Love Story (1970)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Jennifer Cavalleri	Ali MacGraw	½
Oliver Barrett IV	Ryan O'Neal	½
Phil Cavalleri	John Marley	½
Olver Barrett III	Ray Milland	½
Hank Simpson	Tom Lee Jones	-

Review

Time has not been kind to this overdramatized and melodramatic film, in which a gifted rich kid and an intelligent working-class girl meet, fall in love, battle class distinctions, and fade out in a convenient tragedy if there ever was one. Arthur Hiller directs with inspiration from La Nouvelle Vague, dwelling and scrutinizing emotions with his camera, but the film instills significance and depth which in dramatic terms haven't been accounted for, and creates conflicts which seem more forced by the script than they are experienced by the characters (i.e. that between Milland and O'Neal). Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw give the best of what they've got, but they're still not able to elevate the film from the mediocre foundation upon which it is built. MacGraw seems far too old to pass for a college student, but incidentally, she becomes increasingly youthful and beautiful as she becomes ill.