X
- 1971
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 44 m
- 1971
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 44 m
Summary During his summer vacation on Nantucket Island in 1942, a youth eagerly awaiting his first sexual encounter finds himself developing an innocent love for a young woman awaiting news on her soldier husband's fate in WWII.
Directed By: Robert Mulligan
Written By: Herman Raucher
- 1971
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 44 m
- 1971
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 44 m
Summer of '42
59
User Score
Generally Favorable
6.8
Where to Watch
Summary During his summer vacation on Nantucket Island in 1942, a youth eagerly awaiting his first sexual encounter finds himself developing an innocent love for a young woman awaiting news on her soldier husband's fate in WWII.
Directed By: Robert Mulligan
Written By: Herman Raucher
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
59
44% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
56% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
59
44% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
56% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
A self-consciously nostalgic piece, with Oscar-winning music, immaculate detail, and made while soldiers were dying in Vietnam. [05 Aug 2007, p.8]
Director Robert Mulligan exhibits the same sensitivity about young people and their foibles as he did in "To Kill a Mockingbird." In 1962. You never sense that he's making fun of Hermie or his pals. [08 Jul 2007, p.16]
The movie isn't set up to tell a story about a boy who was young in the summer of 1942; it insists on presenting itself, instead, as an adult memory of that long-ago summer. We don't learn very much about the boy because the movie's adult point of view refuses to come to terms with him.
Another coming-of-age tale about three boys and their quest to become men, which invariably revolves around having sex and puerile behaviour but then changes tack completely by giving us lush scenery. If the director had remained with one idea then perhaps the end product wouldn't seem so varied.
People who actually recall 1942 will more greatly appreciate the waves of nostalgia that bathe this affectionate coming-of-age drama, set on a tiny island off New England.
Robert Mulligan's Summer of '42 has a large amount of charm and tenderness; it also has little dramatic economy and much eye-exhausting photography which translates to forced and artificial emphasis on a strungout story.
Zeroing in (with much of Mulligan's usual quiet sympathy) on adolescence and the moment of sexual awakening with the added weight of The Way We Were type of nostalgia, this is a mess of contradictions.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 4 User Ratings
6.8
75% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
25% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 4 User Ratings
6.8
75% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
25% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 4 Nominations
BAFTA Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
