"Summer of '42" (1971)

I’ve always liked both the movie and the book, both written by Herman Raucher (the movie written first). Jennifer O’Neill was so beautiful.

WHET to Gary Grimes?

It boils down to Love Story, where the age difference is a substitute for cancer!

The cinematography is top-notch.

And the score! One win out of four Oscar nominations: Best Original Music Score, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay.

Gary would’ve gone full frontal if I had directed.

Gary Grimes didn't have much of a career and he quit acting by the early '90s. I'm not sure what happened. He was pretty good in this movie, and I think perfectly struck the naivety, fabricated precociousness, and sexual curiosity of being a teenage boy (probably because he WAS a teenage boy—he was 15 when they filmed this; O'Neill was about 23). Probably not so shocking in 1971, but I imagine that casting would draw a lot of ire today, even though the film is fairly tame. Grimes grew up to be pretty handsome, a bit similar in appearance to Michael Ontkean.

R2 "Grimes appeared in only six films, and largely retired from show business in the late 1970s (except for an episode of Matt Houston in 1983). He still lives in Los Angeles and has remained out of public view since that time, working for a charitable organization. "I got to the point where the work wasn't up to the quality that I wanted," Grimes told American Profile magazine in 2011. "I'm very happy in my decision." "

He turned 68 last Friday.

Robert Mulligan was a swell director, if a bit underrated. He excelled at bildungsroman films: Summer ‘42, The Man in the Moon and of course his finest—To Kill a Mockingbird.

The locales in this movie are beautiful, but it doesn't really resemble the east coast. The book was set in Nantucket, though I can't remember if the film was explicitly set there or not. They shot it in northern California, and it very much looks it to me.

R9, according to Wikipedia it was filmed in Maine:

“Nantucket Island was too far modernized in 1970 to be convincingly transformed to resemble an early 1940s resort, so the production location selected was the town of Bar Harbor, Maine.”

R10 I saw that, but the source cited for this makes no mention of it being shot in Maine. According to the American Film Institute, they filmed it entirely in Mendocino County, CA.

R11, you’re right—I’ve now seen that on several other sites as well. I’ve long defended Wikipedia from detractors who doubt its accuracy but in this case it was wrong.

R12 Wikipedia is a great resource, but yeah, you always have to check the sources cited. The article for this film has a lot of inaccuracies and is kind of outdated (it was a "Featured Article" circa 2006 according to the article history, but was later demoted). It needs some work.

The hairstyling, makeup and costume design on Jennifer O'Neill bore NO resemblance whatsoever to 1942. They might as well have called the film 1971.

Jennifer O'Neill was lovely in this movie. Elegant, beautiful, and a bit mysterious. She was perfectly cast in the role, and it's probably her greatest performance. I was never really impressed by her in anything else I've seen her in, but she worked nicely in this film. I love all the period costumes in it.

R14 O'Neill's hair did look out of place, but all the younger kids in the film (the girls and the boys) looked appropriately dressed to me.

Hermie was supposed to 15. Not sure how old Dorothy (O'Neill) was supposed to be. I'm guessing Hermie being 15 affects how often it's played on network TV.

Stanley Kubrick and Quentin Tarantino were/are apparently both big fans of this film. Kubrick counted it among his favorite movies of all time—his wife claims it may have actually been his all-time favorite. You can briefly glimpse Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duvall) watching it on TV in "The Shining".

The Summer nose...

Does anyone remember "Cover-Up"?

The infamous love scene where Hermie visits her and finds her in mourning over the news of her husband's death is truly heartbreaking and wonderfully acted by both of them. While I'm sure it could be subject to a legion of modern think-pieces on statutory rape, there is no less a sad, quiet beauty to that entire sequence. The minor details of it (such as O'Neill observing their moving shadows on the wallpaper as they slow-dance to the Victrola) make it feel immediate and emotionally-charged.

Herman Raucher is still alive according to Wikipedia.

[quote] It is more or less the heterosexual originator of something like "Call Me by Your Name", which it seems the writer of that novel/the film's director, Luca Guadagnino, may have taken cues from.

Andre Aciman (who wrote the novel on which the movie is based) has actually aid the main inspiration is a short 1949 lesbian novel by Dorothy Strachey (Lytton's sister) called "Olivia." He originally planned to entitle "Call me By Your Name" "Oliver" as a result.

Herman Smoker?

Robert's younger brother was Richard Mulligan of "Soap" & "Empty Nest."

Wasn’t O’Neill a nut? Married a ton of times and to the gay guy involved in the Chippendales murder? Or maybe killed in that murder.

I’m too lazy to look it up. And I know one of you guys will have the gossip.

Anyway, loved this movie. Was a big deal for any teen in the 70s. Was surprised reading the O’Neill was kind of awful because she was perfect and lovely in this.

I had seen a lot of dramatic movies before 1971, and preferred them over kids movies. I saw Summer of 42 when I was seven years old; thus began my love affair with cinematography of films. I was the weird kid a couple summers later who sneaked into the Exorcist and Papillon while my friends saw American Graffiti and the World's Greatest Athlete. Mom thought I went to watch the stupid comedies and musicals. Summer of 42 holds a special place in my formation though.

I’m R26. I was right! She is nutty! Married 8 times and is a pro-life “Christian” whack job.

Look it up you lazy ass

R28 cool…that’s showing initiative

The sequel, "Class of '44," tanked. Did any Eldergays take advantage of this reduced ticket price ploy?

"Although several venues granted free, or discounted, admission for moviegoers who graduated from high school in 1944, the film did not fare very well at the box office,

R29! Thank you for the positive reinforcement! I will go back to getting stoned now!

Oh…one more fun fact I learned from Wikipedia..she “accidentally” shot herself in the abdomen. She’s a nut!

R26 O'Neill has certainly had a weird life. She was born in Brazil to an English mother and Brazilian father, but had an uppercrust Manhattan upbringing (I'm not sure what her father/mother did career-wise, but she was an equestrienne and studied at the Dalton School, so I'm assuming the family was wel-off/had connections). She mad a shit ton of money as a teen model before transitioning into acting. Her acting career had a weird trajectory. "Summer of '42" was obviously a huge deal, but she later ended up in a number of Italian films later on, and had a lead in David Cronenberg's "Scanners".

And yeah, she was married to the gay closet-case choreographer Nick De Noia, who was later murdered. According to articles about it, she was apparently deeply upset by his death. She became a born-again Christian and anti-abortion activist in her late-thirties. Today, I think she fancies herself a motivational speaker. I don't blame her for being traumatized by her abortion, but I am always skeptical of people who use their experience as a blanket reality for mankind:

[quote]I was told a lie from the pit of hell: that my baby was just a blob of tissue. The aftermath of abortion can be equally deadly for both mother and unborn child. A woman who has an abortion is sentenced to bear that for the rest of her life.

1975 disco version.

Almost Star Wars-like R34 👍🏼

Jennifer O’Neill did a LIZ. So many husbands:

Dean Rossiter ​ ​(m. 1965; div. 1971)​ Joseph Koster ​ ​(m. 1972; div. 1974)​ Nick De Noia ​ ​(m. 1975; div. 1976)​ Jeff Barry ​ ​(m. 1978; div. 1979)​ John Lederer ​ ​(m. 1979; div. 1983)​ Richard Alan Brown ​ ​(m. 1986; div. 1989)​ ​ ​(m. 1993; div. 1996)​ Neil L. Bonin ​ ​(m. 1992; annul. 1993)​ Mervin Sidney Louque Jr. ​ ​(m. 1996)​

Jennifer had one good performance in her and this was it.

[quote]R15 Jennifer O'Neill was lovely in this movie. Elegant, beautiful, and a bit mysterious. She was perfectly cast in the role, and it's probably her greatest performance.

O’Neill is probably the most all-around-beautiful actress/model I’ve ever seen. She’s a lukewarm performer in all but about 3 films, and very far from sane… but so lovely.

In her modeling days:

I think “pop cultural phenomenon” is a bit strong, OP. It was a hit film. But it wasn’t Star Wars. Or even Cabaret.

Looks like Susan Lucci.

She said she had gray hair from age 15 and people thought she'd frosted it.

Wouidn’t this role have gone to Sharon Tate if she had lived?

God, no. Tate was never offered top properties.

R27. That is an odd child, to be one who puts American Graffiti in the same category with a J-M Vincent flick, rather than The Exorcist, et al. All that time in the movie theater, and yet no understanding of 70s moviemaking.

Wasn't O'Neill married to Elliott Gould? I thought he married her after divorcing Streisand, but I don't see him listed at r36.

Sharon Tate would have been too carnal and modern and glam in a way. She would be the local hottie as opposed to the local beauty.

It would be like casting Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone or Angelina Jolie.

I saw the movie at the Is was part of a double feature at a drive-in when I was eleven. I thought Oscy (Jerry Houser) was hot.

Mom bought the book, and I asked her if I could read it. She said "no", so I got up at 6:00am several days to read it when Mom was still sleeping.

I read the book hoping there would be some dialogue about Oscy's pubic hair. I figured by the amount of hair in his armpits and his eyebrows, he had a huge one I wanted to see. I was disappointed. I stuck with my fantasy.

My mother often mentioned loving this movie. I should watch.

Meanwhile, Oscy grew up to marry Marcia Brady.

If Jennifer O'Neill's character had children, would she have been a MILF, or was she too young?

^ my 16-year-old was brother lusted after our 19-year-old neighbour. He considered her a cougar.

Only 42 for a whole summer? Amateur.

Didn't Jennifer shoot herself by accident? I miss Robert Osbourne.

Nantucket beaches are bright light warm beige color sand.

....

Is it worth watching, OP? If so, I'll hunt it down, because it sounds interesting

It's a great piece of Americana, 1940s style.