Monday, April 17, 2017

Movie review - "Tab Hunter Confidential" (2015) ***1/2

This sounds mercenary but the fact Tab Hunter is gay makes a documentary about his life a lot more interesting than one about Troy Donahue (just like - this sounds harsh but its true - the death of Natalie Wood makes the Robert Wagner story more interesting).

He was so clean cut, pearly white teeth beefcake of the 50s - marketed to girls, who would scream and sigh when he appeared - the irony of his sexuality offers irresistible entertainment.  It's all very well to go in hindsight "oh of course he was gay" but he was no more camp than Troy or Jeff Hunter or John Saxon or any of the other brylcream boys.

Those who've read Hunter's memoirs won't find anything that new but this has pictures - Hunter didn't grow up with his dad, was close to his mum and brother (who died), was blessed with good looks which led to an acting career. He found fame very quickly, was one of the last contract stars (Warner Bros) - I'm not sure Hunter was as big a star at the box office as this film implies but he was a name, and also a genuine recording star. He found the going harder in the 60s but held on to his career, evening turning producer - Lust in the Dust, etc -

The main "talking head" is Hunter himself. Others include Connie Stevens, Debbie Reynolds (who had no idea, naturally), Rex Reed (looking grotesque), John Waters (easily the best value - funny, succinct, smart). Clint Eastwood pops up randomly at the end, along with Robert Wagner - it's like they didn't have much to say but they couldn't be excluded.

Plenty of great vision, not just from the films but TV appearances (his fan base was much mocked in his time), singing clips, vision of him ice skating, photos. The most dramatically interesting stuff is Hunter's relationship with his mother and also his romance with the highly competitive Tony Perkins.  This documentary has received some harsh reviews but I enjoyed it.

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