X
- 2023
- TV-14
- HBO Documentary Films
- 1 h 44 m
- 2023
- TV-14
- HBO Documentary Films
- 1 h 44 m
Summary Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed is an intimate portrait of actor Rock Hudson, one of Hollywood’s most celebrated leading men of the 1950’s and ‘60’s and an icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age, whose diagnosis and eventual death from AIDS in 1985 shocked the world, subsequently shifting the way the public perceived the AIDS pandemic. Born...
Directed By: Stephen Kijak
- 2023
- TV-14
- HBO Documentary Films
- 1 h 44 m
- 2023
- TV-14
- HBO Documentary Films
- 1 h 44 m
Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed
71
7.6
Summary Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed is an intimate portrait of actor Rock Hudson, one of Hollywood’s most celebrated leading men of the 1950’s and ‘60’s and an icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age, whose diagnosis and eventual death from AIDS in 1985 shocked the world, subsequently shifting the way the public perceived the AIDS pandemic. Born...
Directed By: Stephen Kijak
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
71
88% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
13% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
71
88% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
13% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
He led a fascinating, complicated, often contradictory life, and Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed does it justice.
What makes this documentary a vital piece of Hollywood history is that it’s not as much about Hudson’s carefully managed public image as it is about the real joy and pleasure he experienced outside the spotlight — living not as some tortured romantic figure, but as someone who savored whatever the shadows could provide.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 7 User Ratings
7.6
71% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
29% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 7 User Ratings
7.6
71% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
29% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
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 **** 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 **** 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 **** man would become an unwitting activist for patients suffering with this debilitating disease, helping to generate attention and funding at a time when the **** 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.
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The film struggles to capture what Hudson’s personality was like in private. Nor does it talk about his drinking, which reportedly became an issue later in life. But it’s a terrific portrait of how Hollywood once functioned — and the artifice of it all.
Perhaps most surprising is that the portrait it presents is not of a tortured soul but of a man, and actor, who was comfortable in all the roles he inhabited.
It is in part biographical, with the young-hunk-makes-good tale of the film world and a parade of clips from the movies that he made. But the documentary’s main concern is Hudson as the ultimate closeted homosexual, the CinemaScope version of a tale gay men had been forced to live out for generations, or risk scandal, blackmail and even criminal prosecution.
Kijak's film can remind a new generation that, despite seemingly insurmountable difficulties, some of our queer forebears could find a little slice of happiness, despite living in a world that told them they were not welcome.
Stephen Kijak’s documentary does him a disservice, reducing Hudson’s career — in exactly the way he went so far out of his way to avoid — to the dimension of his sexuality.
This doc about the famed leading man certainly covers his rise to fame and glorious career, but it spends even more time on his somewhat secret **** life. The film starts with lots of imagery from stills and movies, but the interviews with his long-time collaborators are only audio recordings. Once we get into more recent years, several of his ex-boyfriends are interviewed on camera (including Armistead Maupin) and many of the details about that lifestyle are surprisingly out, despite his image as a leading man/ ladies man. Director Stephen Kijak chose to use dozens of clips from his movies taken out of context, to comment on his personal story, often with glaring references to his ****. Rock Hudson is one of the great movie stars of his era and this extensive look into his private life provides fascinating glimpses into Hollywood's **** and the incredible ways he and his friends had to cope.
Report
O filme me pegou porque eu anda não sei o que pensar sobre um dilema: se o cara, em vida, não queria ter a vida exposta, é eticamente correto usar sua vida particular aqui? Eu realmente não sei responder essa pergunta, entendo perfeitamente o benefício social do documentário, mas não faço ideia até que ponto é um desrespeito ao retratado. Não sei como familiares pensam a respeito. Tudo bem que os tempos são outros, mas ainda assim não me convenço. Afinal, há argumentos sociais interessantes, e fico pensando em como chegamos no século XXI tendo que sempre aceitar uma biografia, uma história privada, como principal argumento de uma tese. é o tipo de documentário que fala mais sobre nós do que sobre o homem retratado.
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Production Company
Altitude Film Entertainment,
Berlanti Schechter Films,
Dog Star Films,
HBO Documentary Films,
HBO Films,
Plus6Four Entertainment
Release Date Jun 28, 2023
Duration 1 h 44 m
Rating TV-14
Genres
Awards
Tribeca Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
The Queerties
• 1 Nomination
GLAAD Media Awards
• 1 Nomination
