ABC-TV's Bold Programming Is Well Handled

By William Hickey

Television-Radio Editor

The American Broadcasting Company last Wednesday evening scored a first of sorts, by telecasting a 90-minute movie entitled "That Certain Summer," which dealt with the subject of homosexuality in a rather forthforth right manner. In seasons i m m ediately past, such a subject would have been beyond the pale and never considered fit programming for even the sophisticates, who limit their viewing to the elitist fare offered by the Public Broadcast Service, much less the mass, prime-time audience of commercial television.

HICKEY

"That Certain Summer” now belongs to the past, every bit as much as "The Summer of '42" and so many others intertwined in a memory of summers, and I can only say that I'm glad.

My sense of quiet elation stems not from the fact that a long-ignored subject has been brought out into the open, but that the battered medium I am paid to monitor handled the matter so well.

In "That Certain Sum-mer,” circumstances forced ·a divorced man to tell his 14-year old son, who is visit ́ing him on vacation, that he is a homosexual and sees little chance of being anything else the rest of his life.

That the revelation has a shattering impact upon the boy and causes the father a -great deal of agony, goes without saying. What needs being said and what is said with honesty and restraint

constitutes the marrow of the story.

As "That Certain Summer opens, the father, played by Hal Holbrook, is viewing home-made films of his son's earliest years and all the attendant straight life that went with it. It is quite evident that the father is much more removed from his son that the actual 400 miles between Sausalito and Los Angeles. He is more like a million light

years away.

The film cuts back and forth, establishing the basics. The boy is shown packing for his trip northward; the father going about his contracting business and being a bit too cool to an attractive woman's advances. The most telling note, however, is a quick scene revealing a handsome young man moving out of the house he obviousy shares with the father.

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The first few hours the boy is reunited with his father are absolutely splendid ones, as the two take on the city of San Francisco, cable cars and all. Jubilation gives way to subdued, half-hearted smiles shortly after the pair returns to the father's house, where they are greeted by the other man.

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Much is made of the boy's brightness and, as played by Scott Jacoby, the boy is intelligent. In light of that, it is interesting to note that the boy senses something is amiss long before he learns the true situation. He can't explain his feelings, for they are much too visceral.

An equally interesting aspect of the work is that the pect of the work is that the father's friend has much the same feelings as the boy. The minutiae battling between the two begins im-

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mediately and comes out into the open after dinner.

The friend surprises the boy with a combination "Welcome Home" and Happy Birthday" cake, but the boy will have no part of it. When his father urges him to blow out the single, lighted candle, the boy reiterates that it is not his birthday and refuses.

After that the 14-year olds's uneasiness turns to a deep resentment of the friend's presence, for the two men share a relationship that leaves little room for the boy. It is just another step from resentment to suspicion that things are all not what they should be.

A series of incidents overtake the boy, giving him his first clues to what is really going on a blatant display of affection between two homosexuals in a park, snatches of conversations at a party, the inscription on

his father's watch, "To Doug With Love, Gary," and the sight of the pair in a casual embrace.

Martin Sheen turns in a quietly brilliant performance as the friend. Though he is much more militant in

his homosexuality than the father, he is nevertheless understanding of the situation and disciplined enough to make overtures of friendship to the boy.

As the film weaved its way toward the inevitable traumatic experience, it was especially gratifying to see the care taken by those in charge of the production. While the small screen limited expression and the story line somewhat, it definitely was no insignificant view of homosexuality.

There was even a look at the type of woman who marries a homosexual. A naive person perhaps, but

more likely a vain one, vain enough to think that her feminine charms would evoke a metamorphosis in a natural man.

The father's explanation was extremely well done, aided in no little way by Holbrook's outstanding talents as an actor. It was delivered in low, almost forced tones and the words were honest terribly honest.

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In calling "That Certain Summer" a first of sorts, it was not my intention to give it greater acclaim that it deserves. Certainly it is not the first television program in which homosexuality figures.

It was, however, the first time that a major network agreed to undertake such a controversial subject and try to examine it in human terms. That's what it was all about human beings who were homosexuals.