A Happy Ending

Some films are the cinematic equivalent of mac n’ cheese; just good comfort films that sooth the soul of the viewer. Dirty Dancing, A Fish Called Wanda, and Tootsie are a few great examples. “Nobody puts Baby in the corner.” Priceless! Alas, there is one movie–released in 1982, the same year as Tootsie, that ranks right at the comfort food top for me: Making Love.

By modern standards, the dialogue is on the overwrought side. “God, Zack, we’ve always gotten each other through, because we’ve never been afraid to share,” stresses Claire (Kate Jackson) to her closeted husband (Michael Ontkean). “You’ve closed yourself off, and I feel helpless.” But this sugary veneer is part of why the film works, especially when one considers the era during which the film was originally released. People were dying. They were scared. Misunderstandings about HIV and AIDS were rampant. To say that movies of the time were limited in relation to gay characters and themes would be a grand understatement. From Cruising to Silence of the Lambs, from The Gay Deceivers to JFK, gay characters were generally presented as mentally ill sexual deviants, whether it be for laughs or to evoke fear. What’s more, throughout Hollywood’s earlier decades, many films had to rely on subtle visual cues or spoken hints to emphasize gay themes. While filming A Streetcar Named Desire, Vivien Leigh rightfully scoffed at Blanche DuBois’ censored dialogue. Instead of having the ability to say that her husband killed himself after she caught him in bed with another man, as Tennessee Williams wrote it, she was forced to imply that he killed himself because he was weak and wrote poetry. “You mean I actually have to say that?” she asked director Elia Kazan.

A change was definitely warranted.

Well before the likes of Brokeback Mountain, director Arthur Hiller and writer Barry Sandler took a big risk with Making Love. Their film brought gay themed drama to mainstream American audiences with a storyline that not only depicted gay protagonists in a positive, open light, but concluded in a very brazen way. Despite the cultural climate of the early 1980s, the film featured a happy ending; bittersweet maybe, but happy and earnest just the same.

A few years ago, actor Harry Hamlin admitted to television host Andy Cohen that his career changed course after his portrayal of Bart, Zack’s love interest. Though restricted afterward to roles on television, Hamlin also commented, “It was way before its time… I would do it again today.” Mr. Hamlin’s stance, in and of itself, is comfort food for the soul too. The film has brought a happy ending and a positive outlook to many viewers over the years, myself included.

“Are you happy?” Claire asks of Zack toward the end of the film, when she has remarried and Zack has moved on, now open with himself and pursuing a relationship with another man. “Yeah, I really am,” he answers. Lovely.