Howard Brackett is a high school teacher in a small town in Indiana with everything going for him; a nice job, an attractive fiancé named Emily and respect from everyone. Everything changes in one night when a former high school student of his, named Cameron Drake, now a famous actor living in Hollywood, makes an acceptance speech after receiving an Academy Award for his portrayal of a homosexual army soldier and 'outs' Howard Brackett as his inspiration for his role. The media circus immediately begins as Howard desperately tries keep his life from falling apart by protesting that he is not gay and that the whole thing with Cameron's speech is a simple misunderstanding. While most of the townspeople want to believe Howard, Peter Malloy, an openly gay TV reporter who arrives in town to cover the story, suspects that the teacher is in denial.

The Oscar statuette used in the film is 'Kevin Kline (I)''s. He won it in 1988 for Best Supporting Actor in A Fish Called Wanda (1988).

[at the Academy Awards]


Glenn Close:
This is Cameron's first nomination and he's in extremely good company. Tonight he joins fellow best actor nominee Paul Newman for "Coot", Clint Eastwood for "Codger", Michael Douglas for "Primary Urges" and Steven Seagal for "Snowball in Hell".

Continuity: The Oscars are awarded in the late March or early April, yet corn is shown growing unseasonably high and students are shown graduating. The weeds by the side of the road when they "meet at the intersection" are foxtails and they are dry and brown which puts this at an actual time of Sept. or so.

Written by Stephen Sondheim and Jule Styne
Performed by Ethel Merman
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing