Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

What a nostalgic and historical view of the post world war 2 era of Hollywood in the mid 1940's through the next few decades provided by ninety (90) year old "the arranger" Scotty Bower. He remains quite the personable and charming character even as a nonagenarian house hoarder with charisma running through his old veins.

Am I a believer in Scotty Bowers claims? Absolutely. He hob nobbed with many Hollywood gay stars of the 1940's - 1970's, and kept their trysts on the QT until some decades later after all had passed in to the heaven's gates. Most of us had heard the many rumors about some of the biggest stars such as Rock Hudson, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Randolph Scott, and Cary Grant preferring same sex partners but Scotty explaining his intimate interactions with these A lister Hollywood stars came across as if he was talking to his closest friends and not as if he was BS'ing us all.

What I really found quite interesting about Scotty's secret history of the Hollywood stars, royalty and Hollywood executives was how forthcoming some of these stars became as they grew older and how good it must have felt to finally be able to come out of the proverbial closet, even if it was Scotty who had to convince us his stories were all true.

Scotty is definitely a house hoarder and his was a pimp and prostitute lifestyle that he emphatically declares he chose to live and quite enjoyed every minute of living. This is a documentary that I will most likely watch again as Scotty's unabashed proclamations are now considered historical God rest his weary soul. RIP Scotty.

As a heterosexual male I give this documentary an 8 out of 10 IMDB rating.

"Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood" (2017 release; 98 min,) is a documentary about Scotty Bowers. As the movie opens, there is a celebration of Scotty's 90th birthday at the Chateau Marmont. We learn that Scotty just recently has written a memoir called "Full Service" (which is the basis for this film), in which he retells of the days right after WWII when he by happenstance became the "pimp" of gay and lesbian Hollywood, the "center of an alternative world", in which famous movie stars like Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn lived lives that were very different from their public personae, and calling on the services provided by Scotty. "Everything cost $20", Scotty laughs. Along the way we alo learn how today's Scotty has become a compulsive obsessive hoarder... At this point we're not even 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from up-and-coming documentarian Matt Tymauer, whose previous film was the excellent "Citizen Jane: Battle For the City". Here he picks up on a long unknown fact, namely how one guy became the Hollywood king-pimp starting in the late 40s. Tymauer tries to take that fait divers to build a documentary about "gays and lesbians in Hollywood" over the years. Yes, there are glimpses here and there (in particular as we get to the AIDS era), but overall it feels like this film is a missed opportunity to do an in-depth look at that topic. Instead, we get a close look on someone who seems like a nice enough guy, but it is as if he stands in the way of a far more important documentary. The fact that we get sidetracked by the compulsive hoarding behavior only reinforces that feeling...

"Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood" premiered at last year;s Toronto International Film Festival (yes, almost a year ago) to positive acclaim. The movie finally made it to my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended so-so (about 10 people). If you are in the mood for a documentary that is brought mostly with a light touch about how gays and lesbians got by in the Hollywood era of the 40 and 50s, I'd suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray and draw your own conclusion.

I love celebrity autobiographies but I don't like gossip. So I thought I wouldn't care much for this documentary but watched it anyway, and came away surprised at how interesting I thought it was. It's not that juicy, and it's not that revelatory, but it surely proves that Scotty is no liar. (Almost) every word that comes out of his mouth rings true and sincere, and he has old friends and lots of photos to back up his claims. The film is part comedy, part tragedy, and partly a grim look at what hoarding can do to a person. Much like the interesting documentary "The Projectionist", it's a big raunchy, but it doesn't make the subject out to be any sort of hero or any sort of demon. He just was, he existed. Scotty had a very interesting life, whether you approve of it or not, and I'm glad that he told his story.

I'm a huge fan of classic Hollywood. Watch movies, consume documentaries, listen to podcasts, and read books on the subject. I was looking forward to this documentary, having heard so much about it. Not particularly well made nor revealing. Really, more a portrait of this one man than it is about Hollywood - and since I didn't find Scotty particularly interesting or likable, I turned it off.

Watch The Celluloid Closet instead.

Since I enjoyed the juicy, can't-put-it down book, I was disappointed in the film. Instead of focusing more on Bowers' rollicking sexual adventures in the '40s and '50s, the filmmaker spends much of the time focusing on the now 95 year old Bowers, and his wife, puttering around his multiple hoarder-cluttered homes.

The real story is about Bowers' star-studded sexual past, not his relatively downbeat present. The film should have been racy, fun and juicy, but it ends up being primarily glum.