Teen pregnancy drama was very much a film of its time - the Clutter kids from In Cold Blood saw it before they murdered, and I gather it was a cool thing to see.
It's actually aged surprisingly well. Absolutely, its a period piece but misunderstanding between the generations doesn't age - there's some good moments with parents wondering why their kids won't communicate with them, then the kids trying to communicate and the parents missing the point.
It helps that the stars Carol Lynley and Brandon de Wilde look so young. Most movie teens are played by young adults - these two look like teens and naive teens what's more. It makes the drama more effective - you can sense they had sex without really knowing what they were doing and are totally in over their heads.
Lots of scenes have power - like going off with the abortionist who puts a blindfold over Lynley's eyes, or where de Wilde and his friend Warren Berlinger smoke and drink and play poker. There's some nice family scenes - Philip Dunne who co wrote and directed was a family man and I think you can tell; he has affection for his characters. It also helps he wrote the script with a woman - there's plenty of female POV including the mothers and the sisters.
De Wilde looks so perfect but is fairly terrible as an actor. Given too many lines and too much emotion he falters. But he's great when just looking like a lost puppy dog. Lynley is better. MacDonald Carey smokes a pipe and looks befuddled in what much have been an audition for Days of Our Lives.
There's too much Warren Berlinger, who can act, but is annoying - he's got so much energy he blows de Wilde off the screen but there's too much indicating and moral indignation at de wilde. He gives a "stage"y performance. I did quite like the musical number he sang with another girl at the dance.
Props to the piece for honesty - parents and kids are at fault, the kids are respected. Also at the end when de Wilde goes off to be with Lynley I liked how de Wilde's parents both just sort of went "well his life's stuffed."
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