Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

2018 1h 38m EN

😐

5.9

MID

★5.9TMDB · 45

Documentary

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A deliciously scandalous portrait of unsung Hollywood legend Scotty Bowers, whose bestselling memoir chronicled his decades spent as sexual procurer to the stars.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Scotty Bowers
Self
William Mann
Self
David Kuhn
Self
Stephen Fry
Self
Peter Bart
Self
Lois Bowers
Self
Matthew Hoffman
Self
Paul Teetor
Self

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Matt Tyrnauer
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

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Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Released 8 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Matt Tyrnauer, shot by Chris Dapkins. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Daniel Morfesis shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Scotty Bowers and William Mann and David Kuhn carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt2773246 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

Only 45 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Matt Tyrnauer directs. Chris Dapkins behind the camera. Daniel Morfesis cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 8 years ago.
2Directed by Matt Tyrnauer, shot by Chris Dapkins. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Editor Daniel Morfesis shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4Scotty Bowers and William Mann and David Kuhn carry the top of the cast.
5IMDB entry: tt2773246 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
6Only 45 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Chris Dapkins
Editing: Daniel Morfesis
Runtime: 98 min · 1h 38m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $176,236
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (2018)

Also by

Matt Tyrnauer

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Community reviews

What people are saying

cityguide2018-08-03
“Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood” wears a lot of hats, none of which quite fits. A salacious tell-all about the hidden sex lives of postwar movie stars; a peek at the underbelly of the repressive moral dictates of the studio system; a breezy biography of a self-described Hollywood prostitute and procurer; and a psychosexual study of a possibly damaged victim of extreme childhood abuse. Only the last offers a clue to interpreting the movie’s more astonishing revelations and unprobed corners. Until then, Matt Tyrnauer’s gossipy portrait of Scotty Bowers, an impish nonagenarian and former Marine, listens without judgment as he describes decades of servicing the closeted hungers of stars like Rock Hudson and Katharine Hepburn, helped by an eager network of World War II buddies. Back then, in a couple of trailers behind a gas station on Hollywood Boulevard, $20 could buy just about anything. Meandering behind Mr. Bowers as he shares faded photographs of extravagantly endowed young men and prurient factoids about his famous “tricks” — cheekily illustrated with scenes from classic movies that read rather differently in hindsight — Mr. Tyrnauer surreptitiously hoses away the layers of dirt to reveal the fragility of his subject’s anything-goes hedonism. Benevolent hustler (he never took a cut of others’ action) or naughty fabulist — perhaps both — Mr. Bowers putters around his hoarded Hollywood Hills home and gazes into the hole in his patio deck as if searching for something lost long ago. Consequently, what starts out salty ends up as something sadder and more complicated. And when he unabashedly recalls a childhood rife with sexual encounters — which he insists were consensual — with adults, the camera fixes on his mile-wide grin and we wonder if his mission to meet the needs of others has somehow ignored his own.

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