That Certain Summer

"That Certain Summer," an ABC made-for-TV movie aired on this day in 1972.  It starred Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen as lovers. 

In the film a teenager must deal with his divorced father's homosexuality.  The made-for-tv movie was written by the Emmy-winning writing team of Richard Levinson and William Link (Columbo, Mannix). Hal Holbrook stars as a middle-aged divorced man, whose son played by Scott Jacoby cannot fathom the reason for his parents' split. 

During a summer visit (to San Francisco natch), Jacoby meets his father's much-younger "best friend," played by Martin Sheen. Holbrook hedges, but finds he can no longer hold back the truth from his son: Sheen is Holbrook's male lover. Originally telecast on November 1, 1972, That Certain Summer was the first TV film to take a mature and non-remonstrative approach to the subject of homosexuality.

Thanks to YouTube you can see the episode:

Part 1

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eubpq8ikfG8

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfAGeesH5Jg

The other parts are linked alongside these on Youtube.

- From Gay Wisdom