Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed

[Soapsuds]

 

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/rock-hudson-heaven-allowed-review-233000573.html

[Cat]

Thanks for the trailer! But wow, that Yahoo review was disparaging. IA that reducing Rock Hudson's movie scenes to his sexuality alone takes away from his contribution to the golden era of movies. Pillow Talk is one of my fave romantic comedies ever, for example, and he's a force multiplier in that movie, as is Doris Day. (Another under-mentioned talent: Rock Hudson's tender chemistry with many of his female co-stars -- Jane Wyman, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day, etc).

By the same token, his was such a high-profile name when it was announced that he had AIDS and that he was, actually, gay, that I can understand why the director felt he should centered on his sexual identity. The temptation is there because a lot of his movies in the late 50s/early 60s overtly hinted at gossip about Rock's private life. Movie audiences were a little more attuned to all that than Hollywood gave them credit for. My mom was a RH fan growing up, but even she had heard the whispers, and said that when he married Henry Wilson's secretary, that was practically confirmation of a hasty arrangement of some kind.