Rock Hudson's Home Movies

1992

1h 3m

Documentary

Biography

List

88%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

35%

Audience Score

100+ Ratings

Documentary filmmaker Mark Rappaport offers a unique look into the life of legendary Hollywood icon Rock Hudson, an actor who kept the details of his sexual orientation secret for much of his career. Using a mix of narration -- from the point-of-view of an imagined, posthumous memoir read by Hudson himself -- and classic film footage of the actor, Rappaport attempts to deconstruct the mystique surrounding Hudson's very private off-screen life and dalliances.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Rock Hudson’s Home Movies is even more a work of film criticism than of film history, though this is criticism couched in the form of pseudoautobiography.

Rated: 4/4

May 26, 2022

Full Review

Richard Brody

New Yorker

This touch of fiction turns the clips of Hudson's performances into virtual documentaries of his inner self, of Hollywood's winking mores, and of the repressive times.

Feb 10, 2020

Full Review

Kathy Fennessy

Video Librarian Magazine

From today's perspective, Rappaport's film seems a little limiting, since there was more to Hudson than the tension between his image and his sexual orientation, but the director certainly makes a number of intriguing connections.

Rated: 3.5/5

Aug 23, 2022

Full Review

Frank J. Avella

Edge Media Network

The work is sometime repetitive and even quite cold hearted, especially when it comes to the way Hudson's death from AIDS is treated, but Rappaport does succeed in setting out to prove that Hudson must have occasionally been winking at the camera.

Rated: C+

Apr 10, 2022

Full Review

Glenn Dunks

The Film Experience

Its a compilation film, like a mixtape of songs recorded off the radio (or off another tape, the quality of clips as I've noted are almost public domain, early-videotape rough) and then cut up, remixed, and sampled. It invents and hypothesizes...

Mar 29, 2022

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

A witty Godardian film-essay in which Hudson's films come under caustic scrutiny that dissects the latent contents of his screen persona--you'll never be able to look at Hudson's career the same way after this film.

Rated: A

Oct 30, 2006

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Audience Member

Very interesting use of film clips to argue that Rock Hudson was kind of telling us he was gay all along but no one was seeing it, well not really as there were suspicions about his sexuality even when I was growing up but no one knew for sure, It is possible that some of the clips were taken out of context but not all of them and the film plots of some films did play with Rock's character as being a straight man pretending to be gay etc (think Pillow Talk). In film studies we learn that all film interpretations are correct as long as one backs up their views with sound arguments. I think Mark Rappaport has done that. A lot of people gave this documentary bad reviews. Maybe they still can't stand that an icon of maleness was gay but having been around the gay community for many years I can attest that some gay men are the most macho around. Orientation has nothing to do with manliness contrary to popular opinion. People may be able to hang on to their cognitive dissonance by criticizing this film but they can't ignore how and why Rock Hudson died. No one can.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This sounded like a good concept and it was for about 5 minutes. This was low budget, which would have been fine if it had more substance. Instead, it was very much like a Mystery Science Theater 3000 effect. Now, it is fine to try and point out places in old movies where innuendo may be present, because that's the case with so many of them. But the narration just eats at all the points that were trying to be made. No need, you can pass on this one.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Rock Hudson's Home Movies (1992) I saw this one on cable. don't rent it. its a nothing fluff piece trying to destroy Hudson reputation. not worth watching. not recommended. Watch some of his many good movies and forget about this piece of art trash.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It was a one of a kind documentary. That guy posing as Rock Hudson was the gayest character I've seen, from the cheek to his mouth shape, he's just born to be!Funny & witty & gayest Ever!!Good job!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A neat trick, but pretty one-note and indifferently narrated.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

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Mark Rappaport

Director

Eric Farr

Narrator

Cyd Charisse

Charlotte King

Doris Day

Jan Morrow

Burl Ives

Dr. Brits Jansen

Jeff Morrow

John Doherty

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Synopsis

Documentary filmmaker Mark Rappaport offers a unique look into the life of legendary Hollywood icon Rock Hudson, an actor who kept the details of his sexual orientation secret for much of his career. Using a mix of narration -- from the point-of-view of an imagined, posthumous memoir read by Hudson himself -- and classic film footage of the actor, Rappaport attempts to deconstruct the mystique surrounding Hudson's very private off-screen life and dalliances.

Director: Mark Rappaport
Producer: Mark Rappaport
Screenwriter: Mark Rappaport
Production Co: Couch Potatoe Productions
Genre: Documentary, Biography
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 13, 2017
Runtime: 1h 3m