Review of Summer of '42 (1971) by Michael T — 21 Mar 2010

"Summer of '42" is a funny and sad love story that hardly anyone I ever talk to has heard of. It takes place in 1942 and tells the story of three really horny young boys by the names of Hermie, Oscy, and Benjy. It's summer and the boys spend every day going to the beach, checking out the girls, and talking about making out. Hermie is the sensitive one, Oscy is the one who thinks of nothing but sex and Benjy is the younger one who just tags along. Now this movie sounds like a teen sex comedy along the lines of "Porky's" and "American Pie" but it's not. It's a beautifully told story of first love that is directed by Robert Mulligan, best known for directing "To Kill A Mockingbird." It was the fourth highest grossing film of 1971 making 26 million bucks at the box office so I have no clue why the film is so hard to find.

It's wartime and a lot of the men are away at war leaving their wives at home. Dorothy (Jennifer O'Neill) is one of these so called war brides and the object of Hermie's affection. Like I said before Hermie is the sensitive boy, very well played by Gary Grimes. He's 15, loves to read, and dreams of being a writer one day. It is actually the grown up Hermie that narrates the story. The film is based on a novel by Herman Raucher so this may be a true story but the book says fiction. Hermie starts kind of following Dorothy around, helping her with some odd jobs around the house, and actually they become somewhat good friends. But Oscy, who supposedly knows all, is right behind Hermie telling him what he's doing wrong and right.

Now the film has some very funny scenes as well. There's a hilarious scene where Hermie goes into a drug store to buy condoms and when the clerk asks him how many he needs he replies "Oh about 3 dozen." Another really funny scene has Hermie and Oscy double dating and Hermie thinks he's hit the goldmine by "copping a feel" but in reality has squeezed the poor girls arm off for over an hour leaving her arm bruised. The film has a very sad ending so if you cry at movies get the kleenex ready.

I saw this movie when I was around 10 back in the day when we rented vhs tapes and hadn't seen this film in years until I found it in the 5 buck dvd section at Wal-Mart a couple of months ago. I've never seen this film on tv, never seen it on Turner Classics or any movie channel and was beginning to think I was never going to see it again and no had heard of it. So it may take some searching to find this movie but its really worth looking for and seeing. I've watched it with friend because I won't let anyone borrow it because I'm afraid I'll never find it unless I pay 20 bucks for it at Amazon, which if I had to I would. Should have bought 2 copies. The movie won an Oscar for Best Original Score and was nominated for Best Screenplay Adaptation. It was released by Warner Brothers and Rated R, though it would probably get a PG-13 rating now.

**TRIVIA ALERT - For all you fans of "The Shining," Stanley Kubrick was said to be a big fan of this film. This is the movie Wendy and Danny are watching at The Overlook.**.