The Summer of '42

Made in 1971. It was big enough that it was satirized in Mad magazine. A 15-year-old boy sleeps with an attractive young war widow. I saw it on network TV back then.

The kids in The Summer of '42 are sort of homely. All they do is talk about sex all the time which is rather repulsive. And they do that thing they do in movies where they smile maniacally to indicate sexual excitement.

It's a true story, so I shouldn't judge the poor kids by the high standards we set for fictional characters.

After the movie came out, the author was contacted by the woman who had seduced him. She had been afraid all those years that she had traumatized him.

It stars Gary Grimes who, up until this movie appeared in Gunsmoke, The Brady Bunch and My Three Sons. His best friend is played by Jerry Houser who ended up married to Marcia Brady in The Brady Brides.

It seems strange that it would have this connection to The Brady Bunch, but Marcia and Jan both went on to play teen prostitutes, Maureen McCormick on the Streets of San Francisco and Eve Plumb in Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway.

It shows the advantage of being a kid actor---you can find yourself starring in a major motion picture with very little experience.

Available on Filmstruck for another two weeks.