Primeiro Amor

I give this movie such a high score only for the nostalgic feelings it evokes for me. I saw it with my "first". I felt a kinship with Billy Katt as he stumbled through the the physical aspects of making and being in love the first time. It was a total hoot to hear him ask. "Did I make you come?" after the first time. Who the @#$! asks that?? The movie is beautifully photographed. Susan Dey was a gorgeous, if slightly untalented actress. William Katt did a decent job. I forgot that John Heard was in the movie. He is brilliant as always. So, this is not so much a review as a chance for me to remember my "first", who, by the way, I did not marry! I would recommend this movie for those of us who were in college in 1977.

1977's "First Love" was a frank update of the kind of women's picture that began decades before (Harold Brodsky's original story was actually written in the 50s), but ultimately unsatisfying. William Katt follows his breakout hit "Carrie" by playing virginal college youth Elgin Smith, who instantly, and perhaps foolishly, falls in love at first sight with elegant upper class co-ed Caroline Hedges (Susan Dey), despite the presence of the older gentleman she's with (Robert Loggia), who turns out to be the lawyer business partner of her late father, a tragic suicide. A chance encounter the next day finds Elgin making an impression in clumsy fashion, and soon enough the pair are seeing each other regularly, until Loggia's reappearance with his wife (Virginia Leith) drives a tearful Caroline into Elgin's bed, for better or worse. One could describe the story as bittersweet, but surely that must be the fate of many such relationships, yet there is an underlying falseness driving Susan Dey's character that keeps us from liking her. This was Dey's starring feature debut, though a constant TV presence since THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, achieving dramatic praise as an abusive mother later that same year in "Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night." In only her second feature film, sexy Beverly D'Angelo truly shines in the better role, as fun loving Shelley, girlfriend of Elgin's humorous neighbor David (John Heard), who's also going out with a deadly serious girl (June Barrett) who nearly catches him in bed with Shelley. Beverly (and Susan too) gets naked in Elgin's bed on her third attempt to score with him, but he subconsciously blurts out Caroline's name, spoiling the mood. Shelley confesses that she believes that she's in love with unserious David, so it's a genuine surprise when the two actually get together to make a go of marriage. It's almost too bad that their story is secondary, but William Katt shows that he could carry a film, especially one lacking a strong trustful ending. A rare appearance for Cleveland-born Virginia Leith, the same actress who achieved cult status in her previous movie "The Brain That Wouldn't Die," but would retire for good by 1980.

I guess I bought this because of William Katt, and because I liked him in other things. The plot sounded great too. Now, put William Katt (who I found beautiful in Carrie) along with the plot of him finding 'love' for the first time, it's a winner! Or not. I didn't not like the movie, I actually did like it! But some things I didn't. The music score was great! The 'theme' song by Cat Stevens, and the song by Paul Williams was great! Sometimes I found Katt annoying though, and sometimes you just don't believe his acting. (i.e. the scene on the bridge when him and Susan are fixing to break up again) Other times he's good. This is just a movie about him growing as a person, and learning. John Heard has a little role in the movie, he doesn't show off his acting skills in this though. Overall, it's a nice movie. 6.5/10.

William Katt is very cute as a sweet and naive college student learning about love and sex for the first time. The director does a good job conveying this simplicity as the overall motif for the film. A very appropriate Cat Stevens soundtrack also contributes to the proceedings. Susan Dey is quite good as Katt's older-woman love interest. Then, just when the film has us in its grip, it lets us go in an ending of meaningless platitudes. I still liked it overall, but felt a bit let down with the unimaginitve ending.

It was quite a (welcome) surprise to find a love story that's focused on the guy, where the story's centered on him and his feelings, rather than the girl. (In this case, the girl's Susan Dey, who shows she has acting ability beyond her Laurie Partridge days. She's very good in dramatic roles.)

It's also a switch to find a college guy who's more concerned with love and a real relationship, rather than just being horny and getting sex whenever he can. He's tired of the playing around scene, he wants something meaningful, and thinks he's found it, until he discovers he has competition. How's an average college guy from a middle-class background supposed to compete with a wealthy, sophisticated older man, who's been part of her life a long time, despite being married?

Watch and find out!