Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

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• 67   Metascore
• 2017
• 1 hr 38 mins
• Documentary

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Two general phases in the life of Scotty Bowers are presented. The first, and arguably the most salacious, is the post-WWII era after the end of his military duty when he was working at a Richfield gas station in Los Angeles. Although he was already no stranger to the breadth of sexual activity in which humans can engage, his encounter with Walter Pidgeon at the gas station, he who invited Scotty up to his place "for a swim", led to Scotty's "career" as a sexual being for hire, as well as one procuring sexual favors between others, albeit never with a dime going into his own pocket for that latter service (i.e. he never having considered himself a pimp). At a time when the Hays code was in effect which led to the movie studios closely controlling at least the public lives and thus images of especially their stars, Scotty's services became known as trusted ones for Hollywood celebrities who wanted/needed a sexual outlet of any nature outside of a conventional husband/wife marriage. This part of Scotty's story focuses largely on the sexual needs of Hollywood A-listers who were straight to middle America, with, in many cases, their homosexual orientation the worst kept secret in Tinseltown. This part of Scotty's life was unknown to his current wife of over thirty years, Lois Bowers, until he recently published his book on the matter on which this documentary is based. The second is his current life in which he is peddling the aforementioned book and which he is living off many of the connections made during his years as a hustler, such as owning several houses given to him. It is arguably something about Scotty's current life as opposed to his years as a hustler and sexual procurer that concerns Lois more than anything about their marriage.