perform" with Hudson because he "couldn't get past the matinee idol" and film historian Richard Dyer.
Half-baked for consumption documentarians André Schäfer and Andrew Davies' Rock Hudson - Dark and Handsome will screen at the Egyptian Theatre, a place which once held such Hudson premieres as Pillow Talk -- also featured in the film.
(Rock Hudson - Dark and Handsome Stranger screens Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m., Egyptian Theatre. For more information: http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/los/prj/ger/flm/roc/enindex.htm)
