Long ago we missed the 50th anniversary of Love Story, at the time the box office film of its year and still recently in the top 50 of all time, and #9 at the American Film Institute of the most romantic films of all time. A romantic drama, it focuses on two young adults from entirely different backgrounds who meet in the Radcliffe College library in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Radcliffe being a female coordinate institution for then all-male Harvard). Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O’Neal) comes from a rich old money New England background [he drives an MG-Midget, Dad drives an E-type Jaguar], and plans on attending Harvard Law School, whilst Jenny Cavallieri (Ali MacGraw) is a music student who loves Mozart & Bach and the Beatles who comes from a poor working class background on Rhode Island [father John Marley], aiming to travel and work in Paris. There is friction between Oliver and his father (Ray Milland) which is worsened by introducing Jenny as she is deemed unsuitable to be a Barrett. However they marry and with Jenny working as a private school teacher they manage to get Oliver through Harvard Law School without parental support and living in low-rent accommodation in NYC [filmed on location in The Bronx] – then tragedy strikes ! Instant debate comes from a line in the film which was used as a tagline – “Love means never having to say you’re sorry !” and which is in the top 100 movies quotes of all time. Tommy Lee Jones having attended Harvard, and was Al Gore’s room-mate, played a fellow student of Oliver’s. For the film O’Neal learned to play ice hockey [Dartmouth hockey team played themselves and the Cornell hockey team] and MacGraw learned to play the harpsichord. The screenplay was by Erich Segal, who wrote a novel from that later which became a global bestseller. It was filmed at Harvard but they were thrown out quickly due to the disruption on campus, but also filmed on location in Manhattan & Long Island, in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England and Cambridge & South Hamilton & Boston, Massachusetts. The film won an Oscar for Best Music Score Francis Lai [also a Golden Globe] (Andy Williams had a big hit with the song to the love theme (Where do I Begin ?) Love Story) and it was Oscar-nominated as Best Film [won Golden Globe], Best Actor O’Neal [Golden Globe nomination], Best Actress MacGraw [won Golden Globe], Best Supporting Actor Marley [Golden Globe nomination}, Best Director Arthur Hiller, and Best Original Screenplay Segal [won Golden Globe]. We believe it more than worthy of a match in celebration and hope you accept – if the numbers or ratings do not suit, then please make contact.
Equaliser769
