Funny how given the right musical score, narration, setting and actors...an adult having sex with a child is considered an 'awakening by some. Yes, I liked the movie years ago, but I know better now. Since the 70's, we better monitor such "splendor". The problem is that adults in the same situation can envision themselves in some kind of "Summer of 42", but all it is without the musical score and great feeling...is criminal activity.

Ha!It was the best of times it was the worst of times? Dick Clark had not yet invented teenagers.This is about discovering love and death. It waits for all. In our expectations, secrets, fears ...and our romantic sense of self. Self image when none was present. A film that will catch you up with every baby boomer from the greatest to the least.

A fantastic coming-of-age classic, I saw the first release in a theater in 1971 as a young teenager. It's now been resurrected thanks to TCM, where I saw it aired on Dec. 14, 2015. The film is as great as ever, and Dorothy + the haunting music still tug at my heart - even after 44 years! Jennifer O'Neill has an almost magical beauty that is simply beyond physical description. And like millions of other starry-eyed teen-age boys, Dorothy was absolutely my first love. One of my favorite movie scenes |of all time| is when she raises up on tiptoe to sweetly kiss Hermie's forehead. ANY boy who doesn't fall for Dorothy at exactly that moment will never really know love or romance.And even though I still watch it feeling that old familiar pain (and an unspoken kinship with Hermie): God Bless You Dorothy (and Jennifer) for helping me come of age with true love in my heart. I still have it.

I saw this film when it came out and, coincidentally, was also 15 years old.I loved it!But I didn't stay 15. I later joined and eventually retired from the military.I met and knew hundreds of military spouses, and I am confident that, upon learning of their husband's/wife's death in combat, none of them would have reacted by having sex with a child.This movie is vile. It insults everyone who lost a loved one fighting for their country. That reviewers rate this movie a 7.3 is a telling indictment of our failing and declining culture.