History Film / SummerOf42

* SexAsRiteOfPassage: Narrator Adult Hermie notes in the closing narration that he said goodbye to "Hermie" forever that summer.

* HeadTiltinglyKinky: Oscy and Hermie's reaction to the pictures in the medical book that Benjie takes from his mother's house.

* HeadTiltinglyKinky: Oscy and Hermie's reaction to the book that Benjie takes from his mother's house.

* TheGhost: Dorothy's husband, save for a couple of brief glimpses Hermie catches of him at the beginning of the film.

* TheGhost: Dorothy's husband is an offscreen character, appearing only at the start.

* NerdGlasses: Worn by Benjie.

->''"Life is made up of small comings and goings, and for everything we take with us, there is something we leave behind. In the [[TitleDrop summer of '42]], we raided the Coast Guard station four times. We saw five movies, and had nine days of rain. Benjy broke his watch, Oscy gave up the harmonica, and in a very special way, I lost Hermie... forever."''

* AllThereInTheManual: The novelization gives the full names of the characters - Oscy's is Oscar Selter, Dorothy's is Dorothy Walker and her husband is Pete. The druggist is Mr Sanders (though there is a reference to "old man Sanders" in the film). It's also said that new people bought Dorothy's house after she left.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Dorothy is guilty of statutory rape. Even in 1942, the age of consent in Massachusetts (the story presumably taking place on Nantucket Island) was sixteen whereas Hermie is fifteen. This is considered perfectly fine, but can you imagine if they had made a movie about a twentysomething widower sleeping with a willing fifteen-year-old girl?
** In RealLife, Raucher heard back from the woman after the movie and book came out[[note]]He still recognized her handwriting among the others who wrote claiming to be her[[/note]] and found out she'd been worried that their night together might have traumatized him. But she was glad that he "turned out okay".
* DrowningMySorrows: When Hermie returns to Dorothy's cottage, he finds the "We regret to inform you" telegram, and an empty bottle of liquor.

* HollywoodNewEngland / NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: While Raucher's real-life experiences took place on Nantucket, the island is left unnamed in the film and called Packett Island in the novelization. In any case, the movie was [[CaliforniaDoubling shot around Mendocino, California]], which is not on an island but offers plenty of coastal SceneryPorn regardless.

* PrimalScene / TakeOurWordForIt: When Hermie and Aggie go to check on Oscy and Miriam at the beach.
* QuestForSex

* ToplessnessFromTheBack: Provided by Dorothy as she undresses for sex with Hermie.

In 1973, the movie was followed by a [[FirstInstallmentWins forgotten sequel]], ''Class of '44''. It featured the return of Hermie, Oscy, and Benjie ([[RoleReprisal all played by the same actors]]) but with [[SequelNonEntity no appearance by Dorothy]] (maintaining consistency with the original, in which Narrator Adult Hermie says he never saw her again).

Hermie (Gary Grimes) is a teenaged boy spending [[CaptainObvious the summer of 1942]] on an [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed unnamed island that's a lot like Nantucket]]. Hermie and his friends -- Oscy (Jerry Houser), the jock, and Benjie (Oliver Conant), the shy nerd -- aren't too concerned with the war, but they are very concerned with sex and girls. When Benjie reveals that his parents own a textbook about sex, it is a major event in the the lives of the boys. Oscy starts putting the moves on a pretty blonde he meets at the movie theater. Hermie also met a girl at the movie theater, but his attention is elsewhere: on Dorothy (O'Neill), a woman at least ten years older than he is, who has a cottage on the beach. At the beginning of the movie Hermie sees Dorothy bidding goodbye to her husband, a paratrooper who has gone off to fight in the war.

* ThemeTuneCameo: A suitably {{retraux}} version plays on a record at Dorothy's place when Hermie shows up toward the end.

* ThemeTuneCameo: A suitably {{retraux}}-sounding version plays on a record at Dorothy's place when Hermie shows up toward the end.

* ThemeTuneCameo: Plays on a record at Dorothy's place when Hermie shows up toward the end.

-->'''Narrator:''' In the [[TitleDrop summer of '42]], we raided the Coast Guard station four times. We saw five movies, and had nine days of rain. Benjy broke his watch, Oscy gave up the harmonica, and in a very special way, I lost Hermie... forever.

----

* TheVoice: Hermie's mom, heard a couple of times through the walls, never seen. Her voice is provided by Maureen Stapleton, incidentally.

''Summer of '42'' is a 1971 film directed by Robert Mulligan and written by Herman Raucher, based on Raucher's own experiences as a teenager during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. It is perhaps best known for providing ''the'' role of Jennifer O'Neill's career and for including ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHezowVjDX4 that]]'' music.

* JizzInMyPants: Not definitively stated, but certainly implied during a scene where Dorothy, clad in a [[BareYourMidriff midriff-baring]] halter top and [[WhoWearsShortShorts short shorts]], asks poor Hermie for help in loading some boxes in her attic.

''Summer of '42'' is a 1971 film directed by Robert Mulligan and written by Herman Raucher, based on Raucher's own life as a teenager during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. It is perhaps best known for providing ''the'' role of Jennifer O'Neill's career and for including ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHezowVjDX4 that]]'' music.

* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: While Raucher's real-life experiences took place on Nantucket, the island is left unnamed in the film and called Packett Island in the novelization. In any case, the movie was [[CaliforniaDoubling shot around Mendocino, California]], which is not on an island but offers plenty of coastal SceneryPorn regardless.

Hermie (Gary Grimes) is a teenaged boy spending [[CaptainObvious the summer of 1942]] on an unnamed island (Nantucket Island in Raucher's memoir). Hermie and his friends -- Oscy (Jerry Houser), the jock, and Benjie (Oliver Conant), the shy nerd -- aren't too concerned with the war, but they are very concerned with sex and girls. When Benjie reveals that his parents own a textbook about sex, it is a major event in the the lives of the boys. Oscy starts putting the moves on a pretty blonde he meets at the movie theater. Hermie also met a girl at the movie theater, but his attention is elsewhere: on Dorothy (O'Neill), a woman at least ten years older than he is, who has a cottage on the beach. At the beginning of the movie Hermie sees Dorothy bidding goodbye to her husband, a paratrooper who has gone off to fight in the war.

* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Oscy and Miriam slip away behind some dunes on the beach and wind up doing this, leading to an (offscreen) PrimalScene when Hermie and Aggie go to check on them.

* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Oscy and Miriam slip away behind some dunes on the beach and wind up doing this, leading to a PrimalScene when Hermie and Aggie go to check on them.

In 1973, the movie was followed by a [[FirstInstallmentWins forgotten sequel]], ''Class of '44''. It featured the return of Hermie, Oscy, and Benjie ([[RoleReprisal all played by the same actors]]) with [[SequelNonEntity no appearance by Dorothy]] (maintaining consistency with the original, in which Narrator Adult Hermie says he never saw her again).

* ComfortingTheWidow: Hermie comes to visit Dorothy's cottage one evening, only to find her weeping, after receiving a telegram notifying her that her husband was killed in action over France. Sex follows.