Love Story (1970)

Love Story (1970)

Directed by: Arthur Hiller

Written by: Erich Segal

Starring: Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal, John Marley

Running Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes

Rating: PG

Pre-Conceived Notions: The classic line, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” comes from this. I want whatever whoever wrote this line was smoking, because if love means never apologizing, then that’s a fantastic relationship! But let’s be honest, here. No one has ever said, “You don’t have to  apologize, Honey, we’re in love, remember?” Nobody. Who isn’t on psychotropic drugs. LSD may have made someone say that a time or two. 

Why I Haven't Seen This Film: The ’70s  form a huge, gaping maw in my “movies I’ve seen” list. Especially ones with really dumb lines that become more famous than the movie they’re in.

1 hour, 39 minutes later…: I get a feeling that movie was miscast. I found Ali MacGraw’s character so unlikable that I kept moving the mouse around to see the time: 20 minutes until she eats it. 15 minutes until she eats it. 10 minutes… She was a bitch to Ryan O’Neal from the very start of the movie, and all of a sudden he falls for her? And then gives up his millions for her? Um, okay. Different strokes, and all that. 

And all of that snow! I grew up in New England in the ’80s, and I remember getting that much snow all at once, and we’d never see the ground at all until the spring thaw. Now, we’re lucky if the snow hangs around a week after a big storm. I mean, on the playground, we’d build snow forts and they’d be there for a really long time, and the temps would freeze the tip of your nose off, and we’d walk to and from school, and we liked it. Sorry about getting on a climate change rant, there, but that’s really the only other thing that stuck out for me.

Nope. I lied. That music: DUM, duh-dum DUM-DUM!!! Over and over and over again. I’m going to be dreaming about that song tonight! Other composers do a really good job at writing a theme, and then stuffing it in the music so we get hints of it every once in a while. But this time, we kept getting smacked in the face by that theme that will not! Leave! My head! 

Final Thoughts: 2 out of 6 slices of pizza. Like the kind of pizza that accidentally gets put in the microwave too long. After it’s sat in the fridge for three days.