Film Review: Summer of '42 (1971)

The New Hollywood era, spanning roughly the late 1960s to early 1980s, is often celebrated for its bold, innovative filmmakers who rejected traditional narrative structures and studio constraints. Directors like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Robert Altman pushed boundaries, crafting morally complex, stylistically adventurous films that redefined American cinema. Yet, concurrently, a parallel trend emerged: filmmakers who consciously embraced pre-1960s, Old Hollywood conventions, achieving surprising commercial success by catering to a public yearning for simplicity and nostalgia. This phenomenon, particularly evident in period pieces, found its apex in films that transported audiences to an idealised past—often one scrubbed of contemporary anxieties. Robert Mulligan’s Summer of ’42 (1971) stands as a quintessential example of this strategy, marrying sentimental storytelling with meticulous period detail to offer viewers an escapist antidote to the turbulence of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Its success hinged not on daring innovation but on nostalgia’s power to soothe a fractured culture, proving that old-fashioned charm could still command mainstream appeal.

The film’s script, written by Herman Raucher, draws directly from his own adolescence. Vacationing with his family on Nantucket during the summer of 1942, Raucher transformed his memories into a semi-autobiographical tale. This personal foundation lent the narrative an authenticity that elevated it beyond mere nostalgia. The protagonist, nicknamed “Hermie” (Gary Grimes), embodies the awkward, hormone-driven innocence of early adolescence, while the film’s focus on friendship, first loves, and the looming spectre of war creates a microcosm of mid-20th-century America. Raucher’s decision to ground the story in specific time and place—Nantucket during World War II—ensured the setting became a character in its own right, a sun-drenched idyll where conflicts were manageable and stakes, though emotional, remained intimate.

The plot follows Hermie and his two friends, Oscy (Jerry Houser) and Benjie (Oscar Conant), as they deal with their first forays into sexuality and romance. Their obsession with a borrowed medical textbook’s anatomical diagrams fuels their misguided attempts to seduce local girls, including Miriam (Christopher Norris) and Aggie (Katherine Allentuck). A double date at the cinema—where Oscy’s boldness contrasts Hermie’s fumbling nervousness—sets off a chain of events, including Oscy’s successful conquest of Miriam and Hermie’s hesitant attraction to Dorothy (Jennifer O’Neill), a young woman whose husband is fighting overseas. Dorothy’s quiet dignity and vulnerability contrast sharply with the boys’ crude machismo, creating a tension that deepens as Hermie’s tentative friendship with her evolves into something more tender, albeit tinged with tragedy. The film’s emotional core lies in this relationship, which unfolds against the backdrop of wartime anxieties and the boys’ growing awareness of mortality—a juxtaposition that underscores the fragility of youthful idealism.

Despite its modest budget, Summer of ’42 became a sleeper hit, bolstered by Raucher’s novelisation of his screenplay, which sold briskly and amplified the film’s profile. Its success echoed that of Love Story (1970), another Old Hollywood-style weepie that capitalised on audiences’ fatigue with the era’s countercultural disillusionment. For Baby Boomers and older viewers weary of Vietnam-era cynicism, Summer of ’42 offered a balm: a world where war was distant and romanticised, where teenage angst was manageable, and where moral clarity prevailed. The film’s period setting—1942, a year marked by national unity and sacrifice—allowed audiences to project their longing for a “simpler” time onto the screen. The era’s turmoil, from race riots to student protests, made such escapism not just palatable but urgent, positioning Summer of ’42 as both a relic and a refuge.

Mulligan’s direction and Robert Surtees’ cinematography are central to the film’s nostalgic allure. Surtees’ use of soft focus and warm lighting bathes Nantucket in a golden haze, rendering the island almost mythic in its beauty. Every detail—the clothing, the architecture, the period-accurate cars—reflects a meticulous attention to authenticity, though purists might quibble with anachronisms, such as the inclusion of Now, Voyager in a cinema lineup before its actual 1942 release. Mulligan balances the film’s tonal shifts deftly: the first half’s slapstick and sexual naivety give way to a more melancholic second act, as Hermie’s relationship with Dorothy matures and the consequences of wartime loss intrude. The transition is handled with care, allowing the film to shift from comedy to poignancy without jarring the viewer.

The young cast delivers performances that, while not transcendent, are entirely serviceable. Grimes captures Hermie’s mix of insecurity and curiosity, while Houser’s Oscy embodies the brashness of the jock archetype. O’Neill, however, steals the film with her restrained grace as Dorothy, whose quiet resilience and vulnerability give depth to what could have been a one-dimensional character. Her career, unlike her co-stars’, flourished post-Summer of ’42 cementing her status as a steady presence in television and film.

Michel Legrand’s score is the film’s most enduring contribution. Borrowing themes from his 1969 score for La Piscine, Legrand crafted a melody that became synonymous with 1970s nostalgia. The haunting, wistful main theme—later adapted into a hit song covered by artists like Andy Williams—elevated the film’s emotional resonance, earning Legrand an Academy Award for Best Original Score. The music’s ubiquity in subsequent decades, from commercials to television, testifies to its lasting power, transcending the film itself to become a cultural shorthand for bygone innocence.

Yet Summer of ’42 is not without flaws. The film’s pacing falters in its final act, with Mulligan opting for deliberate, almost languid scenes that risk numbing the emotional payoff. The ambiguity surrounding Hermie and Dorothy’s relationship—particularly the nature of their final encounter—may frustrate viewers seeking closure, though this vagueness arguably mirrors the protagonist’s own unresolved feelings. Critics have argued that the film’s refusal to clarify certain moments, such as Dorothy’s fate, prioritises poetic resonance over narrative clarity, a choice that divides audiences.

The film’s success spurred an inevitable sequel, Class of ’44 (1972), which attempted to replicate its predecessor’s magic by following the characters into adolescence. Yet it lacked the freshness and focus of the original, flopping commercially and critically. Raucher, content with the financial windfall from Summer of ’42, retired from screenwriting, leaving his film as a solitary monument to its era’s nostalgia boom. Its influence, however, endured. Films like American Graffiti (1973) and The Lords of Flatbush (1974) similarly mined period settings and sentimental storytelling to appeal to audiences craving escapism—a testament to Summer of ’42’s role in shaping 1970s cinema’s emotional landscape.

In retrospect, Summer of ’42 is as an artifact of its time: a film that thrived by offering a reprieve from modernity’s chaos, yet one that also reveals the limits of nostalgia. Its idealised vision of the past smooths over the era’s own inequalities and hardships, presenting a sanitized version of history that prioritises comfort over truth. Yet, this very quality is its strength and its weakness. For all its flaws, it captures a universal yearning for innocence and simplicity, a longing that continues to resonate. In doing so, it reminds us that cinema’s power lies not only in innovation but also in its ability to conjure, however briefly, a world we wish still existed.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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