Summer of '42 ( 1971 ) is about Empathy
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by Blender Dumbass
Aka: J.Y. Amihud. A Jewish by blood, multifaceted artist with experience in film-making, visual effects, programming, game development, music and more. A philosopher at heart. An activist for freedom and privacy. Anti-Paternalist. A user of Libre Software. Speaking at least 3 human languages. The writer and director of the 2023 film "Moria's Race" and the lead developer of it's game sequel "Dani's Race".
First time I heard of the movie Summer of '42 when reading Tarantino's review of American Graffiti. In his review a large chunk is dedicated to this picture, because he is trying to illustrate the aesthetic similarities between the two pictures and the broader genre shifts of the 60s and 70s cinema landscape, that gave way to something like American Graffiti. Shortly after that, there was the review by Troler. And then finally, which made me grab my lazy ass and put it into the chair to watch this film, was a conversation I had with @Troler , where he so kindly spoiled the ending of this movie for me, while breaking down the cinematic techniques used in the film. c:0 โฉ Reply
Speaking of the cinematic techniques, the direction of Robert Mulligan is quite on point. Yet I cannot pretend that I enjoyed every single shot decision made in this movie. See, Mulligan is not Spielberg and is not Hitchcock or somebody else who uses cinematic language precisely, fluently and to the point. His direction in this film is very much late 60s and early 70s. The shots are beautiful and the camera does some really good stuff, but sometimes, once in a while you will have a shot of nothing at all. The camera would be ashamed, or something, of whatever is going on, on the screen, and pivot out of the way, such that for a moment, you might get a little confused as to "why". c:1 โฉ Reply
In a way Mulligan operates on a similar level to directors like Lars Von Trier, Luca Guadagnino, or sometimes Michael Bay. The film-making is not precise, per se, but in combination with the rest of the scene, with the emotional context and so on and so forth, those "strange" decisions appear to actually work quite fantastically. It feels like they were done not because of some calculated cinematic grammar, but just because of a gut feeling. A gut feeling that yields a strangely successful result. c:2 โฉ Reply
But let's actually talk about the story of the film. Yes. The plot. The psycho-sexual nature of it. The whole thing feels out of the same bunch of pictures as Stanley Kubrick's Lolita and Luc Besson's Leon. We have a horny teenager. We have an adult that this teenager is trying to get. We have psycho-sexual tension in the air. โฉ Reply
If you know me, you know that when I was a teen I tried to seduce a smokin' hot 42 year old lady. The character of Gary Grimes Hermie from Summer of '42 reminds me of myself back then. And the character of Jennifer O'Neill Dorothy, reminds me of this smokin' hot 42 year old lady. โฉ Reply
Spoiler alert, our 15 year old protagonist actually gets laid in the film. You can view it as creepy. You can view it as heart-breakingly depressing. I, for instance, feel envy. All I got was a touch. This motherfucker got what he wanted. But looking at it from the other perspective, thinking about how little this 15 year old knows about getting laid, made me realize we need more sex-education. Because those teenagers in this movie are cringe-worthy to look at. c:3 โฉ Reply
On the other hand though, knowing the spoiler, thanks to @Troler, made me think about the whole affair in a slightly more open-minded way. The envy was over. I was focusing on the plot. I was focusing on the message. What was this movie trying to say? โฉ Reply
So we have these two motherfuckers: Hermie and Oscy ( Jerry Houser ). There is technically a third motherfucker Benjie ( Oliver Conant ), but his character doesn't seem to be related much to the message of the film. Hermie and Oscy ( both 15 ) are horny out of their minds. They are scheming their way into sex. Oscy meets a girl about his age. Hermie is madly in love with that woman Dorothy. โฉ Reply
Oscy actually gets laid first, with that girl he met. But based on the movie that doesn't work too satisfactory for him. Their "relationship" quickly breaks apart the morning after. And there seems to be little to no chemistry between them to begin with. โฉ Reply
Contrast that to the relationship between Hermie and the adult Dorothy. He is scheming his way into her life, by helping her with a bunch of stuff here and there. His cock is so hard on her, that he lets her use him for all kinds of manual labor. And he is happy, because she is there. And she turns him the fuck on. He is obviously trying to pretend to be more adult than he is. Maybe thinking that this "maturity" will either impress Dorothy, or make her less against the possibility of being with him, or something. And so by the end of the film, he sort of distances himself from Oscy, as Oscy is still this juvenile looking teenager of a teenager. While he is a "man" now. โฉ Reply
So he dresses up in grown-up clothes and walks over to her house one evening, just to discover a terrible tragedy. Somebody dear to her just died. She is sitting in her house all alone, weeping. Not in a mood for anything at all. This is the moment our Hermie realizes that getting laid should not be his top priority right now. He realizes that what he needs to do in this moment is to be the only person, probably, on the whole island, that can give Dorothy the emotional support that she needs right now. He realizes that he needs to become a man. A man she can cry on a shoulder of. โฉ Reply
It just so happens to be, that to cope with this loss, Dorothy needs something a little stronger than just a mere hug. โฉ Reply
Happy Hacking!!! โฉ Reply
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Troler
c:0 February 06, 2026 And then finally, which made me grab my lazy ass and put it into the chair to watch this film, was a conversation I had with @Troler , where he so kindly spoiled the ending of this movie for me, while breaking down the cinematic techniques used in the film.
โคด ViewYou're welcome.
Troler
c:1 February 06, 2026 really good stuff, but sometimes, once in a while you will have a shot of nothing at all. The camera would be ashamed
โคด ViewI quite fancy how you personified the camera.
Troler
c:2 February 06, 2026 It feels like they were done not because of some calculated cinematic grammar, but just because of a gut feeling
โคด ViewThe movie is based on director's own life experience, all the characters are based on real people. You could say, Mulligan lived in the flesh and bones of Hermie.
Troler
c:3 February 06, 2026 we need more sex-education. Because those teenagers in this movie are cringe-worthy to look at.
โคด ViewYou use condoms to make water-balloons, right?
... replies ( 1 )
Blender Dumbass
c:4 February 06, 2026@Troler I was more thinking about their reactions to "The Book"
Blender Dumbass
c:4 February 06, 2026... c:3
@Troler I was more thinking about their reactions to "The Book"
Troler
c:5 February 06, 2026As I saw it, Dorothy saw her husband in Hermie. In her tangled mental state, that juvenile teenager was her husband, her dead husband.
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