movie review summer of 42

Summer of ’42

Word comes to the woman that her husband has been killed in action, and almost wordlessly she takes the adolescent boy to her bed that very same night. The next day she is gone, leaving behind a note in which she gently declines to comment on the meaning of their experience — suggesting that perhaps, with time, it will take on an appropriate meaning of its own for the boy.

The problem is that it doesn’t. Robert Mulligan’s “Summer of ’42” is constructed to suggest that during that summer an event happened after which the boy was never the same. But we have to be content with an adult narrator who tells us this about himself; we never do learn how the boy, as a boy, put it together for himself. The fault may lie in the movie’s obsession with nostalgia. 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.

Nostalgia is used as a distancing device — to keep us safely insulated from the boy’s immediate grief, love, and passion. “Summer of ’42” seems to be suggesting, between its frames, that since all these things happened long ago and far away, in a world of meat rationing and old Unguentine ads and black Hudsons with running boards and theories about the care and use of rubbers, that the boy’s experience is somehow less intensely human.

The movie fairly drips with what’s supposed to pass for taste and restraint; the love scene itself, for example, is filmed in a stubbornly minor key (as if, here again, Mulligan was trying to turn ice into slush, or an immediately felt human experience into a sort of vague and gentle memory). But in the scenes that produce the most laughs — the hero’s embarrassment in the drugstore, or his friend’s sexual initiation on the beach, or their double date at the movies — “Summer of ’42” isn’t restrained at all.

That drugstore scene, for example. Second City has had at least two versions of the sketch where an adolescent tries to whisper his order for Trojans to a loud, unsympathetic druggist. This will do as comedy revue material; but “Summer of ’42” handles the material on exactly the same level, breaking step with the movie’s cadence to get some easy laughs. Same with the double date scene, which is crude in comparison with Frank Perry’s similar scene in “ Last Summer .”

What we’re left with are some beautifully produced and photographed notes toward a movie. Mulligan has succeeded in convincing us that his movie remembers and understands the wartime summer of 1942. He is very good, too, at trying to convince us that adolescence was somehow more innocent then. But anyone who has ever been an adolescent — and every adult has — will remember that it is hardly ever easy-going, in 1942 or any other year, and that although it may seem innocent when we remember it nostalgically, at the time it felt like an agonizingly prolonged fall from grace.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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User reviews

Summer of '42

Classic, timeless.

• rams_lakers
• Sep 27, 2004

The summer knows

• Feb 26, 2006

Love of '42

• DogePelis2015
• Dec 31, 2020

One of my all-time favorites.

• dhenderson-3
• Aug 24, 2004

The Boys On Nantucket

• Sep 5, 2020

Captivating - beyond my expectations

• SushilKBirla
• Jul 4, 2004

Summer of 42 was perfect for 1971...

• Jul 13, 2017

Summer of 42, a Timeless Classic of true Love

• angelsunchained
• Mar 19, 2005

"Come on. You KNOW what for."

• classicsoncall
• Dec 27, 2015

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

• johnharrison-1
• Mar 11, 2006

Sorry, but 'Oscy' spoiled it for me

• Mar 28, 2020

A True Classic

• Jan 30, 2003

Breakthrough film that was misunderstood and somewhat overrated.

• imbluzclooby
• Apr 19, 2019

Stultifying remembrances...

• moonspinner55
• Dec 5, 2010

A Cinema Classic

• Sep 5, 2002

Sweet and enjoyable

• Dec 28, 2001

A work of art that seems to grow only finer with the passing of time.

• HoldenSpark
• Jul 10, 2004

Another word for Infidelity

• thinker1691
• Oct 14, 2006

A special film...

• Sep 7, 1999

beautiful scenery, affecting nostalgia, so-so story

• daviddaphneredding
• May 31, 2014

A sensitive and poignant film that you will never forget

• Nov 23, 2008

Captivating coming of age tale, but do note my disclaimer

• Mar 5, 2006

A heartwarming coming of age film that is timeless.

• Aug 11, 2002

robert mulligan

• yusufpiskin
• Aug 13, 2020

Sweetness and humor disguise it's decadence

• Nov 30, 2015

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Summer of '42 Reviews

Summer of '42 is one of those rare films yon can't help liking simply for its aspirations which are so honest and open-minded.

Full Review | Jun 2, 2020

Thanks to director Robert Mulligan and a largely unfamiliar cast it turns cut to be a delightful film.

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 9, 2011

Visually lyrical film romance also has problems with dubious views on teen sexuality.

Full Review | Jan 4, 2011

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.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

In the early hijinks phase, the film seems like a dry run for Porky's, but it later gets into the business of fluttering curtains, walks on sandy beaches and longing glances.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 30, 2006

It forever misses, unlike American Graffiti, the heady sexual climate of adolescence to concentrate on the circumstances of the sex act itself.

Full Review | Jun 24, 2006

"Summer Of '42" is an unforgettable meditation on sexual awakening and loss during WWII.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 27, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 26, 2005

"Summer of '42" is a memory movie, written, directed and acted with such uncommon good humor that I don't think you'll be put off by its sweet soft-focus, at least until you start analyzing it afterwards.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 9, 2005

One of the cinematic coming-of-age stories that started a trend.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 3, 2005

Nostalgic coming-into-manhood fantasy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 28, 2004

Nostalgia is used as a distancing device -- to keep us safely insulated from the boy's immediate grief, love, and passion.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 23, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 23, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 5, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 20, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 22, 2003

The interaction between Grimes and his teenage co-stars - the sharp, crude Houser and the more innocent Conant - is engaging, and the spare, uncluttered soundtrack is recompense for Mulligan's overblown visuals.

Full Review | May 24, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 30, 2003

Dates very badly indeed

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 21, 2002

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Summer of ’42 (1971) – A Review

A review of the classic 1971 coming-of-age comedy drama Summer of ’42 starring Gary Grimes and Jennifer O’Neal

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It’s the summer of 1942 on Nantucket Island. The horrors of World War II seem like they’re worlds away for fifteen-year-old Hermie (Gary Grimes). He’s planning to spend his summer on the island hanging out with his two pals Oscy and Benjie getting into ‘boys will be boys’ antics, trying to figure out the goings-on under girls clothes and formulating plans to lose their virginity’s.

Then one day while hanging out on the beach Hermie spots Dorothy (Jennifer O’Neill) a young war bride whose soldier husband leaves to fight overseas. Suddenly this lonely beautiful woman becomes the focus of Hermie’s summer.

It sounds like this story could be a silly teen sex romp, with our pack of young heroes getting into all sorts of outlandish situations while attempting to score with girls, then along comes this ‘experienced woman’ who takes a liking to our lead character and educates him in the ways of love.

However, The   Summer of ’42   is miles away from what the film would have been had it been made ten years later during the popular teen/sex/comedy craze of 1980s.

The film is narrated by the grown up Hermie (spoken by director Robert Mulligan) who is nostalgically looking back fondly on this summer. He recounts how special it really was and what a significant impression Dorothy left on his life in that brief time they spent together. It’s a quintessential coming-of-age tale.

There are some funny scenes of the young naive teens trying to learn about female anatomy from a medical book, taking their dates to the movies, awkwardly buying condoms. These scenes play as so innocent compared to contemporary times. You might be asking yourself, ‘were fifteen-year-old guys ever truly this ignorant about this stuff?’. Whether it’s exaggerated or not they’re still entertaining scenes.

The big part of the movie is the relationship between Hermie and Dorothy though. Hermie attempts to act like a mature sophisticated adult around this woman and he just never quite pulls it off.

Along with being a lonely sad figure given the situation she’s in, it’s no wonder that Hermie is so taken with her and I’m right there with him. While watching this I always think to myself what’s wrong with all the other males on this island that they’re not all rushing to help Dorothy carry her groceries???

That kind of makes it sound sappy and at times the film does play a little too sentimental for its own good. Warm orange sunlight over the beach, beautiful waves crashing against the shoreline, slo-mo shots of O’Neill, the soft sad theme song ‘The Summer Knows’ playing over the gauzy cinematography of Nantucket Island.

It could all be very schmaltzy, but somehow director Richard Mulligan and his cast make it all feel sincere and I fall for it everytime I watch it. It’s become one of my favorite coming-of-age films.

Herman Raucher based his screenplay and book on his real life experience of a summer he spent on Nantucket Island when he was a teenager. One interesting piece of trivia is when the film and book came out and became so popular Raucher was contacted by his real life ‘Dorothy’. 

She said she had lived with guilt with what transpired between them and was worried she traumatized him. She was relieved he turned out alright and was well. They never reconnected and she thought it was best to not resist their past. 

The Summer of ’42 thee by Michel Legrand 

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1 thought on “ summer of ’42 (1971) – a review ”.

This is a great movie. And it has one of the most haunting and beautiful endings of any film. It is a movie very much of its' time. Strange that the early 1970's was a perfect time to expertly capture the look and feel of 1942 – but there you have it. And of course Jennifer O'Neil was just beautiful on the screen. But I think what's most memorable about this production is its authenticity. It really makes you believe these are real people saying and doing real things. Not just props like many movies today.

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Summer of ’42 Review

01 Jan 2001

Summer of ’42

Set in the early days of World War II but obviously addressed to the concerns of the Vietnam generation, this slight coming-of-age romance was a major box office success in the early 70s. Three young lads spend the soft focus summer on Long Island and Grimes, the sensitive hero, loses his virginity in an affair with O'Neill, a melancholy soul who has just been widowed by the war.

Mulligan, who made To Kill A Mockingbird, tries for another mix of universal feelings and a specific time and place, but it's impossible to think of these people as 1940s characters. In the early hijinks phase, the film seems like a dry run for Porky's, but it later gets into the business of fluttering curtains, walks on sandy beaches and longing glances.

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Summer of '42 Reviews

• 59   Metascore
• 1 hr 42 mins
• Drama, Comedy
• Watchlist Where to Watch

Three teens vacationing on a New England island in 1942 get involved in mischief and romance, while one of them becomes enamored of a lonely young bride whose husband is off to war.

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. Director Mulligan (as the adult Hermie) narrates his recollections, and all of the names used in the story were the real names of the people involved (or so claimed screenwriter Raucher, who wrote the screenplay in less than two weeks). Grimes is the 15-year-old whose life we observe on the tranquil island, where the horrors of war seem a million miles away. Grimes and his friends, Houser and Conant, pal around together, get into minor scrapes, go see movies like NOW, VOYAGER, and spend a great deal of time poring over an educational sex manual. Houser reads the manual as though it were the Bible and he a seminary student; Grimes is more interested in the practical aspects of sex and yearns for O'Neill, an "older woman" in her twenties who is married to absent soldier Scott.