Our Time (1974 film)
Our Time | |
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Directed by | Peter Hyams |
Written by | Jane C. Stanton |
Produced by | Richard A. Roth |
Starring | Pamela Sue Martin Parker Stevenson Betsy Slade George O'Hanlon, Jr. |
Cinematography | Jules Brenner |
Edited by | James Mitchell |
Music by | Michel Legrand |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Our Time (also known as Death of Her Innocence) is a 1974 American drama film directed by Peter Hyams. The film was written by Jane C. Stanton, and stars Pamela Sue Martin, Parker Stevenson and . The story is set at a Massachusetts school for girls in the 1950s. Though not a hit, it was liked as a study of a boy-girl relationship.
Plot[]
Penfield was a girls school in 1955. The curriculum ranged from Latin to Etiquette, from Shakespeare to Field Hockey. Abigail is one of the new girls coming in to learn about these and other subjects. Coming from a well to do family, she hopes to be the school's best student. Just as she is getting started in the school, she meets Michael, a male student in the school. Soon the two fall deeply in love, but their relationship becomes challenged by those around them, leading to difficulties and tragedy.
At the center of the movie is the friendship between Abigail and Muffy at an all-girls boarding school. The film concludes with Abigail being the only one of the two who graduates. Muffy, whose one-night stand with Malcolm resulted in a pregnancy, dies subsequently after having an abortion.
Cast[]
- Pamela Sue Martin as Abigail (Abby) Reed
- as Muffy
- Parker Stevenson as Michael
- as Malcolm
- as Laura
- Debralee Scott as Ann Alden
- as Emmy
- as Helen Connery
- Roderick Cook as Headmaster
- Edith Atwater as Mrs. Margaret Pendleton
- as Miss Picard
- Meg Wyllie as Nurse
- Mary Jackson as Miss Moran
- Carol Arthur as Gym Teacher
- Hope Summers as Biology Teacher
- Jerry Hardin as Mr. Keats
- Robert Walden as Frank, a young medical school student who performs Muffy's abortion.[1]
- as Marge
- Darrell Zwerling as Dr. Madden
- Lou Frizzell as Dr. Freeman
- Michael Gray as Buzzy Knight
- as Mrs. H.
- Cliff Emmich as Hotel Clerk
Production[]
Peter Hyams had previously made Busting, an R-rated movie about vice cops which had not performed well commercially. With Our Time, "I was trying to do the opposite of what I had done before," he says.[2] Upon viewing the film, critics took note of the bad cinematography, particularly the repeated instances of seeing sound and lighting equipment in many shots.
Pamela Sue Martin, Parker Stevenson, Edith Atwater and George O'Hanlon Jr. all would star in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries later in the 1970s.[3]
Reception[]
Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film "combines the worst features of two kinds of ancient Broadway comedy with a gothic lack of sensibility all its own," and found it "difficult to believe" that Peter Hyams "was also the director of the recent 'Busting,' one of the better, more intelligent cop movies. Perhaps teen-age rich girls are not characters with whom he has much sympathy or understanding."[1] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 1 star out of 4 and wrote that it "probably sees itself as the female equivalent of 'Summer of '42' ... Unfortunately, the story this time is nothing more than a B-grade soap opera."[4] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called it "an unexciting, sterile story ... More of a made-for-TV feature than anything else."[5] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times was positive, stating that the film "turns nostalgia back on itself with remarkable deftness and subtlety. In doing so it makes certain aspects of the '70s seem not all that bad." He added that "All four of the film's young stars are able and appealing."[6] Tom Shales of The Washington Post wrote that "Muffy has no redeeming values; she's loathsome and self-pitying. So who are we supposed to care about, much less root for?"[7]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ a b Canby, Vincent. "The Screen: 'Our Time,'" The New York Times, Thursday, April 11, 1974. Retrieved April 29, 2019
- ^ Interview with Peter Hyams by Luke Ford accessed 27 July 2014
- ^ Vancheri, Barbara. "Investigating Drew's screen life," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Thursday, June 14, 2007. Retrieved March 21, 2020
- ^ Siskel, Gene (August 5, 1974). "Buster and Billie". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 15.
- ^ Murphy, Arthur D. (April 3, 1974). "Film Reviews: Our Time". Variety. 24.
- ^ Thomas, Kevin (April 26, 1974). "Nostalgia With a Bite". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 1, 27.
- ^ Shales, Tom (July 18, 1974). "The Pretty and the Pitiful". The Washington Post. B13.
External links[]
- Our Time at IMDb
- Our Time at Rotten Tomatoes
- 1974 films
- English-language films
- 1974 drama films
- American coming-of-age drama films
- 1970s coming-of-age drama films
- American films
- Films scored by Michel Legrand
- Films about abortion
- Films directed by Peter Hyams
- Films set in 1955
- Films set in schools
- Films set in Massachusetts
- Films with screenplays by Peter Hyams
- Warner Bros. films