That Certain Summer

Divorced San Francisco contractor Doug Salter is looking forward to a summer visit from his 14-year-old son Nick, who lives in Los Angeles with his mother Janet. The boy does not know that his father is gay and in a committed relationship to Gary McClain, his life partner of several years. Gary stays temporarily with his sister and brother-in-law so that Doug can come out to Nick and tell him about their relationship, rather than surprise him all at once. But Gary otherwise spends most of his time with Doug and Nick, and the boy notices his father seems unusually close to Gary. At one point, Doug takes off his watch to reach into an aquarium. Nick sees the inscription on the watch - "To Doug With Love Gary" and realises his father and Gary are more than friends. Greatly confused, he runs off. Janet arrives from L.A. as Doug and Gary are looking for him. Nick is at the cable car barn, where a sympathetic Muni employee, realising the boy has something on his mind, convinces him to go home. Janet and Gary have a poignant conversation during which Gary asserts, "If I were a woman, this would all be acceptable!" to which Janet calmly replies, "If you were a woman, I would know how to compete with you." Meanwhile, Doug and Nick have gone off alone to have a talk. Nick has sort of heard of the word "homosexuality" but is not quite sure what it means. Doug attempts to explain that, "Gary and I have a kind of marriage." It is too much for Nick to take in; the visit ends so it is time for him to pack and go home. Doug and Janet talk briefly, and Janet tells him not to worry about Nick. "Just give him a little time."

Hal Holbrook said he turned down the role when it initially was offered to him. "I wasn't worried about whether the character was a gay person or not; the reason I turned it down, frankly, is I read the script and I didn't think much happened in it. I just thought it was kind of tame." After discussing the script with Carol Rossen, his second wife, he changed his mind and accepted the role. He felt an emotional connection to the character in the film because at the time he had separated from his first wife and had not told his two young children about the split. "It was very easy and natural for me to translate the emotional turmoil I personally was feeling into the turmoil [Doug] was feeling." The film remains important to him because it meant so much to so many people.{{cite AV media | people=Hal Holbrook, Amy Harrington|url=https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/hal-holbrook?clip=96802#interview-clips|series=The Interviews|quote=Chapter 2|minutes=33:17 | date=July 11, 2017 | title=Hal Holbrook Actor| medium=Television production | publisher=Television Academy Foundation}}

In a 2007 interview with the Dallas Voice, Martin Sheen reminisced, "I thought it was wonderful. There was a great deal of freedom in it because it wasn't about advocating a lifestyle or a sexuality. It was about two people who adored each other, and they weren't allowed to have a relationship that involved their sexuality." When asked if at the time he was concerned the role could affect his career, he responded, "I'd robbed banks and kidnapped children and raped women and murdered people, you know, in any number of shows. Now I was going to play a gay guy and that was like considered a career ender. Oh, for Christ’s sake! What kind of culture do we live in?"{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=John |title=BTD speaker Sheen blasts Dems, GOP, Bush |url=http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/exec/view.cgi/97/7095 |website=Dallas Voice |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105004219/http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/exec/view.cgi/97/7095 |archive-date=November 5, 2007 |date=October 25, 2007 |url-status=dead}}

Doug's coming out speech to Nick was criticized by gay activists who objected to the father telling his son "some people think that it's [homosexuality] a sickness" and "if I had a choice, it isn't something I'd pick for myself." According to writer Richard Levinson, ABC insisted those lines be inserted. He said ABC felt that the film was taking a pro–homosexual stand and the opposing view had to be aired. Levinson said they strongly resisted and totally disagreed with their decision.{{cite book |last1=Tropiano |first1=Stephen |title=The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV |date=2002 |publisher=Applause Theatre & Cinema Books |isbn=1-55783-557-8 |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/primetimecloseta00trop/mode/2up |oclc=606827696 |lccn=2002003220|pages=109–112}} Additionally, ABC insisted there be no physical contact between the lead actors, not even lingering eye contact.

In an interview with the Television Academy foundation, writer William Link said they first took the project to NBC, but they said "we wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole, get out of here." When they took their script to Barry Diller, who created the ABC Movie of the Week, he said yes, but he had to "fight his own network to get it on." Link also reported that they could not get actors to play that part [Doug Salter], and when Cliff Robertson was approached about the role, he flatly stated, "I'd rather play Hitler than play that man." Link also said the night it was on, a bomb threat came in to an ABC affiliate.{{cite web |title=William Link on the TV movie "That Certain Summer" |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buhQW6OJaUI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/buhQW6OJaUI |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|publisher=FoundationINTERVIEWS |date=October 6, 2016|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite magazine|title=Changing Channels|date=February 18, 1997|magazine=The Advocate|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VGQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26|last=Isherwood|first=Charles|page=26|issue=727|issn=0001-8996}}

• Hal Holbrook as Doug Salter
• Martin Sheen as Gary McClain
• Scott Jacoby as Nick Salter
• Hope Lange as Janet Salter
• Joe Don Baker as Phil Bonner
• Marlyn Mason as Laureen Hyatt
• James McEachin as Mr. Early, the Conductor

• Producers: Richard Levinson, William Link
• Original music: Gil Mellé
• Cinematography: Vilis Lapenieks
• Art Direction: William D. DeCinces

Marilyn Beck called it "one of the finest pieces of drama you'll see this year on large or small screen."{{cite web |author1=OIP Staff |title=Actor Hal Holbrook dies aged 95 |url=https://www.outinperth.com/actor-hal-holbrook-dies-aged-95/ |website=OutInPerth |date=February 3, 2021}} Out Magazine said the film was "the first television-movie to offer a sympathetic portrayal of homosexuality, and with an all-star cast of Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen, it was a pretty big deal."{{cite web |last1=McDonald |first1=James |title=Today In Gay History: Hal Holbrook & Martin Sheen loving partners in That Certain Summer |url=https://www.out.com/today-gay-history/2014/11/01/today-gay-history-hal-holbrook-martin-sheen-loving-partners-certain-summer |website=Out Magazine |date=November 1, 2014}} Diane Trzcinski wrote in The Lesbian Tide, "this movie explored its subject with sensitivity and honesty. The situation is one that is painfully all too common: a homosexual parent who somehow has to explain to his child the facts of a sexual preference which is a taboo in our society...there were few slick cliches, and perhaps because of the quality of the cast, no glib acting".{{Cite magazine|title=The Great American Cyclops|date=December 1972|magazine=The Lesbian Tide|url=https://voices.revealdigital.org/?a=d&d=DBDHFED19721201.1.3&e=-------en-20-DBDHFED%2cEFGABHD%2cEFGABGF-1-byDA-txt-txIN---------------1|last=Trzcinski|first=Diane|page=10|issue=5|volume=2}} Television critic for The New York Times John J. O'Connor observed, the movie "is not 'about' homosexuality. It is about personal relationships being affected by the fact of homosexuality. In terms of average television, however, it is something of a major event. The performances throughout the film are excellent"...and the movie "can lay claim to some of the most impressive and sensitive acting ever contributed to television".{{cite web |last1=O'Connor |first1=John J. |author1-link=John J. O'Connor (journalist) |title=Television |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/10/29/archives/that-certain-subject-is-here.html |website=The New York Times |date=October 29, 1972}}

Gay historian Stephen Tropiano wrote in his book, The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV, the movie "broke new ground by portraying homosexuals as real people, rather than one-dimensional stereotypes. How honestly and accurately the film reflected gay life in America is certainly debatable, but there's a more important question: who exactly is the film's intended audience? Clearly, it was not male couples living in San Francisco, but heterosexuals who have never met a gay person that hopefully gained some new insight into gay male relationships and the emotional struggle many gay people endure as they seek acceptance from loved ones."{{cite web |title=10 Years After "The Prime Time Closet - A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV" |url=https://www.emmys.com/events/10-years-after-prime-time-closet-history-gays-and-lesbians-tv |website=Television Academy |date=October 29, 2013 |quote=The focus of the evening was to celebrate the monumental strides the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Identified Community has achieved since the publication of historian Stephen Tropiano's book, "The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV" over ten years ago.}} Film critic Charles Champlin praised the movie for "avoiding melodrama, moralizing or convenient resolutions, and it "would do honor to any size screen."{{cite web |last1=Pendleton |first1=Jennifer |title=Movies for Television - Four Decades of Directorial Excellence |url=https://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/0503-Fall-2005/TV-Movies-40-Years-of-Directorial-Excellence.aspx |website=DGA Quarterly |date=2005}}

In 1998, the movie was honored with the Hall of Fame Award at the Producers Guild of America Awards.{{cite web |title=Tribute to Levinson and Link |url=https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2015/03/08/tribute-levinson-and-link |website=UCLA Film & Television Archive |date=2014}}

In 2014, The Paley Center For Media added the movie to its media collection in celebration of television's impact on LGBT equality. The center noted the movie's success at "educating and enlightening a select few and giving others a little bit of hope", and also "demonstrated the more progressive element of television".{{cite web |title=Made-for-TV Breakthrough: That Certain Summer |url=https://www.paleycenter.org/perspectives/hide-from-left-nav/i-want-my-gay-tv/gay-tv-that-certain-summer/ |website=The Paley Center For Media|date=May 17, 2010 }}

• List of made-for-television films with LGBT characters
• Lists of television programs with LGBT characters

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{{Lamont Johnson}}

{{Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film}}

Category:1972 drama films

Category:American LGBTQ-related television films

Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Golden Globe winners

Category:ABC Movie of the Week

Category:1972 television films

Category:1972 films

Category:Films directed by Lamont Johnson

Category:1972 LGBTQ-related films

Category:1970s LGBTQ-related drama films

Category:Gay-related films

Category:Films scored by Gil Mellé

Category:1970s American films

Category:1970s English-language films