I saw this movie recently on TCM and there is a scene where Jennifer Jones seems unsure how much Rock Hudson is devoted to her. Teasing him she says something like, you love me tonight, but tomorrow you'll go to town and find some Gay Young Playmate. Just a quirky line, or an inside joke.
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I'd like to kiss you, but I just washed my hair.
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Gay did not have the meaning it does today, in fact wasnt there a movie called The Gay Sisters, and didnt Rogers and Astaire dance to the Gay Divorcee?Yes to both. And let's not forget The Flintstone's theme song:
Actually, according to my friends who were around then, "gay" did have its current meaning in 1957, but mostly to gay people. That is to say, "gay" meant one thing to gay people and quite another to straight people.
Ergo, it is possible the line was an inside joke, but owing to the tight closet doors in the 'fifties, Rock Hudson's in particular, it is unlikely.
That's ridiculous! People are so desperate to find some connection to Rock Hudson being bisexual that they reach for any little word!
There is no way in the Fifties that they would throw in such a lame, stupid, ridiculous, unnecessary "in joke"! He was their leading man. Why would they allow remarks like that?!
EVERY forum for a Rock Hudson movie seems to have one of "those" threads. Desperation indeed!
Get over it!
*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***
I haven't seen "farewell to arms" in its entirely. yet, from the footage I have seen, the film appears to be a big campy, kitschy "messterpiece." Gaudy color photography, overwrought acting, overblown emotional scenes that aren't even in the book. In other words, the works. Charles Vidor might have thought he was creating high art, yet the other people involved in the film (including the screenwriters) probably had no such delusions. So it IS conceivable that an off-color "bad taste" joke was inserted amongst the rest of the "bad taste" material. Especially considering the fact that this joke would only be "gotten" by members of the gay population, not by the general public. As for Rock Hudson as leading man and any possible "slight" to his reputation, (a) Hudson didn't take his acting or his status as leading man completely seriously, and in this film in particular he seems to be overacting, camping it up a bit, and (b) as I indicated earlier, probably the only people who would "get" the in-joke were those who were gay themselves. It wasn't as if Hudson was being "outed" in a serious context. It was more a case of adding one more kitsch element to what already was a kitsch project. (In other words, the writers knew the in-joke was lame, stupid, ridiculous, and unnecessary. That's why they included it, along with the rest of the material they knew was lame, stupid, and ridiculous.)
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