Jeunes amants

Too Soon To Love (1960)

** (out of 4)

Incredibly over-dramatic "message" film about a good girl (Jennifer West) and a good boy (Richard Evans) who fall in love but make the dramatic choice of having sex. Soon the girl ends up pregnant, which makes her feel like a slut and it also puts a strain on the teenager's relationship. This is in the same company as Reefer Madness as far as being overbearing in trying to deliver a message but this film here never quite hits the same level of camp. There are some over the top moments, which make for a few laughs but for the most part this is played straight forward and tries so very hard to be serious. The biggest problem are the two leads who turn in horrible performances and they bring more laughs when the film is going for seriousness. There's one great sequence inside an abortion clinic, which was shot to look like a horror film and actually manages to be just as creepy as the majority of horror films out in this time period. Jack Nicholson has a small role as a hot rod.

I saw that the other review compared this film to "Reefer Madness". Well, although both of these films are exploitation fare, I just can't see lumping them together. "Reefer" is a grade-z film--rotten and silly from start to finish---and you just can't say that about "Too Soon To Love". Yes, "Too Soon" is not a great film...but it isn't THAT bad.

The film is about two high school students, Cathy and Jim. Like in most exploitation films, instead of looking like teens, they are clearly older--21 and 25 respectively. I don't know why they just didn't get a couple real 17 year-olds to play these parts. The two fall in love and get frisky--though the sex aspect of the film is just implied--after all, it's 1960. Like many sex exploitation films, the girl ends up pregnant (but without an STD--like she would in many of the more salacious films of this ilk) and the pair don't know what to do next. Exactly what they do next is pretty interesting--just tune in to see more.

The story is a tad overdone at points and some of the acting isn't great, but overall the film is much better than I'd expected. The acting of Richard Evans (Jim) is particularly good and the film does hit on a few good issues--and only hits you over the head like a meat-ax on occasion. While this film is easy to skip, it sure isn't one the average person would love, but is more for fans of the genre.

TOO SOON TO LOVE isn't exactly something that should end up in the Masterpiece theater category. After all it has a score of 5,0 and only two reviews with one scored a 4 and another without rating so it would look like a terrible movie. Last October I finally saw it and I kinda liked it more than what I was lead to believe.

The plot focuses on high school students Jim Mills and Kathy Taylor that fall in love and get frisky (all implied of course since it's 1960) and as you'd expect the girl becomes pregnant but then the couple don't know what to do next, and Jim ends up involved in a drug dealing scheme. At the same time Buddy (Jack Nicholson) is a young guy that tries to steal Kathy from Jim without success.

My summary refers to the fact that the French new wave were always shot in black and white and had a soothing atmosphere, and this had both. The acting was decent by all no-names except Nicholson that went on to greater things and considering most of the trials and tribulations the lead has after his drug dealing scheme goes awry, the ending can't be nothing but uplifting for the viewer.

If you are into movies of the 1960s don't miss if you have a chance, and if you are more into the old French movies than me you'll likely compare this to those.