6/29/07: That Certain Summer (1972)
Did anybody notice all that Gay Pride stuff earlier this month? Most of it featured the usual Leftist idiocy, but you can’t blame homosexuals. The media treats the gay community just like they treat fundamentalist Christians—except the media showcases the kooky fringes of the gay community out of sheer adoration.
That Certain Summer didn’t sport any kookiness. It was a very serious affair when the film debuted as a TV-movie back in 1972. This was heralded as network television’s first serious examination of homosexuality. Scott Jacoby stars as Nick Salter, a visiting 14-year-old who’ll spend 90 minutes learning that his divorced dad Doug (played by Hal Holbrook) is more than just good friends with roommate Gary McClain (Martin Sheen).
The movie got one thing right about the coming Big Gay Revolution: poor Nick faces a true assault on his innocence. His dad’s pals all come across as slimy creeps who can’t wait to drop another broad hint to Nick that his father has a big secret. Nick has to act pretty dense just to pad the film to a decent running time. There’s also an inadvertently hilarious scene where Nick pieces it all together. He stumbles across his dad’s watch, which is a gift from Gary that’s engraved with a message of love. The engraving is in the same type size that newspapers would later use to announce Nixon’s resignation.
But you know who makes
That Certain Summer a conservative masterpiece? Mr. Joe Don Baker. The character actor was a year away from swinging a bat (or railroad tie, or whatever it was) as legendary Southern sheriff Buford Pusser in
Walking Tall. Baker still exudes a redneck majesty as Gary’s brother-in-law. Gary’s staying with his sister and her husband Phil while Nick’s in town. He’s already out to his family, and Gary’s sister tells him that he should bring Doug over for dinner sometime.
Gary looks over at Phil. “Let me tell you something about myself,” says Phil. He then explains to Gary that he’s a pretty live-and-let-live kind of guy, and he’s happy to consider Doug as part of the family.
Gary responds by yelling at Joe Don Baker. Technically, he’s yelling at the character of Phil, but you get the feeling that he’s also ranting at the American heartland that Joe Don Baker represents. Gary has had it up to here with everyone in San Francisco being so nice and tolerant and understanding and…well, actually, Gary’s not making any sense. He doesn’t want to be accepted. He wants to be a victim and a threat. He wants to be the scary otherness who’ll make a normal guy like Joe Don Baker totally freak out, man.
This scene—as written by the same visionaries who gave us
Columbo—perfectly sums up the Gay Pride experiences to come. Nowadays, Gary’s probably a regular on
Zombietime.com. Phil’s probably getting stuck in traffic behind yet another Gay Pride event and wondering how long they’re going to keep having these things. So are plenty of pained homosexuals. As a lesbian pal of ours says, “Every time I see a Gay Pride parade, I think that…”
Actually, it’s better not to quote her. The sentiment is kind of inflammatory. We’d hate to undo all the good that’s been done by Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen.
Make it your own: Despite being a historically important document,
That Certain Summer isn’t available on DVD or VHS. The
LOGO cable network shows it sometimes. What we really need is for someone at Lifetime to pick up the rights to 1986’s
My Two Loves, with Mariette Hartley and Lynn Redgrave. Yow.
