How many of you know this story was not just inspired by, but a very close mirror of the writer's actual experience when he was 15, regarding events he experienced with an older woman? After he made this movie, the lady apparently recognized the guy's name, recognized the events as shown in the movie, and made the effort to contact him. She told him she always hoped not to have caused him any emotional or mental wounds. I've loved this movie since I myself was 14 when I first saw it, because it reflected my own first love at my age of 12 with a girl in 9th grade, it has always had a special place in my heart. It also brought me such melancholy to know the woman this movie is actually about, later contacted the fellow, at least having some measure of consideration or compassion for him after he went through the years after with so many questions and doubts.
I was sixteen when seeing this movie for the first time in 1971. No film to this day has ever affected my emotions or experience as much as this story.
I remember this opening of the film, where Gary Grimes discovers "the girl" and her beauty, and how she changed his life at fifteen. Was greatly impressed by that and the Summer of '42 as a whole. Would like to own it on DVD one day.
