A gay activist has been outing closeted public figures. Now he’s getting death threats. He hires Donald Strachey for protection. Strachey is an openly gay detective in Albany, NY. He takes clients that the straight world ignores. But can he prevent a murder?
Richard Stevenson Lipez’s first Strachey novel was published in 1981. He had written eight books when HereTV approached. The LGBT owned network produced four Strachey films, starting with 2005’s Third Man Out. The screenplays lifted Stevenson’s names and rewrote the rest. The novel’s detective was a middle aged Cassanova with a penchant for dad jokes. Chad Allen’s Strachey was younger, earnest and faithful to his adorable husband.
Honey, Don’t! left me craving more queer detective stories. I decided to revisit Strachey’s adventures. Third Man Out is the weakest in the series. It establishes the leading men’s dynamic but saddles them with awful dialogue. The mystery is poorly structured, the supporting cast is weak and the soundtrack is grating. There’s an ugly sepia wash over interior-scenes. But there’s something comforting in watching a supportive gay couple fight for justice.
I’ll provide a spoiler filled recap. In case you want to skip ahead to the sequels.
Gumshoe
Scene One: A Hospital Visit
PRIEST: Why don’t you come back to the church Timothy?
TIMMY CALLAHAN (A senator’s aide.): Because I’m married to this guy.
DONALD STRACHEY (A rumpled detective.): Hi hubby. Let’s banter.
CALLAHAN: No time. The Senator is here to see the Bishop. He took a nasty fall in the rectory.
DONALD STRACHEY: On an unrelated note, I’m here to meet a client.
Scene Two: The Client
ACTIVIST: (recovering from an injury.) Strachey, I need your help. Someone tried to kill me.
STRACHEY: I don’t blame ‘em. You out closeted public figures and destroy their lives.
ACTIVIST: I out self-loathing queers who prey on our community.
STRACHEY: A preliminary investigation tells me you faked your injury. No one is trying to kill you.
(Activist is murdered.)
STRACHEY: Damn it.
Scene Three: Seeking a Third
STRACHEY: Activists’ files say he was going to out a TV Star, a Congressman and a Third Man.
NAKED PORN STAR: The activists’ informants were motel clerks.
MOTEL CLERK: You got nothing on me Nancy-Boy Drew.
STRACHEY: TALK OR I’LL STRANGLE YOU!
MOTEL CLERK: Yikes! You’re quite the anti-hero! The TV Star was hooking up with someone in his motel room. A mirror fell and knocked the guy out. I never saw his face.
Scene Four: Reveals
(Strachey investigates red herrings until he’s confronted by the Congressman.)
CONGRESSMAN: Where’s my file!
STRACHEY: The file’s safe as long as I am. Who’s the Third Man?
CONGRESSMAN: I don’t know his name. But he molested the TV star when he was a choir boy. They met at same church your Activist went to.
STRACHEY: We traced a car at the murder scene to the Bishop.
CALLAHAN: The one who slipped in the rectory?
STRACHEY: That’s not all he slipped.
PRIEST: The Bishop has been in hospital. I’ve been driving his car.
STRACHEY: Then you’re under arrest.
Scene Five: Airport Denouement
ACTIVIST: Thanks for catching my “killer.”
STRACHEY: You sneaky bastard. You framed an innocent man.
ACTIVIST: The Bishop molested me and plenty of others. The Priest covered it up. They’ll be cleared of murder. But the investigation exposed their sex crimes.
STRACHEY: When was that? I’ve seen this film twice and didn’t catch that part.
ACTIVIST: Maybe it was cut for a commercial break. What will you do?
STRACHEY: I’ll say you escaped. Then I’ll burn your files.
ACTIVIST: You’re quite the anti-hero.
THE END
Act Up or Blend In?
The scripts were awful…. They looked as though they’d been made for about $1.85. But Chad Allen, as Strachey, was really just perfect.
Author Richard Stevenson. 2020 interview.
Timmy Callahan (Sebastian Spence) works for a gay friendly senator. He practices respectability politics and works within the system. The Activist (Jack Wetherall) is an old school disrupter. Oozing with contempt for the institutions of power. He sees his closeted targets as selfish. But never owns up to his self-righteous narcissism. Donald Strachey (Chad Allen) exists between worlds. His conservative streak puts him at odds with his liberated client. But he’ll blackmail and assault uncooperative witnesses.
American journalist Michelangelo Signorile was a prominent advocate for outing conservative politicians. People with power were ignoring the AIDS epidemic and had to be confronted. At the same time the tabloids were eager to out singers and actors. Chad Allen himself was outed by The Globe in 1996, during his run on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. He remained with the series through its final season. But would never again be featured by a major studio. He eventually retired from acting and went to school to study Clinical Psychology. Did his outing serve the cause?
Stevenson’s seventeenth Strachey novel was published after his death in 2022. I’ve enjoyed detective fiction from a young age. Agatha Christie types assemble the pieces of a tightly constructed puzzle. They appealed to my desire for logic in an irrational world. Noir detectives get messier. Taking on a world that’s bigger, and more corrupt, than one person can comprehend. By the end of Third Man Out it’s unclear what Strachey’s accomplished. He believes the Bishop will be punished. But we’ve seen plenty of predators escape justice.
You can watch the Strachey films on TUBI. You can find more of my reviews on The Avocado, Letterboxd and Serializd. My podcast, Rainbow Colored Glasses, can be found here.