An early film about gay dads, this ’72 drama gave queer stories a seat at the family table
Despite its warmer setting, 'That Certain Summer' makes for a fascinating re-watch this Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Mark
Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time.” In this week’s column, it’s the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, so let’s revisit an early gay film focused on family—despite being set in a different season all-together—1972’s That Certain Summer.
Thanksgiving is the first in a series of winter holidays that revolve around family gatherings, for better and for worse.
It’s a time in which we are encouraged to return to the place where we come from, and the complicated feelings that this brings, particularly to those in our community. While many of us are lucky to find ourselves surrounded by the love and support of family (both biological and found), others are unfortunately still confronted by prejudice and discrimination.
As you recover from food various comas, having hopefully spent the day among loved ones, this week we’ll dive into a groundbreaking made-for-television movie that explores into one of the most difficult things to navigate during the holiday season: how hard it can be to fully be yourself around those that have known you for your entire life.
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The Set-Up
By the early 1970s, the effects of the gay liberation movement were just beginning to leave an imprint on mainstream entertainment and popular culture. The Stonewall riots in 1969 put the cause to the forefront of American society, alongside other social fights like the Black Civil Rights movement and feminism. Like these, it was met with a lot of opposition, fear, and rejection, particularly from folks at the top of the establishment that these groups were trying to topple; including those in charge of creating mass entertainment.
But among this clash of the cultures, sometimes small but mighty steps managed to sneak through the noise. In 1972, a small and unassuming television film hit the homes of millions of audience members, and presented to them the story of a gay couple that was stable, loving, and, for the first time ever, also had a child of their own.
That Certain Summer follows teenager Nick Salter (Scott Jacoby), a child of divorce who is about to spend the titular summer with his father Doug (Hal Holbrook) in San Francisco. But unbeknownst to him, his father is now living as an openly gay man with his partner Gary (Martin Sheen).
At first, Doug tries to hide his relationship from his son, but as Nick quickly catches up to the true nature of his father’s “friend,” he decides to run away from them. This brings his mother Janet (Hope Lange) into the city, and forces the entire family to confront Doug’s new life and identity in the open.
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A Tale Of Two Dads
That Certain Summer aired on November 1, 1972, and was made under the banner of ABC Movie Of The Week, a weekly anthology series that ran from ’69 to ’75. The productions were usually very low-budget, and tended to focus on social issues through a very melodramatic lens (although this particular iteration only lasted until ‘75, the term “movie of the week” came to be synonymous with schlocky, sentimental, cheap movies well until the late 90s). And That Certain Summer is, at least at first glimpse, the perfect example of this type of film.
At an economical 73 minutes (which spread into 90 minutes for its television broadcast), the movie is not the most complicated one in terms of plot. It covers only a couple of days, as Nick leaves his mother’s home, excited to catch up with his dad, only to find out a strange man that has grown strangely close to him. Doug tries to get his son and Gary to spend time together, in the hopes to create a bond that brings them closer, but that ends up just pushing him away.
As Nick runs away after the realization that his dad now has a male life partner, he spends the day going up and down the San Francisco cable cars, as his father and Gary look for him, and Janet drives back into town. After Nick returns, the entire family faces an emotional (and rather explosive) confrontation, including a particularly poignant exchange between Gary and Janet, in which they both acknowledge the pain of knowing that the other one exists.
The script may seem a bit superfluous, obvious, and even emotionally manipulative for 2025 terms, but it was a groundbreaking event for a television special in 1972. This was the first time that a gay character was portrayed not as a foil, a villain, or a tragic warning, but as part of a stable, loving, and complex couple, both of whom were played by recognizable television stars. More so, the film showed that gay men could also feasibly be seen as father figures, whose first priority was the well-being of their sons, and showed how Doug being true to himself was actually an act of care and love for his child.
The film was met with critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its sensitive and un-stereotypical portrayal of homosexuality. It was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards during that season, including nominations for both Hal Holbrook and Hope Lang. Scott Jacoby actually won for his portrayal of Nick, marking the first time a gay-themed show won an Emmy.
Our Spot At The Family Table
That Certain Summer certainly falls under the category of “gay-themed entertainment made for straight audiences.” More than being an accurate representation of queerness at the time (there’s nothing authentic about gay life in San Francisco during the 1970s in this film), it aims to inform people who were unfamiliar or prejudiced, and to bring down social barriers and taboos. Television, with its ability to infiltrate millions of people through their living rooms, was historically always the most effective medium for that.
Watching as a queer audience, the film shows how long we have been fighting for our literal spot at the family table. For many, an essential element of the fight for our rights was wanting to have the white picket fence family ideal as an attainable goal, and to be seen by the rest of the world as people capable and deserving of it.
It’s also a stark reminder that often the people that we have to go against the most are those that are supposed to be closest to us, and that going out and finding our own people is one of the biggest acts of gratitude we can make.
Unfortunately, That Certain Summer isn’t streaming online via any official channels, though *hint, hint* it can be found with the right Google searc.
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