God Awful
Ali McGraw's performance is possibly the worst ever delivered by an actress in any film of any era.Laughably BAD!
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MovieChat Forums > Love Story (1970) Discussion > God Awful
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Has my mother been talking to you lately? This is EXACTLY what she thought. And that goes for Ryan O'Neil too! And I quoteith...
"Hell would be watching this movie non-stop for eternity".
If you like Ali in this, you'll love her in Convoy.
1970 produced 2 of the all-time worst Best Picture Oscar nominees-- Airport and this one Love Story.
In 1970-71 the movie was a smash hit. It broke all box office records. People went to see it over and over. When it premiered on TV in 1972 the ratings went through the roof even though most people had seen it. If Ali MacGraw's performance was so bad as you say, why did ALL these people care if she lived or died? I am sure you viewed this on TV with a zillion commercials and constant distractions. And the movie was made over 40 years ago. People have become so jaded and live in reality-tv land to appreciate the time setting of that era. My only bad comment about the film, then and now, is the way the doctor told Oliver that Jenny was dying without telling her and to not even disclose what she was dying with of....even watching the film on the big screen on Christmas Day 1970 I thought the same thing. This film made Ali a superstar and rightfully so.....even though she herself says she is not the best actress and time has shown that to be true....but she captured something in that film that cannot be denied. And yes, everyone has their opinions just like you and that is your view. It does not make you wrong to think that. But in that period of time, and look at the message boards, most people differ.
shareeven though she herself says she is not the best actress and time has shown that to be true....but she captured something in that film that cannot be denied.It wasn't so much what Ali captured, but what it captured of the period.
I can't deny LOVE STORY is pretty bad. Ali's bad, the script is mediocre. Blah-blah-blah, it's all true.
But the era is the key to its appeal and perhaps it helps if one was alive (and remembers) at that time.
The snow scene essentially saves the film --- largely because it evokes the lost, bittersweet, melancholy mood at the cusp of the '60s and '70s (much as the urban street montage sequences in MIDNIGHT COWBOY or the first season opening theme of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW did and do).
The world actually felt that way at that moment in time.
Otherwise, yeah, it's kinda crap. And so is Ali's acting.
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The music score also brings this movie above the mediocre level. I do agree with you Prometheus about the movie capturing the mood of an era. That is why it is difficult to remake movies. It is difficult to recapture an era once it is gone.
shareThe music score also brings this movie above the mediocre level. I do agree with you Prometheus about the movie capturing the mood of an era. That is why it is difficult to remake movies. It is difficult to recapture an era once it is gone.Yes.
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Forced to watch this in a college film class years ago. Hated just about every minute of it. Both main actors were annoying.
shareI always wondered if casting her was a wise choice for the movie. But that didn't stop the movie from becoming a great hit. McGraw in this move lacks sweetness that one commonly ascribe to a lovely woman. But then she is supposed to be a smart, independent-minded Radcliffe woman.
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