Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no avail.
Love Story is a quintessential early-70s weepie that largely trades on sentiment over substance. The plot is fairly thin and formulaic — a class-crossed romance leading to terminal illness — lifted somewhat by Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal's chemistry and the film's unabashed emotional directness. The acting is competent if occasionally overwrought, with MacGraw's performance landing better than her detractors suggest. Cinematography is serviceable and period-appropriate, capturing Harvard and New York with a certain warmth. The ending delivers its intended emotional punch through sheer commitment to the melodrama, and Francis Lai's iconic score helps enormously. Novelty is low — this is a by-the-numbers tearjerker that codifies rather than reinvents its genre, borrowing heavily from classical tragic romance. Its cultural impact far exceeded its cinematic ambition.