Summer of '42

"In everyone's life there's a "Summer of '42""

1971 1h 43m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

🍅

77%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★6.7TMDB · 166🍅77%Rotten Tomatoes●59Metacritic★7.2IMDB · 9,593

ComedyDramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Over the summer of 1942 on Nantucket Island, three friends -- Hermie, Oscy and Benjie -- are more concerned with getting laid than anything else. Hermie falls in love with the married Dorothy, whose husband is an army pilot recently sent to the battlefront of World War II.

“In everyone's life there's a "Summer of '42"”

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Cast

Jennifer O'Neill
Dorothy
Gary Grimes
Hermie
Jerry Houser
Oscy
Oliver Conant
Benjie
Katherine Allentuck
Aggie
Christopher Norris
Miriam
Lou Frizzell
Druggist
Walter Scott
Dorothy's Husband (uncredited)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Robert Mulligan
Writers: Herman Raucher
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

55 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Summer of '42 Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Robert Mulligan, shot by Robert Surtees. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Michel Legrand. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Folmar Blangsted shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jennifer O'Neill and Gary Grimes and Jerry Houser carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "In everyone's life there's a "Summer of '42"".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Mulligan directs. Robert Surtees behind the camera. Michel Legrand scores. Folmar Blangsted cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

155 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Part of the "Summer of '42 Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Robert Mulligan, shot by Robert Surtees. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Michel Legrand. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Folmar Blangsted shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Jennifer O'Neill and Gary Grimes and Jerry Houser carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "In everyone's life there's a "Summer of '42"".
9IMDB entry: tt0067803 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 16 themes, including "island", "beach", "sexual frustration", "age difference".
11Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Original score: Michel Legrand
Editing: Folmar Blangsted
Production design: Albert Brenner
Runtime: 103 min · 1h 43m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Summer of '42 (1971)
Rotten Tomatoes: 77% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 59/100
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 9,593 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

Won 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 11 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Summer of '42 Collection

Hermie, Oscy, and Benjie come of age in the early to mid-1940s.

Also by

Robert Mulligan

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2018-05-21
★ 8/10
Sex-obsessed boys on Nantucket in 1942 RELEASED IN 1971 and directed by Robert Mulligan, "Summer of '42” is the biographical drama of Herman “Hermie” Raucher (Gary Grimes) coming of age at 15 during the titular season & year on Nantucket Island. He and his two pals, Oscy and Benji, hang out on the island learning about sex and chasing girls. Meanwhile, Hermie is an awe of a 21 year-old woman (Jennifer O'Neill) whose soldier husband is off fighting WWII. This is such a well-done classic film from the early 70s. The island locales are breathtaking while the story is low-key realistic, which is fitting since it was based on a real-life. It’s basically about a teenage boy in awe of a beautiful adult whoa-man of whom O’Neill fills the bill. Hermie has a mature, spiritual attitude toward love & sex, which is contrasted by Oscy’s juvenile, animalistic approach. The movie’s not meant to provoke “controversy” but rather to just show the way it was and what happened. The same type of story happened and happens to mid-teens in every community all over North America and the world to this day. I’m not saying it’s right or wise on the adult’s part (it’s not), but simply that it happens; and the teen WANTED it, boy or girl. That said, there’s some ambiguity to the ending and it’s not 100% certain that such-and-such occurred. The outstanding “Last Summer” (1969) is a comparable movie, but with an unpleasant edge. Both films take place on island beaches during the summer and involve teens coming of age. Both films involve a disturbing element. But “Last Summer” is ugly in a significant way whereas “Summer of ’42” maintains a sense of awe and beauty. “The Outsiders” (1983) is also a little comparable, particularly the theater sequence. WATCH OUT for notable Christopher Norris as Oscy’s wannabe date, Miriam. If you’re not familiar with her, be sure to check her out in Ron Howard’s “Eat My Dust” (1976). THE FILM RUNS 1 hour, 44 minutes and was shot in Mendocino in Northern California and a couple other places in California. They had intended to shoot it on Nantucket, where the true story occurred, but the island had changed so much since 1942 that it proved more feasible to simply find another, underdeveloped locale as a substitute. GRADE: A-/B+

Production companies