lobotomyboy63 I had been waiting for this to come out on DVD but I don't know if it ever will. Then I happened to find it on youtube. The book is a real gem. I've read it many times. I have my own ideas about who should play the various characters and so on. If I only had the money to finance the production, right? So it's just a question of how far this falls from the ideal.Short story long, this drops the ball. Too much nuance and delight are lost. I guess I'm glad they made the movie to bring it to a larger audience, but you really need to read the book.If all you can do is see the film, do so. But the book is out there. Take the time.

secretdomineux I saw this film for the first time in 1976, on television. I, for some reason immediately made a connection to Summer Of '42 (1971) but I don't connect it to Class Of '44 (1973) but rather, complete a trilogy with Baby Blue Marine (1976) Makes me wonder why the 1970's nostalgic films about ww2 home front USA seem so real and authentic, more so than examples from the 1950's or those made more recently. I love this film, especially the scoring by Billy Goldenberg. I can remember holding a portable cassette recorder up to the television, (circa 1980) to feebly capture some of the beautiful music.When asked by an online community survey to list favorite films about ww2; I listed the first two films of "my" trilogy right along with Best Years Of Our Lives (1946) and The 49th Parallel (1941)Before I caught this film on IFC a few years ago, 1980 was the last time I saw it. I was living on the Eastern seaboard then, and I can tell you that the cinematography showcasing the beauty of New Mexico made me homesick for the Western landscapes that I grew up around.D

montag47 It's a great shame that this film has never been transferred to either VHS or DVD as best as I can determine, because it's got just about everything--a fine cast, an engaging story and magnificent scenery as the backdrop for the script based on Richard Bradford's book.Frank Arnold (Richard Crenna) is an affable, middle-aged Mobile, Alabama shipbuilder who moves his family to their occasional summer home in northern New Mexico where he thinks they will be safer as he enlists in the Navy at the outbreak of WWII, and Claire Bloom plays his wife, Ann, who resents being uprooted from her genteel Southern life in Mobile. Richard Thomas plays their only child, Joshua, who finds the culture shock of the move both invigorating and, at times, unnerving--there's a whole new set of rules for him to learn, and outside of school, he often seems to be a slow learner.Strother Martin does a rib-tickling turn as the father of the local high school's bad girls, Desi Arnez, Jr., does well in this his first movie role, and then-almost a newcomer Catherine Burns (coming off an Oscar nomination for her role in "Last Summer") is both tomboyish and vulnerable as Josh's eventual girlfriend, and there are solid performances by Nehemiah Persoff as the long-time caretaker of the Arnold property, John Colicos as Ann Arnold's oily leech of a cousin, and Harry Guardino puts in one of his best performances as Romeo Bonino, a local resident sculptor and friend of Frank Arnold who backhandedly shows young Joshua that friendship is a heavy, but manageable, burden.Altogether, not just a watchable film, but a memorable one.

ajm-8 Released in 1971, the same year as two other nostalgic hit movies, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW and SUMMER OF '42, this film has been undeservedly forgotten. A simple story of a Southwest family during World War II, with excellent acting (let me put it this way... even Desi Arnaz, Jr. does a good job), nice dialogue and an attention to period detail. This ain't available on DVD or even VHS, so if you catch it on TV, do yourself a favor and check it out.