That Certain Summer
Encyclopedia
1972 in television
The year 1972 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1972.For the American TV schedule, see: 1972-73 American network television schedule.-Events:...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
directed by Lamont Johnson
Lamont Johnson
Lamont Johnson was an American actor and film director who has appeared in and directed many television shows and movies. He won two Emmy Awards....
. The teleplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Richard Levinson
Richard Levinson
Richard Levinson was an American writer and producer who often worked in collaboration with William Link. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Economics in 1956. He served in the United States Army from...
and William Link
William Link
William Theodore Link is an American film and television writer and producer who often worked in collaboration with Richard Levinson.-Life and career:...
was the first to deal sympathetically with homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. Produced by Universal Television, it was broadcast as an ABC Movie of the Week
ABC Movie of the Week
The ABC Movie of the Week is a weekly television anthology series, featuring made-for-TV movies, that aired on the ABC network in various permutations from 1969 to 1975.-History:...
on November 1, 1972. A novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ization of the film written by Burton Wohl was published by Bantam Books
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
.
Synopsis
Divorced San Francisco contractor Doug Salter is looking forward to a summer visit from his fourteen-year-old son Nick, who lives in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with his mother Janet. What the boy doesn't know is that his father is gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
and committed to Gary McClain, his life partner
Significant other
Significant other is colloquially used as a gender-blind term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming anything about marital status, relationship status, or sexual orientation, as it is vague enough to avoid offense by using a term that an individual...
of several years, who opts to move out temporarily in order to keep Nick's possible suspicions at bay. When he finds evidence of his father's secret life, the teen — filled with shame and disgust — runs away. Once reunited with his son, Doug attempts to explain his sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
to him, with decidedly mixed results.
Production notes
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
recalls "I was an actor clearly not afraid of controversy . . . Anything that would make the audience think was worthwhile," although 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 he discussed the script with Carol Rossen, who was to become his second wife, she responded, "You're going to get on the phone and call Hollywood and tell them you want to do this part before they give it to somebody else," and Holbrook did just that. He felt an emotional connection to the character in the film because at the time he had separated from his first wife and he hadn't 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. "That's a good reason for being an actor, when you can do something decent that touches people's hearts and their minds, so you feel like you actually accomplished something," he says .
In an interview with the Dallas Voice
Dallas Voice
Dallas Voice, founded in 1984, is a newspaper for the gay community in Dallas, Texas . It is published by the Voice Publishing Company, Inc....
, Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
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?"
Principal cast
- Hal HolbrookHal HolbrookHarold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
..... Doug Salter - Martin SheenMartin SheenRamón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
..... Gary McClain - Scott JacobyScott JacobyScott Jacoby is an American actor. He won an Emmy Award for his role in the 1972 television film That Certain Summer. He is also famous for playing the lead role in the made for TV film Bad Ronald 1974....
..... Nick Salter - Hope LangeHope LangeHope Elise Ross Lange was an American stage, film, and television actress.- Early life :Lange was born into a theatrical family in Redding, Connecticut...
..... Janet Salter - Joe Don BakerJoe Don BakerJoe Don Baker is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, deputy sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III in Final Justice, real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, brute force with a badge detective Mitchell in Mitchell, James...
..... Phil Bonner
Principal production credits
- ProducersTelevision producerThe primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
..... Richard Levinson, William Link - Original MusicFilm scoreA film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
..... Gil MelleGil MelleGil Mellé was an American artist, jazz musician and film composer.In the 1950s, Mellé's paintings and sculptures were shown in New York galleries and he created the cover art for albums by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins... - CinematographyCinematographyCinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
..... Vilis Lapenieks - Art DirectionArt directorThe art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
..... William D. DeCinces
Critical reception
Marilyn BeckMarilyn Beck (journalist)
Marilyn Beck is a syndicated Hollywood columnist who rose to prominence on the heels of such predecessors as Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. Beck's hard news reporting approach to celebrity journalism arrived in sharp contrast to newspaper and fan magazine celebrity stories of the '50s and '60s,...
of the New York Times called it "one of the finest pieces of drama you'll see this year on large or small screen." Judith Crist
Judith Crist
Judith Crist is an American film critic. She appeared regularly on the Today show from 1964-1973 and has appeared in one film, Woody Allen's Stardust Memories...
described it as "a giant step for television" in New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
. TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
declared, "Television grows up," and in his review in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Charles Champlin opined, "It is the best movie for TV I have yet seen . . . a film which would do honor to any size screen."
Awards and nominations
- Emmy AwardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Drama (Scott Jacoby, winner) - Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Program - Drama or Comedy (nominee)
- Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama - Original Teleplay (nominee)
- Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Hal Holbrook, nominee)
- Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Hope Lange, nominee)
- Emmy Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama - A Single Program (nominee)
- Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Mixing (nominee)
- Golden Globe for Best Movie Made for TV (winner)
- Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television (winner)
- American Cinema EditorsAmerican Cinema EditorsFounded in 1950, American Cinema Editors is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
Award for Best Edited Television Special (nominee) - 1998 Producers Guild of America Hall of Fame AwardProducers Guild of America Awards 1998The 10th PGA Golden Laurel Awards, given on 3 March 1999, honored the best producers of 1998.-Film:*Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award:...
(winner)