Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed
HBO Documentary Films | Release Date (Streaming): June 28, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistJason BaileyJun 13, 2023
He led a fascinating, complicated, often contradictory life, and Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed does it justice. Read full review
88
ObserverRex ReedJul 3, 2023
The saga of the guy who was the Tom Cruise of the 1950s now forms the shadow and substance of a funny, sad, meticulously researched and painstakingly detailed documentary, Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJun 30, 2023
The impeccable selection of closing clips allows us to reimagine him as a man not just idolized as a star but accepted for the entirety of who he was. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayJun 30, 2023
What makes this documentary a vital piece of Hollywood history is that it’s not as much about Hudson’s carefully managed public image as it is about the real joy and pleasure he experienced outside the spotlight — living not as some tortured romantic figure, but as someone who savored whatever the shadows could provide. Read full review
80
CNNBrian LowryJun 29, 2023
While the documentary doesn’t break much new ground, Kijak generally finds the right balance between the salacious elements and Hollywood nostalgia that remain inextricably intertwined in Hudson’s story. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneNina MetzJun 30, 2023
The film struggles to capture what Hudson’s personality was like in private. Nor does it talk about his drinking, which reportedly became an issue later in life. But it’s a terrific portrait of how Hollywood once functioned — and the artifice of it all. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 30, 2023
We’re left with the feeling that while Rock Hudson enjoyed an often-spectacular career and a rich and full and glamorous life, the real Roy Fitzgerald was never able to truly emerge from the shadows. The world wouldn’t allow it. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisJun 27, 2023
The engaging HBO documentary Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed, both a guilty pleasure and meaningful slice of queer history, delivers a loving yet irony-laced tribute to a closeted movie icon whose tragic death from AIDS changed the course of the epidemic and cemented his place in LGBTQ lore. Read full review
75
The Daily BeastNick SchagerJun 26, 2023
Perhaps most surprising is that the portrait it presents is not of a tortured soul but of a man, and actor, who was comfortable in all the roles he inhabited. Read full review
70
Little White LiesPatrick SproullOct 27, 2023
As an account of Hudson the Hollywood party boy and lothario it is comprehensive, though those expecting a more complex account of the star’s inconsistencies may find themselves shortchanged. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonJun 29, 2023
It is in part biographical, with the young-hunk-makes-good tale of the film world and a parade of clips from the movies that he made. But the documentary’s main concern is Hudson as the ultimate closeted homosexual, the CinemaScope version of a tale gay men had been forced to live out for generations, or risk scandal, blackmail and even criminal prosecution. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearJun 28, 2023
It’s best to look at All That Heaven Allowed less as a Rock doc and more as a chronicle of Hollywood’s system of subterfuge and suggestion, all built around protecting and/or punishing those who preferred the company of their own sex. Read full review
70
TheWrapKristen LopezJun 13, 2023
The blend of the salacious with the historical will get audiences to watch HBO’s Hudson doc, though it might not have enough meat to it to get TCM snobs to find anything new. But what’s there is a sensitive story of a man whose best self was known to only a few. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMarya E. GatesJun 28, 2023
Kijak's film can remind a new generation that, despite seemingly insurmountable difficulties, some of our queer forebears could find a little slice of happiness, despite living in a world that told them they were not welcome. Read full review
60
The New York TimesCalum MarshJun 29, 2023
In the end, with only Hudson to deal with, Kijak gets the big picture. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeJun 13, 2023
Stephen Kijak’s documentary does him a disservice, reducing Hudson’s career — in exactly the way he went so far out of his way to avoid — to the dimension of his sexuality. Read full review
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