NEW Making Love (DVD)

Kate Jackson, Michael Ontkean and Harry Hamlin turn in a powerhouse effort in this Authur Hiller film about a career successful married couple, Claire and Zack Elliot (Jackson and Ontkean) who must face the reality that their union is not all it seems. After eight years of marriage, Zack's repressed homosexuality begins to surface. Enter handsome writer Bart Mcguire (Hamlin), who innocently meets Zack in the ordinary circumstance of a doctor's visit. Bart has been around the gay scene for some time, and is quite happy in his world of one night stands and conquests....or is he?

How all this unfolds is great viewing. "Making Love" has it's soap opera moments and is somewhat dated, but the performances and overall writing and direction overcome these slight flaws. Handsome Ontkean is dead on as the confused yet well intentioned Zack. Whatever spoken or written about this film hurting Ontkean's career is trivial, this remains his best work to date. Hamlin is almost distracting in a role that was obviously well researched complete with subtle mannerisms. Kate Jackson turns in one of her best yet tender performances in a film that remains a cornerstone in gay cinema.

So needless to say, it triggered some fond memories. And this made me curious to read the amazon.com reviews for the film, so I logged onto the site to read. I was surprised to see there were as many as 22 reviews posted, so I read them all. I expected to read just one uninspired opinion after another, but was touched by the many entries which read more like an online support group "share" session than anything else.

So I think I'll share too.

WAAAAAY back in 1982, the trailor for "Making Love" appeared on the screen while my mother and I were out seeing some other movie. I was 13 at the time. I was also slightly aware (privately) that I wasn't exactly straight. As the audience groaned, hissed and laughed at the preview, I sat transfixed in my chair. My heart literally sank because I knew darn well that there was no way I could ever ask my mother to take me to see THAT movie. I feared I may NEVER get to see it. To this day, I cannot recall which movie my mother and I were there to see...

One year later, thanks to video rentals, I DID get to see it. Now 14 and SURE I wasn't exactly straight, I craved something like this. For me, the closest thing to seeing a gay man up to that moment was watching Billy Crystal play the suicidal Jodie Dallas on TV's "Soap"!
THANK GOD FOR THIS FILM!!!

I played that rental tape nearly 30 times before it was returned to the store. Each time I cried my eyes out, felt chills at the very last scene between Zack and Claire, and was fed the message that despite the pain of doing so, the only way to live your life was openly and honestly.

To all those who helped make this film what it was and still is, you have my undying gratitude. You helped this 14 year old kid see that a happy, healthy, honest life WAS possible for a gay guy. If I hadn't seen this film in 1983, who knows how I would have handled all the negative propaganda BS flying about during the initial years of the AIDS crisis. I might not be alive today.

I hope I never meet Kate Jackson, Michael Ontkean or Harry Hamlin in person, because if I do, I might start bawling my eyes out on the spot - how embarrassing that would be! But if for some reason I do AND can keep it together, I will want to thank them for helping to save my life.

This is not an understatement.