University of Virginia Library

Film Review

Perry Has Winner
With 'Last Summer'

By Steve Wells
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

"Last Summer" is a film of
staggering impact. At the outset, let
me say that it ranks with "Goodbye,
Columbus" and above "Easy
Rider" as one of the year's best
motion pictures.

Director Frank Perry ("David
and Lisa," "The Swimmer") has
taken meticulous care in piecing
together his wife Eleanor's screen
adaptation of Evan Hunter's novel.
The result is a beautiful movie
which, if I had my way, would be
required viewing of everyone in the
country, especially those over thirty
years of age.

On the surface, "Last Summer"
deals with the maturation of four
teenagers during the course of a few
vacation months. The place is Fire
Island. The weather is hot. Sandy
(Barbara Hershey) is a gorgeous
brunette who lives in a beach
cottage with her always preoccupied
mother. While giving first aid
to a wounded sea gull one day, she
meets Pete (Richard Thomas) and
Dan (Bruce Davison), two seemingly
typical American boys. The three
soon form a pact which allows
them to reveal their innermost
secret truths to one another,
thereby denouncing the hypocrisy
they see in their parents' society.
Thus, they pass the summer,
drinking beer, swimming, and having
fun (sometimes at the expense
of others).

Into this "exclusive group"
comes Rhoda (Cathy Burns), a
homely little girl from Cleveland.
Her "stuck-up" conservative ideas
immediately clash with the liberal
viewpoints of the other three. Still,
she sticks with them and they
tolerate her, at times with painstaking
patience, at other times with
sort of a vicious pleasure.

There is much intricate symbolism
and meaning in the steadily
engrossing, well-structured story.
Once or twice we have difficulty in
finding complete character motivation,
especially as the picture nears
its not totally convincing end,
which is the one major flaw in an
otherwise top-notch script.

The main strength of the film,
however, lies in its realism. The
four teenagers are so true-to-life, so
believable that we can but wonder
how the Perrys ever attained the
insight into today's youth to bring
such characters to life on the
screen. The dialogue the youngsters
speak has a ring of recognizable
truth to it.

When Sandy, Dan, and Pete
engage in their own pot-smoking
party and then decide to shampoo
each other's hair, Mr. Perry creates
the illusion that this is no more
than innocent fun. When the two
boys casually discuss having sexual
relations with Sandy, their conversation
has a realistic and virginal
charm to it. Only in their vicious
tendencies (which stem from a
youthful restlessness that can be
greatly attributed to parental
neglect) do they differ in any way
whatsoever from today's average
teenager.

The performances that Mr. Perry
has drown from his four young
actors are nothing short of magnificent.
The cast is so well balanced
that it is virtually impossible to
single anyone out. Miss Hershey
and Mssrs. Thomas and Davison
make the fun-loving threesome
thoroughly intriguing and Miss
Burns complements them with her
calculated portrayal of the shy,
reluctant Rhoda.

But it is Mr. Perry who, as
director, deserves the highest praise.
While showing us the evil in Sandy
and her two comrades, he never lets
us forget that they are products of
their parents' society. Conveying
the intensity of the heat in such a
way that it builds tension, he leads
into the film's controversial
climactic scene. Then suddenly it's
all over. There is no fade-out music;
that would spoil the effect. We sit,
stunned, almost unable to move,
thinking of what went before. We
wonder what will become of the
characters now that they are no
longer adolescents. We care.

"Last Summer," now at the
University Theatre, is a movie, full
of underlying social implications,
which you can not afford to miss.
It is a film that deals honestly and
meaningfully with part of a generation
that is far too often
misrepresented in the cinema.

***

According to an article in the
October 1 issue of Variety, the
mayor of a small town in Ohio has
started an anti-smut campaign after
seeing "Last Summer." He is
quoted as saying. "I have never
been so disgusted and so angered at
what I saw in this motion picture."
He also "rapped" the manager of
the theatre in which the film was
being shown.

I am shocked but not surprised
at the childish and provincial
attitude of this man and his
supporters. I am curious to know
what exactly it is that he objects to.
I presume it is the frankness of the
dialogue and the final scene in
which Miss Hershey bares her
breasts. I wish to stress that in no
way is the film offensive.

The attitude of this man (and
others like him) appears to indicate
a very limited exposure to life as
well as a very narrow mind. If he
wants to continue his anti-smut
campaign, I suggest he aim it at
films of lesser quality. It is a shame
that there are adults, especially
public officials, in our society who
lack the sophistication to differentiate
between art and pornography.