Main Cast: Peter Fonda, Sharon Hugueny, Nick Adams, Deborah Walley, Beatrice Straight, Malachi Throne
Release Year: 1964
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
Plot
Producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. took a stab at directing with this '60s-era melodrama about college students dealing with the realities of love, sex, and war. Peter Fonda and Sharon Hugueny star as Eddie and Pam, the titular young lovers. An art student and teacher's assistant, the two meet in college and proceed to fall into a passionate affair. Emotional tumult later follows though, when Pam announces she is pregnant with Eddie's child. Also starring Nick Adams' and Deborah Walley, The Young Lovers was the final big-screen appearance by Hugueny whose career spiraled into disarray after her short marriage to producer Robert Evans. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Review
Somewhat daring in its time, The Young Lovers will come across as very dated to many modern viewers. Lovers deserves points for tackling, with serious and sensitivity, issues that were only beginning to be explored openly in the cinema of 1964 -- premarital sex, abortion, paternal responsibility, etc. Yet even when it was first released, Lovers didn't explore these with enough honesty; there's a hesitancy about the film, a sense that it doesn't want to push the boundaries too far, and this acts against it. This hesitancy is perhaps the reason that Peter Fonda's performance is so uneven. Portions of it are quite good, exhibiting a fine combination of power and nuance; yet at other times Fonda seems adrift, not sure what exactly he's playing in a given scene. First-time director Samuel Goldwyn Jr. did not provide the strong guiding hand required, and Fonda is not the only one who suffers. His co-star, Sharon Hugueny never really "lands" her moments and comes across as too indistinct for someone in such a crucial role. The supporting cast fares much better, with solid turns from Beatrice Straight and Joseph Campanella, and two wonderfully energizing performances from Nick Adams and Deborah Walley. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Kent Smith - Dr. Shoemaker; Joseph Campanella - Prof. Reese; Jennifer Billingsley - Karen; Nancy Rennick - Mary Resse
Credit
Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. - Director, William Lyon - Editor, Sol Kaplan - Composer (Music Score), Sol Kaplan - Musical Direction/Supervision, Mark Reedall - Makeup, Fernando Carrere - Production Designer, Joseph Biroc - Cinematographer, Ellsworth Fredericks - Cinematographer, Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. - Producer, George Garrett - Screenwriter, Julian Halevy - Book Author
