Love Story (Widescreen)

VIDEO:

This 42 year old movie arrives on blu ray with MPEG-4 AVC 1080p 1.78:1 encode. For a low-budget film, this new transfer is much improved over the previous DVD counterpart. Contrast is surprisingly sharp and consistent, with crisp, clean whites, giving the presentation an attractive, rejuvenated appearance. Fine object and textural details can often be remarkable, revealing very distinct lines around buildings, clothing and hair. Black levels are quite impressive and accurate. Colours are very bold, especially the red and blue (like bright red dresses and the crimson Harvard hockey jersey). Skin tone is very natural. Overall, it is a very pleasing video transfer. (4.0/5)

AUDIO:

Although the back cover showed that the audio was only in Dolby Digital Mono, this movie does have a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack (not noted on the cover). If the story itself isn't enough to pull at the heartstrings, then Francis Lai's timeless score should finish the job on this beautiful soundtrack. The music plays an important role in the narrative. It fills the entire soundstage with excellent clarity and an outstanding mid-range, differentiating between each individual key of the piano and the rest of the score's orchestration. Dialogue reproduction is superb, delivering even the whispered conversations with exceptional intelligibility.

We are all very familiar with the title theme, and probably have the original soundtrack album. Other tracks, like Snow Frolic, Mozart: Sonata In F Major, Skating In Central Park, Bach's Concerto No. 3 in D Major, are all oh so beautiful and soothing, fitting snugly with the video.

This movie was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, and Francis Lai deservedly walked away with the Oscar for Best Original Score. (4.5/5)

INTERESTING TRIVIA:

This movie has a budget of 2.2 million, but box office gross was 106 million dollars. An amazing feat in 1970.

Did you know that eight up-and-coming actors including Michael Douglas, Jon Voight, Beau Bridges, Michael York, Michael Sarrazin, Jeff Bridges, Keith Carradine and Peter Fonda turned down the role of Oliver, despite being offered 10% of the gross?

The most famous line from the film, "Love means never having to say you're sorry", was actually misspoken from the script. Originally the line was supposed to be: "Love means not ever having to say you're sorry."

This movie also marked the debut of Tommy Lee Jones (as Hank Simpson in the movie).

FINAL THOUGHT:

After 42 years since its original theatrical release, Arthur Miller's Love Story remains the sentimental tearjerker that shattered box-office records and set the template for pretty much every romantic drama since. Another movie, like Love Story, that spontaneously produces copious tearing, is of course Titanic, which will be released later this year on blu ray. Love Story is released just in time for Valentine's Day. This is one movie you should watch with your loved one, shed some tears together, and after the movie, embrace and thank the good Lord for how lucky we are. Highly recommended.

this is an unorthodox romantic drama.it doesn't follow all the typical conventions of the genre.the characters and their action aren't typical.and the movie isn't overly maudlin or sentimental.in fact,it has almost none of that.but it works.sure it does tug on the heart strings,but in a way that doesn't feel like manipulation it's very subtle.credit that to the writing of Eric Segal.the the two main characters,Jennifer Cavalleri(Ali MacGraw)and Oliver Barrett IV(Ryan O'Neal)aren't what you would call likable,yet they tend to endear themselves to you through the course of the film,enough that you do end up caring about them.overall,i was drawn in to the story from the get go right to the end credits.for me,Love Story is a 4/5

After reading the book "Love Story" and sobbing about the ending of the of the book when Jenny dies, I wasn't quite normal for a few days, the story just stuck in my mind. I knew that there was a movie based on the book out there and about a month after reading the book I saw the movie. To be brutally honest the movie didn't have the punch and the emotion that the book had had on me. It just seemed kind of choppy, like somebody was going scissor happy in the editing room in 1970. I am not going to say anything about the acting because who am I to give acting directions. I just want to say that we should feel that way the actors portraying the characters feel, and obviously I did because I felt totally disconnected with the characters.{okay, after seeing th movie I found out that Erich Segal had actually written the screen play before actually writing the book} I don't feel that it would be an insult to say that there should be a remake of the movie "Love Story" because with the technology and the acting skills of today's actors, producers and directors and what not, it could be great.