Word: segal
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...MIGHT suspect that even one of Paramount's Assistant Vice-Presidents in Charge of Marketing and Promotion could have foreseen the folly inherent in previewing Love Story before a specially-invited Harvard audience. But then, what with the phenomenal success of Erich Segal's literary afterthought of the same name as well as the almost certain success of the film, well, what the hell, with all that behind you, it was about time you took a few chances...
...throwing abandon to the winds-as Segal himself might phrase it-Sumner Redstone, class of '44 and head of Boston's Redstone Showcase Theatres, announced that on the ever-after-to-be-memorable night of December 18 the Circle Theatre's usually scheduled performances of Catch-22 would be cancelled in order that Paramount could bring in a private screening of Love Story -opening December 25 at the same theatre, lest anyone forget. Accordingly, invitations went out to the Harvard hockey team, virtually everyone on the payroll of the Department of Athletics, as many of the Harvard extras as Paramount...
...devote the film to capping each other down like two high school sophomores. Their got-you-last verbal-sparring persists right into the deathbed scene. If the romance seems to mature a little by then, it still leaves you wondering how they have stood each other for so long. Segal's one great profundity, crashing down out of nowhere, hardly resolves the confusion. "Love," say Ali and Ollie, "means never having to say you're sorry." That sounds more like brinkmanship than love...
...Arthur Hiller's film falters only if you worry about Segal's driveling screenplay. The two principals are warm and likeable even if their characters are not, and by tenderly framing their creamy faces and soulful gazes, Hiller saves a pretty stale marriage. The director of Airport knew what he was about even if Segal didn't: a shrewd remake of a Claudette Colbert-Bette Davis tear-jerker, a wet and sloppy romantic interlude which ends in no good for one more tough American broad. Although the death watch exploits Ryan O'Neal as the rebellious scion with a lump...
...plot of Love Story seems almost incomprehensible to a modern audience. Ollie's capacity for social outrage consists of marrying a girl who looks more at home in a country club than he does. Three years after Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? , Segal's hero is scarcely able to kiss a Cliffie who merely claims to be a former Italian Catholic. With poker face, Jenny attributes the crazy affair to the liberal atmosphere at Harvard-or Mother Leveller, as she is known to friends. Jenny always mentions her family's poverty with vague discomfort, as would any girl with...