Revisiting ‘That Certain Summer,’ the gay made-for-TV movie that made history… in 1972!
Duel!).But it was That Certain Summer—one of ABC’s smaller, more intimate Movies Of The Week—that wound up having the biggest impact, at least as far as LGBTQ+ representation in media goes.Directed by actor-turned-director Lamont Johnson and written by Richard Levinson & William Link (co-creators of Murder, She Wrote!), the film has been considered the first “sympathetic depiction of gay people on American TV.” But… was it any good???At the heart of its story is Doug Salter (the late Hal Holbrook, of All The President’s Men fame), a divorced contractor living in San Francisco who is anxiously awaiting a summer visit from his 14-year-old son, Nick (The Golden Girls‘ Scott Jacoby).Doug is gay, and has been in a committed relationship with Gary McClain (The West Wing‘s Martin Sheen) for some time now.
The thing is, he hasn’t told his kid yet, so Gary plans to stay with family temporarily while Doug attempts to “de-gay” their home, introducing a media trope that would be revisited for years to come, including in The Birdcage.Though Doug does make a plan to tell his son the truth, Nick starts to pick up on how frequently Gary is around, and how comfortable they are with one another.
By the time he sees “To Doug With Love Gary” written on his dad’s watch, he knows the truth and runs away in confusion.It’s then that Nick’s mother and Doug’s ex, Janet (Peyton Place‘s Hope Lange), arrives to town from LA, and the worried parents fret over finding their son, leading to a series of passionate—and enlightening—conversations.Not to spoil things, but That Certain Summer is really no more complicated than that!
In fact, Holbrook once revealed he initially turned down the role—not because he didn’t want to play gay, but because he felt the story was “just kind of tame.”Sheen, who was still a rising star at the time, was thought to be taking a risk by playing gay.
