Summer of '42

Amazon.com

Herman Raucher's autobiographical (or first person, anyway) coming-of-age tale is set, as the title suggests, among sand dunes and departing GIs. Hermie (Gary Grimes) and his two buddies Oscar (Jerry Hauser) and the nerdy Benjie (Oliver Conant) are spending the summer doing the things preadolescents do: hanging out, eating ice cream, stealing "dirty" books from their parents, and trying unsuccessfully to act manly around the gawky girls they take to the movies. Then Hermie spoils everything by really falling in love, this time with the adorable older woman Dorothy, played by Jennifer O'Neill. Dorothy's husband conveniently leaves for duty overseas, and then, even more conveniently, becomes one of those "we regret" telegrams. Dorothy, desperate for comfort and sweetness, turns to Hermie--and surely makes his summer. The setting and the date give this movie a double helping of nostalgia for anyone who was once an adolescent boy desperately trying to get rid of both his callowness and his virginity. But the slow pace and dreamy atmosphere, courtesy of Robert Mulligan's direction and Michael Legrand's famous score, may give it less appeal to anyone who is still in that situation. --Richard Farr

Customer Reviews:

Definitely in the top 100 of all time.......2007-03-21

I first saw this movie in 1977 when I was 16 years old. It had come out a few years earlier and had a revival at a theatre in Manhattan. I went to see it on a Saturday, stayed for a second time. Went back the next Saturday and saw it again, then the next Saturday. Then it left and I was heartbroken until the VCR came into being!!!

It is a classic love story, touching, warm, passionate, just 3 guys hanging out in Nantucket for the summer. I can relate, I did it on Long Island at that age. They perfectly set up what the young mind goes through. When jennifer o'neil appeared many a young boys hearts fluttered--man she was gorgeous. The muscial score sets the tone for the entire movie. It's absolutely beautiful and will stay with you long after you have seen the film.

This is a movie that most likely wouldn't be made today. There are no more classics like this. Movies today involve violence, car chases, explosions and are geared for 18 year olds. A soft warm story such as this just wouldnt be made and thats sad----the classics are becoming fewer and fewer and only the magic of DVD's and video preserves these classics.

I can understand where people write about the double standard. This movie shows relations between a 15-16 year old boy and a 25 year old woman. But somehow its not bothersome---its done so tastefully and is not the crux of the story. If it was reversed, they are right, there would have been an uproar so there is a double standard. But just buy this or rent it and be mesmerized. A masterpiece.

Very Moving.......2007-01-23

Summer of 42, one of the little jewels of the Golden 70's, Robert Mulligan, a veteran Director (The Rain Must Fall and This Time Next Year) hits pay dirt with a wistful coming of age story during early WW2. The obsession of our 15-year-old boy is Jennifer O'Neill. O'Neil says goodbye on a New England island beach as her husband goes off to war. The boys, Gary Grimes, and friends see her across the sand dunes as a sex object. This reminded me very much of a far more complex film by Giuseppe Tornatore, Melina, which is fairly recent, an Italian knockout abandoned by her army husband. In Melina and the earlier Paridisio, the sexuality of young teens is the topic of wistful nostalgia.

Filmed in 1971, this island is fine for 1940's beach houses, so add a few 1930's cars and bobby soxer clothing and we have a lovely recreation. The boys want to do it, calculating whether their Saturday night date will allow further experimentation. Grimes, a handsome, but naive teen has been hanging around, doing odd jobs for O'Neill. He is quite stimulated while she pines for her serviceman. Then a tragedy throws O'Neil and Grimes into a desperate tryst. It's very moving actually. This is a wonderful film of an earlier era.

An Unforgettable Coming of Age Movie.......2007-01-11

I first saw this when I was barely 12. Now, nearly three decades later, having seen it again, the movie has lost none of its sense of wonder and pathos. Jennifer O'Neil has to be one of the most sultry women ever to have graced the screen in the 70s. Her beauty and sex appeal are more evident than ever in this decently remastered DVD. The melancholic love theme will resonate long after the movie's over. And the 2 main characters, who live on the fringes of mainstream society, start a romance that just cannot be sustained. His a teenager and she's a married woman. Their parting is always imminent. But knowing that midway through the movie does nothing to diminish its watchability. In fact, that makes it even more rivetting. This movie does not pale in comparison to Casablanca. At times, it's even better than that well-known Bogart classic. It's really about 2 very lonely souls who find comfort in each other's arms. A more recent treatment of this theme is found in Sofia Coppola's equally admirable Oscar-winner, Lost in Translation. But in Summer of '42, lies something more deeply rewarding for the audience who's watching it today. There is an all-consuming nostalgia that envelopes you because this is a highly original love story that came from a time when innocence and sexuality could blend together with a sweet, melancholic afterglow. One of the best romantic movies ever made. You can watch it over and over again. Unforgettable.

Unforgettable, Cherished Summer of 42.......2006-10-30

I just had to get this movie just so I could remember it from when I first saw it at the movies in the early 70s and to see the similarites from the movie The Inkwell (1994). Even my youngest daughter noticed the similarities watching it by herself. The only differences are; when the setting took place in the summer of 1942 from 1976, Nantucket Island from Martha's Vineyard, not white but African American. Both young teen males lost their virginity to older married woman, Summer of 42 she lost her husband in the war; The Inkwell, the husband was cheating on her, both women are sad and found comfort in these young men. The Inkwell being a little more funnier, Summer of 42 was still GOOD, SAD and SWEET (like another person puts it)and had some funny scenes too. Like Hermie going to the Drug Store trying to buy condoms (rubbers, hahah!!) and Oscy (Hermie's best friend)trying desperately to get his 1st lay and trying to follow instructions from a Medical book on foreplay leading to sex and exceeding it...haha!! Also Summer of 42 the possibilites of that happening to a normal young man was more realistic. In The Inkwell Lorenz Tate's character was a too weird and awkward teenage boy almost like Benji, Hermie's other best friend who was just too shy to be with girls his own age. But in the end that's something Hermie will never forget and will cherish for the rest of his life.

Summer of 42.......2006-08-21

Excellent movie that we had been having difficulty finding at nearby locations.

DVD:

DVD

DVD