Love Story (1970)

You won't be disappointed!

Good movie but grossly overrated

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

First of all, What The Eff has happened to you. Only 6.9? It is a big slap on the face of the audience. I have literally fell in love with this movie. I have watched many Romantic movies but this one did something to me. Iam a tough guy and generally I don't cry but after watching this masterpiece, I literally cried. Great Movie Indeed.

There, I said it. I'm sorry - and I HAVE to say it because I do not love this film, and I mean it. I saw Love Story when it first came out in 1970. I was 14 and I thought it was crap then. Foolishly I attempted a rewatch wondering if my youthful impressions were too harsh. They weren't. In fact, they weren't harsh enough. Thanks to IMDb I can now see that this film was singularly responsible for the four worst Academy Award nominations ever. They make the nominations of Mikail Baryshnikov and Leslie Brown for The Turning Point look serious. At least those two could dance. I would seriously like to know how someone with the talent deficit of Ali McGraw gets into any film, let alone one from a major Hollywood studio, and gets to star in it, is terrible, and then gets nominated for an Academy Award. Which usually means something. Doesn't it?

At an time when people were tuning in, turning on, and dropping out and experimenting with all kinds free love and sex inspired by Woodstock, Love Story which never should have gotten an audience in that generation became the romantic film of the 70s. It still moves people in many ways. Since Erich Segal was a few years ahead of me in graduating from Midwood High School in Brooklyn you can imagine how incredibly popular the story was where I hail from. Maybe people could not identify with rich preppy kid Oliver Barrett IV but there were certainly a lot of folks who identified with scholarship kid from Providence.Who meet at Harvard and I guess opposites do attract because it really is love at first sight for Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw. Both created in Love Story the iconic parts they were identified with. Both spent their lives trying to be in something half as good.Love Story brought home one Oscar for musical scoring. The song Where Do I Begin one of the great romantic ballads of the latter half of the 20th century didn't rate a nomination. But the picture itself, Ryan O'Neal, Ali McGraw, and John Marley who played McGraw's working class father all got Oscar nods. Everyone likes a Cinderella story and this is one with a twist, the poor girl who lands a rich husband and didn't trap him to do it. O'Neal and McGraw are still iconic characters. Can you see a remake today with Ryan Gosling and Jessica Biel in the leads? I sure can, I'm surprised no one has done it.Until they do, this is as good as romance gets.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from something made in 1970. But Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw were so compelling, I could not stop watching. Imagine, actors who really know how to act! And back then! The intensity portrayed by O'Neal as a son who was expected to always perform, as well as a love, really made it seem real. This is a talent I have not seen often.Yes, the ending is sad (spoiler alert), but that should not dissuade anyone from watching especially since there seems to be a much-needed reconciliation at the end.As one who normally does not watch love stories, since this had the action of hockey, it added action and really pulled me in. I am glad I had the chance to watch the movie.