Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

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Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

2018

1h 38m

Documentary

LGBTQ+

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Popcornmeter

85%

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73 Reviews

57%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

"Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood" is the deliciously scandalous story of Scotty Bowers, a handsome ex-Marine who landed in Hollywood after World War II and became confidante, aide-de-camp and lover to many of Hollywood's greatest male--and female--stars. In the 1940s and '50s, Scotty ran a gas station in the shadow of the studio lots where he would connect his friends with actors and actresses who had to hide their true sexual identities for fear of police raids at gay bars, societal shunning and career suicide. An unsung Hollywood legend, Bowers would cater to the sexual appetites of celebrities--straight and gay--for decades. In 2012, he finally spilled his secrets in the New York Times best-selling memoir, "Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars", which revealed a dramatic, pre-Stonewall alternate history of Hollywood. While the studio PR machines were promoting their stars as wholesome and monogamous, Bowers was fulfilling the true desires of many of them. This cinéma vérité documentary by director Matt Tyrnauer ("Valentino: The Last Emperor") tells his story, as well as presents eye-opening takes on icons from the Hollywood Golden Age including Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and many more.

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Critics Consensus

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood offers plenty of prurient thrills for film fans, but beyond the gossip lies a poignantly illuminating look at decades of sexual mores.

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Chris Nashawaty

Entertainment Weekly

05/28/2020

B+

If you've already pored over Bowers' book, there's a bit of redundancy and repetitiveness to the gentleman hustler's revelations. But honestly, who tires of hearing gossip about A-list gang bangs, fetishes, and hook-ups?

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David Fear

Rolling Stone

05/28/2020

2.5/5

We get a lot of opaque Scottys, all semi-attached to an alternate "history" that feels maddeningly incomplete and barely surface-scratched.

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J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

03/04/2020

A living rebuke to the imagined America of Hollywood's golden age.

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Eric Langberg

Everything's Interesting

07/26/2022

It’s like a depressing sequel to his memoir, rather than an adaptation of it.

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Tom O'Brien

Next Best Picture

06/14/2022

8/10

The film provides a fascinating glimpse into gay life in Hollywood in the pre-AIDS era and the challenges of actors maintaining a forced heterosexual image when in reality they weren't.

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David Reddish

Queerty

03/20/2022

3.5/4

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood pays homage to both the man and his contribution, even as it hints at darker, painful elements of Scottys past. That dimension only makes the man and his story all the more intriguing.

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PridePosterStudios

09/20/2023

Exploitative! Get a life, Scotty…

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Georgan G

07/28/2023

Love the lesbian, gay & bisexual history in this documentary! Anyone who doesn't believe this story is very, very sheltered & conservative. I have no problem believing, being an elderly bisexual woman.

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Kevin L

@Lakeman 08/09/2021

Interesting stuff. I do hope we're well past much of this hiding bs now. And those broads on the view have little or no idea about bupkus. Scotty seems like a helluva guy, in the sense of a fascinating person who's lived a fascinating, though also quite sad/tragic, life. But also in the sense of him being a wonderfully sweet person. I didn't feel anything untoward or overly inappropriate was revealed in the movie. And besides, as he tells the one man who challenged him on the idea of 'outing' people in the book for being gay, "What's wrong with being gay?". Not my thing, but if it's yours, it's yours, and knock yourself out. 3 stars

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07/15/2020

so child sex abuse is OK, Scottie? I mean, what's OK for him ("baby"!) logically he finds fine for others. So if he didn't "procure" such--and my guess is he'd never turn down his $20 pimp money so will assume he did-- he at least never reported it & looked the other way. That's just a rational conclusion. As for the stars, so he's LOYAL to them during their lives (where the reality is likely it's only because they would sue his a@# for libel) but throws them under the bus when dead. No one has any right to out anyone else, that is THEIR life. Dead people have living family now too, so no thought about them, either. Yes, this is national enquirer x-rated version. About as trashy & unethical as it comes. Who can trust him as a source anyhow, this addled-brain filthy, hedonist? Mostly just sad, sad, sad!

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05/27/2020

Haphazard documentary, but salacious fun.

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s r

@ScottR 11/05/2019

It shattered some illusions I had of Hollywood stars. I was mostly bothered by the disgusting habits of the main character, but at least he owned it.

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Matt Tyrnauer

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Synopsis

"Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood" is the deliciously scandalous story of Scotty Bowers, a handsome ex-Marine who landed in Hollywood after World War II and became confidante, aide-de-camp and lover to many of Hollywood's greatest male--and female--stars. In the 1940s and '50s, Scotty ran a gas station in the shadow of the studio lots where he would connect his friends with actors and actresses who had to hide their true sexual identities for fear of police raids at gay bars, societal shunning and career suicide. An unsung Hollywood legend, Bowers would cater to the sexual appetites of celebrities--straight and gay--for decades. In 2012, he finally spilled his secrets in the New York Times best-selling memoir, "Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars", which revealed a dramatic, pre-Stonewall alternate history of Hollywood. While the studio PR machines were promoting their stars as wholesome and monogamous, Bowers was fulfilling the true desires of many of them. This cinéma vérité documentary by director Matt Tyrnauer ("Valentino: The Last Emperor") tells his story, as well as presents eye-opening takes on icons from the Hollywood Golden Age including Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and many more.

Director: Matt Tyrnauer
Producer: Matt Tyrnauer, Corey Reeser, Josh Braun
Distributor: Greenwich Entertainment
Production Co: Altimeter Films, Water's End Productions
Genre: Documentary, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 27, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 23, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA): $455.2K
Runtime: 1h 38m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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