"Ryan O'Neal, star of 1970 movie, 'Love Story', passes on". So read the newsline.
And I go back to early '70s with the movie and the music.What a movie that was! A perfect film of romance: the story, the acting, the direction and the music. Two young students, a wealthy ivy-leaguer, Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O'Neal), and a baker's daughter, Jennifer 'Jenny' Cavilleri (Ali MacGraw), fall in love. Despite his father's objections to the point of disinheriting him, Oliver marries Jenny but then 'the moving finger writes'!
The screenplay was written by Erich Segal and this is one of the rare instances of a screenplay being adapted into a novel rather than the other way around. The book, like the movie, was an instant hit and best seller. The dialogue in the movie is funny, full of peppy and bubbly Jenny's tarty quips to love-stricken Oliver who takes it all with a smile. Somewhere in the movie, Jenny says to Oliver, "Love means never having to say sorry." This line was repeated by Oliver to his father at the end when the latter apologises to his son for the way things turned out.
The line became legendary and inspired a whole lot of merchandise printed with "Love is...." followed by phrases such as "....sharing a toothbrush".
The director, Arthur Hiller, was never to make a film even half as successful as this. Ryan O'Neal, who won Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor, starred in other films notably "Paper Moon" with his daughter, Tatum, and won a Golden Globe nomination for it, but would always be remembered as the handsome young man with lots of emotions in "Love Story". So would Ali MacGraw who won the Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for Best Actress as Jenny, the beautiful free-spirited and funny but ill-fated girl. "Love Story" also won her the vote of the top female box office star in the world in 1972. The movie got both Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw the honour of a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Erich Segal did achieve best seller status with seven other romantic novels and a humorous children's book but mention his name and you will get the reply, "Oh, the author of 'Love Story'!"
Ali MacGraw featured in the Time magazine cover story of 11 January 1971 shortly after the movie was released. To understand how deeply "Love Story" moved the audience, I can do no better than quote from the cover story in that issue describing the scene at the end of the movie outside the theatre "...the show breaks. While the frozen fanatics in the line look in disbelief, only about 20 customers emerge. What the hell, was the theatre empty? Can the film be a bomb after the New York Times called it "perfection"? More waiting, tempers rising. Then ten minutes later. comes the second wave, the other 95% of the audience. Wet-eyed men looking neither right nor left. Girls carrying men's handkerchiefs, eye makeup gone, gazing at sidewalks. All victims of Erich Segal's Love Story, the five Kleenex weeper, the marzipan heartbreaker. It has actually taken them ten minutes just to compose themselves enough to face the real world again." The story continues, "There are millions more to come."
I saw the movie in Vishakhapatnam with Akhila and my cousin Manjula and I can truly say that all of us came out teary-eyed with wet hankies and avoiding looking at each other.
Finally the music. Francis Lai's genius was at its best in composing the music for the film. The movie had 7 Oscar nominations but Francis Lai was the only winner with the Best Original Score award. He got the Golden Globe too. The haunting theme was unforgettable and heart-rending. The movie score included excerpts from Mozart's Sonata in F Major and Bach's Concerto No. 3 as Jenny was fond of them. Delightful too are 'Snow Frolic' and 'Skating in Central Park' which seemed so far away till Ruchir settled in New York!
In the movie, the theme song was only instrumental. Shortly after, the vocal version was released sung beautifully by Andy Williams. It was titled "Where Do I Begin?" It too was a hit and is popular to this day. It has versions from many top artistes such as Tony Bennett, Shirley Bassey, Celine Dion and Taylor Swift. But Andy Williams' remains the most loved.
The lyrics are simple and powerful and capture the deep emotions of falling in love followed by the poignancy of a breaking heart. The most touching lines are-
"Can love be measured by the hours in a day,
I have no answers now but this much I can say
I know I'll need her 'til the stars all burn away
And she'll be there."
The depth of emotions and the underlying pain are more palpable when you know that the story begins with the end!
You always hit the right notes! Who can forget that tear- jerker ‘where do I begin’ and all that wonderful music, the preppy in Ali macgraw, and ‘love means never having to say you’re sorry’, even if that is sometimes seen as a copout in real life and hasn't always worked!
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