Summer of '42 (1971)

Director:

Robert Mulligan

Writer:

Herman Raucher (writer)

Release Date:

9 April 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In everyone's life there's a "Summer of '42"

Plot:

During his summer vacation on Nantucket Island in 1942, a youth eagerly awaiting his first sexual encounter finds himself developing a contradictorily innocent love for a young woman awaiting news on her soldier husband's fate in WWII.

Plot Keywords:

Teen Angst | Campfire | Nostalgic | Attic | Sexual Awakening

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Jennifer O'Neill	...	Dorothy
Gary Grimes	...	Hermie
Jerry Houser	...	Oscy
Oliver Conant	...	Benjie
Katherine Allentuck	...	Aggie
Christopher Norris	...	Miriam
Lou Frizzell	...	Druggist

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R (original rating) (1971) | USA:PG (re-rating) (1972) | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Fort Bragg, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The telegram on Dorothy's coffee table at the end of the movie lists her and Pete's last name as Walker.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The scene directly after Dorothy removes her underwear, the camera pans up her bare back and her regular underwear for shooting the scene can still be seen on her.

Quotes:

Narrator: Nothing from that first day I saw her, and no one that has happened to me since, has ever been as frightening and as confusing. For no person I've ever known has ever done more to make me feel more sure, more insecure, more important, and less significant.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Clefs de bagnole, Les (2003)

Soundtrack:

Theme from Summer of '42

It spans the emotions and captures the minds of yesterday's boys

Benjie was the nerd, Oscy was the tough guy, and Hermie was like most of us guys - confused, inquisitive, and deep in thought about a love he couldn't have. One of them was interested in a little rubber ball, one owned a rubber and was dying to use it, and one was somewhere in between. At least one of them would look back upon their adventures during the summer of '42 and recall it with the vivid detail that many of us have about our own childhood

For those adults who were once a fifteen-year-old boy or ever wanted to understand them, this is the movie that will touch you. To children who ever wanted to understand male adolescence before the digital world, this movie is a must. Other movies have come close but it remains my favorite flick and I am deeply grateful for Herman Raucher.