Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

Released Jul 27, 2018

1h 38m

Documentary

LGBTQ+

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85%

75 Reviews

Tomatometer

58%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

"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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Georgan G

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.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Haphazard documentary, but salacious fun.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/27/20

Full Review

s r

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.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

dave d

'Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood' is a feature documentary mostly about the fascinating Scotty Bowers. Who was that? A sex facilitator to the stars. It's impossible to put Bowers into a box, which is ironic. This is based on his memoirs which came out a few years prior. The hoarding comes out of nowhere and doesn't really connect, but ok. Getting a full picture of a complex person in many ways is hard and it's particularly well executed by documentarian Matt Tyrnauer. Final Score: 7.7/10

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Matt Tyrnauer

Director

Scotty Bowers

Self

Peter Bart

Self

Stephen Fry

Self

Tony Charmoli

Self

Liz Smith

Self

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Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood: Trailer 1

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Chris Nashawaty

Entertainment Weekly

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?

Rated: B+

May 28, 2020

Full Review

David Fear

Rolling Stone

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

Rated: 2.5/5

May 28, 2020

Full Review

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

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

Mar 4, 2020

Full Review

Eric Langberg

Everything's Interesting

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

Jul 26, 2022

Full Review

Tom O'Brien

Next Best Picture

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.

Rated: 8/10

Jun 14, 2022

Full Review

David Reddish

Queerty

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.

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 20, 2022

Full Review

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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: Alice Bamford, Joni Benickes, Miles Benickes, Tom Dolby
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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