Highly Overrated But Still Good

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

True story of Scotty Bowers. He was a young. handsome guy who (in the 1950s and 60s) provided men and women to closeted actors an actresses. Most of the movie consists of Bowers (still alive and in his 90s) talking to the camera and recounting his life. It also has him visiting people he worked with who back up his story 100%. There's also talk about who was gay back then. Naturally all the stars they talk about are conveniently dead. There's also some hardcore gay sex footage. (It's not rated but would easily get an NC-17 if it were).This isn't a bad movie but I was bored silly. I actually dozed off a few times! The film says the same things multiple times over and none of the revelations of who was gay are shocking. It just shows us again and again that Bowers is a compulsive hoarder--the state of his houses is downright disgusting. So it was somewhat interesting but I was bored.

"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.

Oh, how this man got around! Director/Producer and Documentarian Matt Tyrnauer ("Valentino: The Last Emperor" 2008) brings George Albert "Scotty" Bowers' memoir "Full Service" to the bring screen. Scotty (today) is an elderly gentleman whose home, car, deeded properties and garages are filled with piles and piles of Hollywood memorabilia, junk mail and immaterial finds. However, according to Scotty, while working at Hollywood gas station (between 1940 -1980) Walter Pidgeon ("Mrs. Miniver"), drove up, invited to swim in his pool, where he later landed in his bed and as they say, "the rest is history". As the go-to-guy/pimp of sorts to the then Hollywood closeted elite, he enlisted his fellow soldiers looking for a quick $20, and soon his escort service to the stars (ranging from Clark Gable, Kate Hepburn, Spenser Tracey, Cole Porter, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, J. Edgar Hoover, to a three ways with Ava Gardner and Lana Turner and more) was born. With so many of his "tell all" tales about celebrities now passed, no one's around to counter his claims. Regardless, director Tyrnauer presents Scotty has an intriguing and interesting character, while looking back at old Hollywood's stigma associated with being "out," and he at least briefly allows the ladies of "The View" to question is claims. For a man (Scotty) who never told his current wife about his past, and who today appears to be a certified pack rat, one has to take his memoir and this film for what it is: a good read and an entertaining documentary. This film was screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival #PSIFF2018.