December

Starring:Balthazar Getty, Jason London, Brian Krause, Wil Wheaton, Chris Young, Robert Miller, Ann Hartfield, Soren Bailey
Director: Gabe Torres
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

The Graduate
INTERESTING LOVE STORY FOR CRAZY ERA
Akwardness Excellence
GREAT MOVIE ABOUT AN INDIVIDUALIST
Classic

The Graduate
Starring: Anne Bancroft , Dustin Hoffman , Katharine Ross , William Daniels , and Murray Hamilton
Director: Mike Nichols
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00079Z9VO
Release Date: 2005-04-05

Amazon.com essential video

Few films have defined a generation as The Graduate did. The alienation, the nonconformity, the intergenerational romance, the blissful Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack--they all served to lob a cultural grenade smack into the middle of 1967 America, ultimately making the film the third most profitable up to that time. Seen from a later perspective, its radical chicness has dimmed a bit, yet it's still a joy to see Dustin Hoffman's bemused Benjamin and Anne Bancroft's deliciously decadent, sardonic Mrs. Robinson. The script by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham is still offbeat and dryly funny, and Mike Nichols, who won an Oscar for his direction, has just the right, light touch. --Anne Hurley

Description

Nominated* for seven Academy Awards® and winner for Best Director, this groundbreaking and "wildly hilarious" (The Boston Globe) social satire launched the career of two-time Oscar®-winner** Dustin Hoffman and cemented the reputation of acclaimed director Mike Nichols. Pulsating with the rebellious spirit of the '60s and a haunting score sung by Simon and Garfunkel, The Graduate is truly a "landmark film" (Leonard Maltin). Shy Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) returns home from college with an uncertain future. Then the wife of his father's business partner, the sexy Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), seduces him, and the affair only deepens his confusion. That is, until he meets the girl of his dreams (Katharine Ross). But there's one problem: she's Mrs. Robinson's daughter!

*1967: Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress (Katharine Ross), Cinematography and Adapted Screenplay

**1988: Actor, Rain Man; 1979: Actor, Kramer vs. Kramer

Customer Reviews:

The Graduate.......2007-06-28

One of the signature films of the 1960s, this feature introduced the world to Hoffman and gave Bancroft a racy role she played with marvelous feline cunning. This sublime black comedy transcends its period, speaking to new generations of alienated youth beginning to navigate a discordant, dysfunctional adult world. The supporting cast, including deft character players William Daniels and Murray Hamilton, are note-perfect, and that Simon & Garfunkel score still stirs the soul. A must for repeat viewings.

INTERESTING LOVE STORY FOR CRAZY ERA.......2007-06-09

The film boosted the profile of folk-rock duo Simon and Garfunkel, whose soundtrack album (The Graduate Original Soundtrack), on the strength of the hit single "Mrs. Robinson", rose to the top of the charts in 1968 (knocking off The Beatles' White Album).

The theme song of the movie, "The Sounds of Silence" is a melodramatic, slightly mournful tune. It manages to give the movie a sort of tension, which it demonstrates in other arenas. The generational gap is one of these themes which plays out throughout the movie. The songs seem to mainly play during moments of this particular tension, such as the scene when Ben is forced into the pool by his parents in his scuba outfit. The music gives the film a certain quality, without which it would be vastly different. Simon and Garfunkel were referred to as the "voice of a generation," and this is exactly what they provide in the movie for Benjamin and Elaine.

According to a Variety article by Peter Bart in the 15 May 2005 issue, Nichols had become obsessed with Simon & Garfunkel's music while shooting the film. Lawrence Turman, his producer, made a deal for Simon to write three new songs for the movie. By the time they were nearly finished editing the film, Simon had only written one new song. Nichols begged him for more but Simon, who was touring constantly, told him he didn't have the time. He did play him a few notes of a new song he had been working on; "It's not for the movie... it's a song about times past -- about Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio and stuff." Nichols advised Simon, "It's now about Mrs. Robinson, not Mrs. Roosevelt."

Noel Serrano
Gala Foundation

Akwardness Excellence.......2007-05-31

The Graduate is a classic. This is probably Dustin Hoffman's greatest performance. Never have I felt for such an awkward character. The cinetamography and directing is amazing. The ending is perfect. A most buy!

GREAT MOVIE ABOUT AN INDIVIDUALIST.......2007-03-15

Without giving spoilers away, I immediately see parallels that can be drawn between Groundhog Day and The Graduate. The main characters are individuals who, in their own way, are seeking happiness. Unlike Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day, Hoffmann's Benjamin Braddock does not have the predicament or fortune, depending on how you look at it, of facing a "nine lives" way of living and reliving the exact same calendar day until he gets his life squared up and in order.

In both movies, there is plenty of stumbling and bumbling and repetitive, aimless wandering reminiscent of La Dolce Vita. Braddock is faced with several obstacles in his pursuit of happiness. He has just graduated from college and is expected to get a job and live out a life that is prescribed or envisioned by his parents and nearby locals.

Though he is a bit of an egoist and an egotist, Benjamin Braddock is willing to go against the grain to sort things out in his life and determine what his underlying sources of happiness truly are. This type of searching often puts him at odds with others, in fact, practically everyone else, and perhaps rightfully so, but the viewer almost cannot help but admire the "It ain't over 'til it's over" perseverance that comes to define this character.

In sum, after having also read and done a review of Ayn Rand's novel, We the Living, a book about a girl who is willing to sacrifice her personal safety in pursuit of her dreams, I conclude that The Graduate is a 1960's movie adaptation of this work but in a Western society with much fewer societal perils. A great character study is truly contained in this motion picture in a way that is not quite equalled forty years after the fact.

Five diplomas out of five for this movie!

Classic.......2007-03-04

Pretty much everybody agrres that this movie is a classic. Is it though a five star film? If you judge it from today's perspective probably not. But if you judge it from the perspective of the 60's it is. It talks (via Benjamin) about the new generation that does not know what to do with his life and his fears. Anne Bancroft is not the perfect looking woman, but she does have the capability and, in a certain way, the charm to seduce the young graduate. The film tends to be a bit slow, but again that is judging it from todays stadards and it is not exactly fair. The photography, the music and the perfomance of the cast is superb. Lets not forget that Alfa Romeo chaged the name of the car to "graduate" and sold it ntil the 80s in the US mostly due to the image of the movie.
A true classic.

Average customer rating:

one more person willing to love this film
Best movie ever.
TOP 100 MOVIES OF DANY LYNEN
"Harold and Maude, a Cerebral Love Affair"
Harold and Maude timeless, naughty and quirky...

Harold and Maude
Starring: Harvey Brumfield , Eric Christmas , Bud Cort , Cyril Cusack , and Gordon Devol
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305882592
Release Date: 2000-06-27

Amazon.com essential video

Black comedies don't come much blacker than this cult favorite from 1972, and they don't come much funnier, either. It seemed that director Hal Ashby was the perfect choice to mine a mother lode of eccentricity from the original script by Colin Higgins, about the unlikely romance between a death-obsessed 19-year-old named Harold (Bud Cort) and a life-loving 79-year-old widow named Maude (Ruth Gordon). They meet at a funeral, and Maude finds something oddly appealing about Harold, urging him to "reach out" and grab life by the lapels as opposed to dwelling morbidly on mortality. Harold grows fond of the old gal--she's a lot more fun than the girls his mother desperately matches him up with--and together they make Harold & Maude one of the sweetest and most unconventional love stories ever made. Much of the earlier humor arises from Harold's outrageous suicide fantasies, played out as a kind of twisted parlor game to mortify his mother, who's grown immune to her strange son's antics. Gradually, however, the film's clever humor shifts to a brighter outlook and finally arrives at a point where Harold is truly happy to be alive. Featuring soundtrack songs by Cat Stevens, this comedy certainly won't appeal to all tastes (it was a box-office flop when first released), but if you're on its quirky wavelength, it might just strike you as one of the funniest movies you've ever seen. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

one more person willing to love this film.......2007-06-27

Ok, so like 272 people have had wonderful things to say about this film and what more could I possibly add to the discussion? This movie has over the years fed my soul and "reason to be". It is a beautiful reminder that after all the education and family and work stuff there are still other reasons to remain here. To choose to live. As imperfect as it all is. As sad as our mortality can make us. Life has an aspect to it that is so rich, so lovely, so enchanting, so alluring, that, provided we are capable to slowing down long enough to take a good look at it, can be loved and embraced and followed, like a moth following a candle. Finding yourself wasn't just a sixties slogan, it had to do with letting go of those things we think are important, so that we might truly begin to embrace those things that are essential to happines and to life. Harold and Maude is about all that and more. And as Forest Gump once said, "That's all I have to say about that."

Best movie ever........2007-06-24

The more I watch this film the better it gets, so many subtleties. I bought a copy for my brother to show it to his teenage kids.

TOP 100 MOVIES OF DANY LYNEN.......2007-06-23

THIS MOVIE IS HEART MOVING, AND TEACHES A VALUBLE LESSON IN THE GAME OF LIFE!

"Harold and Maude, a Cerebral Love Affair" .......2007-06-11

This is a terrific movie and has been one of my favorites since I first saw it on VHS late last century. Now it is available upon DVD which means it has a very good quality picture reproduction from the celluloid original upon which it was originally recorded and the audio is as good as it was in the theatre. I just need to acquire the audio components upon which to listen to this movie so I can visually and aurally go back in time, also I can watch it over & over and not have to worry about tape degradation. Amazon.com made acquiring this movie a very good and most cost effective endeavor for me; I will be a customer for the rest of my life and encourage friends of mine to shop @ Amazon.com.

Harold and Maude timeless, naughty and quirky..........2007-05-28

Harold and Maude is a movie that brings to light an assortment of social and familial issues. Both actors do an outstanding job of portraying their characters in pure form. Love this movie!

Average customer rating:

A courageous movie
Truly romantic
A Beautiful Film
Times Sure Have Changed!
Least favorite movie

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Starring: Spencer Tracy , Sidney Poitier , Katharine Hepburn , Katharine Houghton , and Cecil Kellaway
Director: Stanley Kramer
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 0767821483
Release Date: 1999-02-02

Amazon.com essential video

Spencer Tracy's last performance was in this well-meaning, handsome film by Stanley Kramer about a pair of white parents (Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) trying to make sense of their daughter's impending marriage to an African American doctor (Sidney Poitier). The film has been knocked over the years for padding conflict and stoking easy liberalism by making Poitier's character in every socioeconomic sense a good catch: But what if Kramer had made this stranger a factory worker? Would the audience still find it as easy to accept a mixed-race relationship? But there's no denying the drawing power of this movie, which gets most of its integrity from the stirring performances of Tracy and Hepburn. When the former (who had been so ill that the production could not get completion insurance) gives a speech toward the end about race, love, and much else, it's impossible not to be affected by the last great moment in a great actor's life and career. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

A courageous movie.......2007-06-30

In the context of the times in which it was made, this movie is even more amazing than it first appears--and it is very courageous on first appearances, so that is saying a lot!

Marriage between ethically diverse people was still illegal in quite a number of states, racism and all the terrible crimes it fosters was rampant. Into this maelstrom came a movie about two well-educated and very intelligent people who wish to get married. They deliberately made the doctor (Sidney Poitier) a paragon, so that it would be clear that any hesitation on her parents' part would be solely because he was Black.

My favorite parts are the beginning, when they arrive in California and go to her home and meet her mother (Kate Hepburn), and the end, when her father (Spencer Tracey) does his amazing speech, which earned him an Oscar (and rightly so).

The prejudice of the art gallery "lady" (note the quote marks) was accurate for the times (and, sadly, is still accurate at times) and well done by the actress in that role.

"Those who do not learn from history..." Let us keep watching this movie, so that we can learn, remember, and avoid sinking into the same mire again. And let us applaud the unknown people of courage, who did what was portrayed in this movie--trailblazers and pioneers in a wilderness no less challenging because it was subtle.

Truly romantic.......2007-06-10

Sidney Poiter is magnificent and always awe-inspiring, but the real draw of the movie is watching the interaction between Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. When their real-life romance and difficult relationship is taken into account, their characters are given an extra dimension of honesty. This is particularly true of Tracy's speech at the end of the movie about what it means to love someone regardless of the circumstances. Very touching, brought tears to my eyes.

A Beautiful Film.......2007-05-07

I recently read a biography of Sidney Poitier which emphasized his role as "The Black Actor" of his time, and what this meant culturally and politicaly during the conservative 1950's and the turbulent 1960's. Poitier's mere presence in a film during this time assured black audiences that "Yes, there were roles of merit for blacks in Hollywood" while simultaneously letting white people know that all blacks were not dangerous, sex-craved animals, or buffoonish syncophants, but upstanding citizens like you and me. It seemed at times that Sidney Poitier, The Icon, overshadowed many of his screen endeavors, pushing the film's plotline into the background (with the exception of "In The Heat Of The Night") Which brings me to "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner". Released in 1967 (it was the THIRD box-office hit for Poitier in a single year. A feat no other actor since, with the exception of Tom Cruise in 1996, has accomplished) an extremely tumultous year when the nation grappled with civil rights and Vietnam, "Guess Who" provided a fresh breath of air. Its the story of a prominent black doctor, John Prentice, who falls in love with a younger white girl,Joanna. He is 37, she is 23. The couple arrive at the girls' parents' house to announce to her parents their marriage plans. But the good doctor has a secret that he is keeping from his fiance: He has promised himself that if the father (Spencer Tracy) disagrees he will not marry her. He has come to this conclusion because he knows full well the problems the two of them will face as an interracial couple, and if they have disapproving in-laws to contend with as well, the marriage might not survive. This particular aspect of Poitier's character is what nailed it for me. What a strong statement to make, and the reserve to back it! How many of us who have been fitfully in love would EVER make a proposal like this?! Most people would say to Hell with the in laws, but this is what seperated Poitier from most stars of his day and which contributed to his overall popularity. Upon its release, the film was not a CRITICAL favorite, but it was certainly a box-office fav. The problem most critics had with the film was the preposterous love story itself. "What would an accomplished doctor who had been married once want with a young, naive girl 14 years his junior? " asked many critics (as if you really had to ponder THAT one!)I have never discovered why the director Stanley Kramer put this age difference into the film in the first place, the only answer I have is that Katherine Houghton was the niece of the Great Hepburn. Nepotism strikes again, right? But that was not the most gnawing question in the film. Most critics simply missed the point. A point that the movie-going public got: It is a FANTASY. Kramer over emphasized everything, from the techni-color skies to the immaculate skin complexions of his stars, to let the public know just how ridiculous skin color prejudices (and prejudices in general) are. Poitier's character is so PERFECT, that the ONLY problem Tracy and Hepburn have with him is his skin color. Brilliant. Yes the film is dated a little, but unfortunately it is still a timely and beautiful film.

Times Sure Have Changed!.......2007-04-23

I remember watching this movie for the first time with my mother. We were shocked, but tried to keep an open mind. Today it is not shocking at all. Times have really changed for the better. We still have a long way to go. I thought about showing this movie to my students, however, they wouldn't understand what the big deal was as we did the first time. Still, it's a good movie and it has a powerful message.

Least favorite movie.......2007-04-12

by this duo. I just didn't like it. All the actors were great. I love Sidney Poitier. But I just couldn't like the movie. I hated the speech in the end. I felt like he was lechuring me!

Average customer rating:

Murphy's Romance
A Movie For A Rainy Day
You'll be sorry!
best romance
one of those great movies

Murphy's Romance
Starring: Sally Field , James Garner , Brian Kerwin , Corey Haim , and Dennis Burkley
Director: Martin Ritt
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 0767827813
Release Date: 2000-05-02

Amazon.com

Director Martin Ritt (Norma Rae) helmed this offbeat romance that earned costar James Garner an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a widowed druggist who befriends a confused divorcee (Sally Field) and her son, who move to a small rural town to start over. The laid-back performance of Garner as a man finding love "for the last time in his life" contrasts wonderfully with Field's portrayal of a woman scared and unsure of what the future may hold for her, and the two of them together exhibit great comic timing. As well written and as deftly performed as any movie of its type, Murphy's Romance will rope you in with its winning style. --Robert Lane

Customer Reviews:

Murphy's Romance.......2007-07-05

This film dates back to 1985, and of my over 500 DVD collection I have placed it in my top 10.
That alone says a lot about how I feel about this film. Sally Field and James Garner are at there vary best hear. It's a shame that Hollywood has not seen fit to put them together more often.
This film is real life. This could be for real. Being an Arizona resident myself , and an old, used to be horseman, I can relate to this story line. It's a romance story at its best. For all ages.

A Movie For A Rainy Day.......2007-06-27

This is one of my favorite movies to curl up in the chair on a rainy day and put in the DVD player. I absolutely love it. It's funny, charming and one of the best love stories around.James Garner and Sally Field at their best.

You'll be sorry!.......2007-06-16

This unanimity of opinion about this movie duped me into buying it. Big mistake.

This movie boggles the mind: no plot, no story even, no characters, nothing. Will she marry James Garner? Well, of course, she's going to marry James Garner! He's James Garner! Maybe you have to be a fan.

Well, I like Sally Field a lot, but she had no role worth playing in this slice of life. Slice of life is a hard enough thing to pull off, but when you pick such a dull life, it's a joke.

My advice: talk to someone you trust before you put your money on this movie.

best romance.......2007-05-19

i loved this movie from the first time i saw it. james garner is my hero!!! older men are better!!!!

one of those great movies.......2007-05-15

Another great feel good movie. These actors are amoung the best there is and the movie is up there with them. A great one to watch.

Average customer rating:

I'm stuck on Moonstruck
DVD Quality
A different romance
One of my all-time favorites
Great Watch.

Moonstruck
Starring: Cher , Nicolas Cage , Vincent Gardenia , Olympia Dukakis , and Danny Aiello
Director: Norman Jewison
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 0792838963
Release Date: 1998-06-30

Amazon.com essential video

Remember the outfit Cher wore to the Oscars when she won an Academy Award for her performance in this 1987 film? Ay-yi-yi. The actress' more retiring character in this infectious comedy leaps several psychological hurdles just giving her hair a permanent. But then the original screenplay by John Patrick Shanley (Joe Versus the Volcano) is a wonderful, gently satirical tale of an Italian-American family dealing with repression and dissatisfaction against a backdrop of cultural expectations. Cher is focused and funny as a widow who feels she should marry an older fellow (Danny Aiello), but then falls for his black-sheep brother (Nicolas Cage). Olympia Dukakis and Vincent Gardenia are perfect as her parents, and John Mahoney (of TV's Frasier) has a memorable, small role as a middle-aged man on the make who gets a lecture from Dukakis's character. Shanley's dialogue is comically stylized in a way that makes one appreciate how much words can inform an actor's performance. Taking its cues from him and director Norman Jewison (And Justice for All), the cast immerse themselves in a pool of hilariously operatic emotion. --Tom Keogh

Description

Fall under the delightful spell of Moonstruck, the mesmerizing romantic comedy from director Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Roof) and OscarÂ(r) winner* John Patrick Shanley. Academy AwardÂ(r) winners** Cher, Nicolas Cage and Olympia Dukakis excel in this explosively funny tale which also features flawless performances by Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia and Frasier's John Mahoney. Cher is "devastatingly funny, sinuous and beautiful" (Pauline Kael) as Loretta, an unlucky in love Italian widow who finds romance through the intervention of the Manhattan moon. With her wedding to a close friend just weeks away, she meets and falls hopelessly in love with his younger brother (Cage)! Her dilemma and her equally passionate and hilariously eccentric family make for an unforgettable film you'll find "beguiling" (Time), "enchanting" (Newsweek) and "irresistible" ("Today Show").

Customer Reviews:

I'm stuck on Moonstruck.......2007-05-19

This is a delightful romantic comedy. Cher does a wonderful job of changing from a frumpy, overworked fiancee to a glamorous, sexy girlfriend of Nicholas Cage. Good performances by everyone.

DVD Quality.......2007-02-14

The first disc was defective. Returned it for replacement. The replacement is very slightly out of sync of video and audio at the end of movie. Shows poor quality control.

A different romance.......2007-02-12

A very good yet different comedy romance. Cher and Nickolas Cage are a great team in this movie!

One of my all-time favorites.......2006-11-10

I love this movie so much that I've watched it countless times and enjoy it every time I've seen it. I wore through my VHS copy, so it was time for a replacement. A very funny romantic comedy!

Great Watch........2006-10-28

I wanted to be Italian when I finished this movie.
Nick Cage did an award winning job at acting. Cher was unbelievable. Loved her. There were so many "stars" and stellar performances in this film that I can't mention them all. Sugar in champagne? Who knew?
I love that all ends up happy in the end.

Average customer rating:

Definitely in the top 100 of all time
Very Moving
An Unforgettable Coming of Age Movie
Unforgettable, Cherished Summer of 42
Summer of 42

Summer of '42
Starring: Katherine Allentuck , Oliver Conant , Lou Frizzell , Gary Grimes , and Jerry Houser
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005U2KD
Release Date: 2002-02-05

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.

Average customer rating:

Love in the Afternoon
Love before nightfall in Paris!
Love in the Afternoon
Incredibly Alluring
Sparkling if a Bit Overlong Boulevard Comedy Shows Wilder and Hepburn in Top Form

Love in the Afternoon
Starring: Gary Cooper , Audrey Hepburn , Maurice Chevalier , Van Doude , and John McGiver
Director: Billy Wilder
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00005RRK0
Release Date: 2002-01-08

Amazon.com

Fairy-tale Paris doesn't get more enchanting than Billy Wilder's Love in the Afternoon, an ode to picnics on the grass and champagne at the Ritz. Audrey Hepburn (who had already made Sabrina with Wilder) is at her best as the inexperienced cellist with a fascination for millionaire American playboy Gary Cooper. Maurice Chevalier (who else?) is Hepburn's father, a private detective with ample evidence of Cooper's crowded history of l'amour. Alongside the sheen of the romance is Wilder's unerring sense of craftsmanship; watch how inanimate objects such as a liquor tray, a white carnation, or the little dog in the suite next door are developed into sublime running gags. The age difference between the two leads has often been questioned, but perhaps this is what gives the gossamer material the whiff of welcome melancholy. The final three minutes leave no doubt that Wilder hatched the best endings in Hollywood history. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Love in the Afternoon.......2007-06-26

This is a delightful outing for Hepburn, who'd already been featured opposite an established, aging Hollywood star in another Wilder film ( "Sabrina" , with Humphrey Bogart). "Love" is a sophisticated romantic comedy with lots of Gallic joie de vivre that will brighten any rainy day. Chevalier, one of France's biggest stars, is marvelous as Hepburn's protective Dad. And Cooper, even at an advancing age, is charming in the extreme. Don't miss that famous ending at the train station- it's one of Wilder's cutest closers.

Love before nightfall in Paris!.......2007-01-07

Ariane Chavasse, daughter of a French detective, loves to read her father's private dossiers... She becomes fascinated with the file concerning American playboy millionaire Frank Flannagan and a certain Madame X... She soon learns that Monsieur X has sworn to kill the American, so she goes to his hotel suite to warn him... Flannagan, intrigued by the attractive mysterious girl, dates her for the following afternoon... Ariane is captured by his sophistication, and a succession of many 'afternoon rendezvous' follows...

Concealing her identity, Ariane tells Frank of the many lovers in her past... He now becomes concerned about her... One day, in a steam bath, Flannagan meets Monsieur X, who advises him to consult detective Chavasse... He does, asking the detective to find out about the mysterious girl...

Reunited with Billy Wilder, Audrey Hepburn once again finds herself cast opposite a father figure in the person of Gary Cooper... Their vehicle is a gay comedy that derived from a Claude Anet novel called 'Ariane,' and it had been filmed twice before... Both adaptations clung to the novel's concept of an innocent young girl's winning over a middle-aged Don Juan by pretending a romantic past of her own to equal his, and eventually reforming him altogether...

With the most popular French entertainer of the last century Maurice Chevalier as the loving father, and John McGiver as the jealous husband, and considering its slight plot, 'Love in the Afternoon' maintains an atmosphere of sly charm and amusing details that almost sustains the film's length...

Director Wilder is helped immensely by the luminous black-and-white photography of William Mellor and by musical composer Franz Waxman, whose various arrangements of the movie's long-playing leitmotif 'Fascination' lend so much to the resulting effect...

Love in the Afternoon.......2006-11-20

Pleasant movie but nothing special, a very ordinary story. Audrey Hepburn's charisma is what puts some life to the movie. Some subtle humour though.

Incredibly Alluring.......2006-09-04

Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper make an unlikely pair for a lot of reasons in this film but that does not stop the relationship from working. It sizzles.

Audrey is a young Parisian girl, the daughter of a private investigator played by Maurice Chevalier. She is young, beautiful, innocent and plays the cello and is a bit bored. She treats herself to adventure by reading the case files of her father. A good proportion of these case files involve the character played by Gary Cooper. He is a rich American playboy who is always got women. Often, these women are married.

Cooper is the single largest source of income for Chevalier and Chevalier cannot help be admire his style. Having gypsy musicians on call to serenade the mark day and night is just one example.

When Hepburn learns that an outraged husband plans to kill Cooper, she secretly goes to warn the lovers. In doing so, she falls for Cooper herself and manages to arouse his interest. She knows that any sort of clinging will just turn him off so she tries to play his own strategy against him. She plays the mysterious playgirl with more beaux than she can count. She will not even give him her name.

The strategy works. Cooper falls for her in a big way but still she remains silent. In desperation, Cooper hires a private investigator to learn more about her. Naturally, this would be her father.

Things do not work out as expected but they do work out well. Hepburn portrays beauty and innocence and not a little female cunning. She is a delight to behold. So are Cooper's fits of uncertainty. Chevalier lends the whole episode a degree of class and dignity. It's a first fate story all around.

Sparkling if a Bit Overlong Boulevard Comedy Shows Wilder and Hepburn in Top Form.......2006-08-20

There is likely no more romantic ending to a Hollywood movie than the one in this soufflé-light 1957 romantic comedy, where Audrey Hepburn tries to keep up with a departing train upon which Gary Cooper stands and listens intently to her babbling about her fictitious sexual conquests. Hepburn plays Ariane, a young cellist and the daughter of a Parisian private investigator named Claude Chevasse. She has an unbridled interest in her father's often tawdry cases, chief among them the affairs of Frank Flannagan, a millionaire industrialist and aging playboy who finds himself in various trysts with married women around the world. A certain Monsieur X has come to Chevasse to catch his wife in a suspected extramarital fling with Flannagan. Overhearing Monsieur X's intention to kill his wife and her lover, Ariane decides to warn Flannagan, and they embark on an afternoons-only affair under the pretense that she is as much a worldly bon vivant as he is. Things come to a head when Flannagan becomes infatuated with this mysterious "thin girl" and recruits Crevasse to find out who she is.

Master filmmaker Billy Wilder leaves his unmistakable stamp on this confection with a clever, ironic script co-written with his long-time partner I.A.L. Diamond in their first collaboration. The dialogue is full of their trademark sparkling banter, and leave it to Wilder to use a Gypsy string quartet to act as a chorus for Flannagan's sexual shenanigans. Hepburn is her usual impeccable self as Ariane and especially good fun when she layers the deceptions about her checkered past. Cooper played this type of boulevardier role in the 1930's under masters like Ernst Lubitsch, and it is quite enjoyable to see him come back to this milieu two decades later as an aging lothario. Looking weather-beaten after years of Westerns and adventure pictures, he was given a lot of grief because of the age difference between him and Hepburn, but I actually find the gap quite touching and Cooper surprisingly game. Maurice Chevalier is ideally cast as Crevasse even if he has to play down his naturally effervescent manner. Granted the film runs a little too long at 126 minutes, but it is fine, light entertainment similar to Wilder and Hepburn's previous collaboration, the classic 1954 "Sabrina". The print transfer on the 2005 DVD is fine though not outstanding. Unfortunately there are no extras included.

Average customer rating:

nothing redeeming about it...
Emotionally Flat & One Dimensional
Superb!!!
NOT MUCH TO CARE ABOUT
Excellent Relationship Film

Shopgirl
Starring: Steve Martin , Claire Danes , Jason Schwartzman , Bridgette Wilson , and Sam Bottoms
Director: Anand Tucker
Manufacturer: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
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ASIN: B000EDWKX8
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Amazon.com

Any fan of Steve Martin's 2000 novella will enjoy this pitch-perfect adaptation, which glowingly captures the bittersweet tones of a May-December romance. Martin wrote the screenplay and stars as Ray Porter, a button-down 50-something executive who reaches out to a much younger woman as a Los Angeles playmate. The book and movie, though, are both primarily about Mirabelle (Claire Danes), a 20-something with a pile of promises, debt, and depression, as she fades away into a slow corner of Saks selling unneeded formal gloves. She's a wisp of a person, with a cat who doesn't love her, and when she finds a suitor, it's Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), a scruffy artist who babbles on about speakers. When the gentlemanly Porter calls, his appearance in her life begins to make her whole. It also immediately sets her up for sadness--Ray thinks of Mirabella as a precious outlet for sex, while Mirabelle, very mistakenly, sees Ray as a potential lifelong mate. Martin deftly turns the novella's prose into dialogue, allowing the movie to feel full-bodied, and the film also works as a comedy, as we witness Jeremy's growth on the road with a rock band. Schwartzman would walk away with film if not for the perfectly cast leads: Martin does another smart turn away from his wild-and-crazy moniker, Danes has never been better in an Oscar-worthy performance, and Bridgette Wilson-Sampras aces her role as a hot-to-trot co-worker of Mirabelle's. Whoever's decision to have Martin be the omnipresent narrator, though, should be penalized, as it's confusing to have him in two roles, and the information is pretty useless, even robbing the film of a final grace note. --Doug Thomas

Description

Based on Steve Martin's best-selling novella, and starring Golden Globe(R) winner Claire Danes (Best Actress In A TV Series, MY SO-CALLED LIFE, 1994), Golden Globe(R) nominee Steve Martin (Best Actor In A Motion Picture -- Comedy/Musical, FATHER OF THE BRIDE PART II, 1995), and Jason Schwartzman (BEWITCHED), SHOPGIRL is a disarmingly funny love story. Mirabelle, brilliantly played by Danes, is an aspiring artist working behind the glove counter at a Beverly Hills department store when she meets two very different men -- Jeremy (Schwartzman), a socially inept guy who doesn't seem to be going anywhere, and Ray (Martin) a wealthy entrepreneur who has the world at his feet. Filled with the mixed signals and missteps of a modern romance, SHOPGIRL is a fresh and witty, warm, and funny romantic comedy you can't help but fall in love with.

Customer Reviews:

nothing redeeming about it..........2007-07-04

First of all, I have never heard such cliched, corny, generalized, and downright dimwitted writing as I did in this movie. Fame should not automatically lend itself to the instant publication of such predictable, flat writing. And then to make a movie, where every character, including the nauseatingly named Mirabelle Buttersworth (I mean, really, that should have been the dealbreaker right there) lacks even one ounce of emotional depth...well it should be outlawed! I started doing some light reading halfway through this, and I didn't miss a beat. How anyone could find any sort of emotional or mental fulfillment in this movie is beyond me. Please do yourself a favor and refrain from watching this. My friends and I now have a plethora of demeaning "shopgirl" jokes, because really, we had to find some way to ease the suffering of such a dull two hours!

Emotionally Flat & One Dimensional.......2007-07-03

Or should I say downright dull? The acting was superb on all counts, but that is all I can say positively about this movie. It is slow, horribly slow, and the characters have no depth to them. Plus the conversations between them are just as drab & the interactions between them all leave you wanting more of a performance from them.

I kept watching this movie in hopes that it was somehow going to get better, but unfortunately it didn't. Don't waste your time or money watching this film.

Superb!!!.......2007-06-26

This movie is sophisticated, powerful, elegant, timeless, thought provoking, and a genuine "film" in the most respectful sense. Steve Martin shows that he is a master. Most highly recommended.

NOT MUCH TO CARE ABOUT.......2007-06-23

SHOPGIRL is a painful movie to watch because you don't really like either of the two male leads and you hate seeing Mirabelle, the shopgirl of the title played by Claire Danes, get emotionally hurt. And Mirabelle herself has no life so you are not much rooting for her either. As a result, the viewer is left emotionally flat, wincing at Mirabelle's misfortune. Steve Martin wrote the screenplay as well as the 2000 novel on which the movie is based. He also plays Ray Porter, a mysteriously rich businessman with no apparent family or friends other than one ex-girlfriend. Ray quietly seduces Mirabelle and showers her with gifts but not love. Meanwhile, Jeremy, an immature clown played by Jason Schwartzman, is also competing for her affections. Both Ray and Jeremy are emotionally stunted men incapable of love who only hurt Mirabelle or leave her empty. But then you have to wonder what such a gorgeous young woman is doing with these two losers. It doesn't make sense. Mirabelle could have any number of attractive, successful men who would be more than willing to love her. Instead, she is alone, without even a cat. The script implies that there is nothing wrong with Mirabelle, only with the her two suitors, Ray and Jeremy. One is tempted to read into this another Hollywood indictment of men. When are men going to get tired of going on movie dates only to find their gender being libeled again and again on the screen? Makes for wonderful after-date conversation how big of jerks the men were in the film, doesn't it? I would pass this film. SHOPGIRL, like Mirabelle, is rather boring. Perhaps that is her problem with men after all.

Excellent Relationship Film.......2007-06-16

Clair Danes gives a credible performance as an honest, sweet natured, twenty-something artist from Vermont who ventures out to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of being a featured photographer. She lives alone in a modest apartment working and biding her time at Saks Fifth Ave as a counter salesperson in the women's glove department. Clair's isolation (she does have some female friends, co-workers at Saks), becomes apparant when she gives her phone number to an off-beat stencil artist (Jason Schwartzman) she meets in a laundry mat. After a first date that can only be described as wierd, Clair accepts an invitation to dinner from an older man played by Steve Martin whom she meets while working at Saks. The first exchange between the 2 characters is extremely well written and plausible. Martin's clever move of sending Marabelle the gloves that she thought she sold him shows that male romantic ingenuity is alive and well. As Marabelle's and Martin's relationship becomes more involved the outer shell of each character becomes unraveled. The subtle use of voice-overs fills in the emotions that torment Martin's character. The scenes of Marabelle burning the dinner invitation card, returning to her teen room in Vermont, and photgraphing herself are especially moving. The one scene that is very powerful, yet a bit confusing to me was when Martin calls Clair at her parent's Vermont home. On a rotary wall phone (brilliant)Clair ponders whether to join Martin in New York for a reconciliation. The camera cuts to Clair's mom, then back to Clair. Is it that Clair so desperately wants to avoid the simple Vermont marriage that has defined her mother ? The dialogue in the script is wonderfully paced and written. The Jeremy character would probably have made Johnny Depp jump through hoops to get the part. Schwartzman almost steals the picture. But Martin and Danes give what I feel are their best perfomrances ever on the silver screen.

Average customer rating:

"What you see isn't always what you get!"
one of my favourites
Mature Romance
White Palace
White Palace

White Palace
Starring: Susan Sarandon , James Spader , Jason Alexander , Kathy Bates , and Eileen Brennan
Director: Luis Mandoki
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0006IIPLM
Release Date: 2005-03-01

Amazon.com essential video

Glenn Savan's depressing and self-loathing novel about a 27-year-old upper-class Jewish widower mired in self-pity after his beloved wife dies, and who finds love and sexual rebirth with a trailer-trash older woman, was brought to the big screen by the competent director Luis Mandoki (When a Man Loves a Woman, Message in a Bottle). But the savage irony in Savan's book has been face-lifted by screenwriters Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs) and Alvin Sargent (Ordinary People) into something else entirely: what passes for low-rent "slumming" in Hollywood means hiring sexy Susan Sarandon to play Nora Baker, the poor, uneducated 43-year-old waitress in a White Palace burger joint who strikes up an unlikely relationship with sad Max Baron (James Spader). Widower Max attends a bachelor party for best pal Neil (Jason Alexander) and discovers that the local White Palace has stiffed the boys a whopping six burgers. Max barges into the joint, bent on getting his money back, and meets a testy Nora, who is bemused at the young man's insolence. While driving home, Max stops abruptly at a bar for a drink. Inside, Nora is nursing a vodka and takes a shine to the tuxedo-clad, handsome, and morose younger man. He gives her a lift, she seduces him, and the rest of the movie examines how two such opposites in manners and morals can find happiness. The only common bond they have is great sex and a private tragedy. White Palace nudges at the dark journey and the smashing of illusion that was at the heart of the novel, but there is still a fairy-tale element to the film that negates the earthy essence that distinguished the book. In Mandoki's vision, White Palace is about overcoming class, family, and outside opinion to find true love. In Savan's book, Max wastes into decline while Nora ultimately thrives in the quest for truth, redemption, and self-forgiveness. She becomes his salvation only after he stops hating himself. But mainstream Hollywood shuns making "protagonists" so mad, bad, or sad, and as such, too much glitter is tossed on Spader, while Sarandon, as usual, is the only one who seems to embody and understand her character's angst. She deserved her Oscar for Nora, not the nun in Dead Man Walking. --Paula Nechak

Customer Reviews:

"What you see isn't always what you get!".......2007-05-27

I remember watching this movie long ago and I'd forgotten how sexy Susan Sarand