Summer of ‘42

Copping your first feel at the movies; slinking into the drugstore to buy your maiden package of condoms; scanning dirty pictures in the backyard fort with your best buds. Ah, those bygones days of happy innocence. So bygone, in fact, that the MPAA rating for Robert Mulligan's 1971 Summer of '42, based on Herman Raucher's WWII-era coming of age tale, was officially changed from "R" to "PG" in deference to the sweeping social and cultural changes over the past 30 years. Set at a New England beach colony, the film revolves around a trio of teenagers--Hermie (Gary Grimes), Oscy (Jerry Houser), and Benjie (Oliver Conant)--on summer vacation, who are primarily interested in passing the days…and, of course, getting laid. While the bespectacled Benjie is razzed on to raid his parents' "medical" books collection, and Oscy obsesses about "doing it," 15-year-old Hermie quietly falls in love with 22-year-old war bride Dorothy (Jennifer O'Neill), whose husband is off fighting. Having first seen this when I was the same age as Hermie, and remembering it fondly, I was eager to cue up the DVD for a stroll down nostalgic memory lane; unfortunately, while Warner's extra-less disc sports a reasonably nice transfer, Summer of '42 today seems slow and simple (it was followed two years later by the inferior sequel Class of '44). Still, it's not nearly as stupid as the lame teen sex comedies that appeared in its wake. An Oscar winner for Michel Legrand's stirring string-heavy score, this is an optional purchase. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—Nov. 28, 2017—Warner, 104 min., PG, Blu-ray: $21.99—Making its debut on Blu-ray, 1971's Summer of ‘42 features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack, but no extras. Bottom line: although it looks nice, this coming-of-age film has not aged well—aside from the sweeping musical score.]