MAKING LOVE (1982) | Dir: Arthur Hiller | Widely recognized as the first Hollywood studio film ever made about homosexuality, MAKING LOVE was a major cultural event. I remember seeing articles in magazines and stories on television about it. I was too young to see it in a theater when it came out in 1982, but I remember stealing a glimpse of it when it aired on late-night cable TV. Probably Showtime. Much later, I watched the film from start to finish. MAKING LOVE is about a doctor in a happy marriage to a woman, who discovers he finds himself attracted to another man, one of his patients, and makes the decision to leave his marriage and embrace the homosexuality he has felt for most of his life. The film’s big star was Kate Jackson - the “smart” angel from Charlie’s Angels. She is terrific in the film, as expected. The love scenes between the men (Harry Hamlin and Michael Ontkean) were daring for their time. There’s a respectful tone to the entire film, not at all sensational, the sexuality treated as matter-of-fact. Years later, I had the great good fortune of meeting the writer, Barry Sandler, who has become a friend over the years, and was able to thank him for being a significant part of the progress LGBTQ stories have made in cinema. The film also spawned a beautiful hit song by Roberta Flack.