A Small Circle of Friends

Movie that takes place at Harvard University in Cambridge MA from 1967 to 1971. Three students are starting at Harvard. Nick (Jameson Parker)-tall, handsome, muscular and serious; Leo (Brad Davis) a rebel who lashes out at everything) and Jess (Karen Allen) a sweet, serious and intelligent woman. Both Nick and Leo fall in love with Jess at various times and the film follows them through the four years at school and we see them change--in good ways and bad.

This was filmed in Cambridge back in 1979. I remember because I grew up in Arlington--a town that borders Cambridge. I know what Harvard Square and Harvard University looked like back then and it was really great to see it captured on film. Also we see the great Orson Welles Cinema that was in Cambridge--a wonderful art house theatre that burnt down in 1985. I remember catching in a totally empty movie theatre in Boston back in 1980. The fact that it was locally filmed was advertised to the hilt--but nobody came. I can't see why because I LOVED it. I found it totally believable with interesting characters and situations. Seeing it again now all these years later I'm not as totally impressed with it as before. I found the situations and dialogue clichéd and too many unexplained events--WHY was that building chained shut at Harvard and the lottery wasn't explained either. Also, sadly, Parker is a terrible actor. He's tall, handsome and muscular but says every line with a blank look on his face. I seriously didn't know HOW to take some of his dialogue! Still, I DO like the film and recommend it. Allen and Davis give GREAT performances; it moves quickly (I was never once bored); the scenery is beautiful; the music score was incredible (it includes an instrumental of "Total Eclipse of the Heart") and it all ends in a totally unrealistic but happy ending. A must see for any Massachusetts residents who love Boston and Cambridge. Also future stars Daniel Stern and Shelley Long have small roles.

I usually don't like flash back films but in this one,I'll make an exception. The story of 3 folks who meet in Harvard during the Vietnam war. I thought it covered the turmoil of the time as well as being a buddy flick.Two for the price of one.See it if you went through the times as I did.

A brilliantly realized movie, with a lovingly detailed script by Ezra Sacks, about three Boston college students and their changing relationships during the turbulent anti-Vietnam protests of the 1960's. Brad Davis as Leo, the wild man, Jameson Parker as Nick, his straight-arrow buddy and the lovely Karen Allen as the Radcliffe artist they both love. One of the few American movies that succeeds in handling a menage a trois without being tasteless. Both funny and heartbreaking, this is a lovingly realized tale about a tragic period in American history and the toll it took on the student population. Shamefully underrated at the time of its release, this is a superior movie, with quality contributions from all sides, that deserves a much greater recognition than it has received. First time director Rob Cohen does a terrific job, drawing from his own experiences at Harvard during this turbulent anti-war period. A haunting musical score from Jim Steinman that echoes with familiarity from his later works. Anyone purchasing the DVD should listen to Cohen's audio commentary to appreciate just how greatly he was involved in the creation of this movie and to understand the battles that the students of the 60's had to wage against an oppressive and unheeding government. Plaudits to everyone involved in this worthy endeavor. This is a history lesson every student of today should be obligated to watch.

The most resonant element of director Rob Cohen's film is the music score by Jim Steinman, which includes the melody that was later recorded as Total Eclipse of the Heart. Otherwise this tale of a supposed menage-a-tois between Harvard university students Brad Davis, Karen Allen and Jameson Parker is as dramatic as the cartoon opening and closing sketches. The screenplay by Ezra Sacks attempts coverage of the Vietnam era from 1967 to 1971 from a student activist point of view, but the tri-romance hardly seems from the same era since it isn't until towards the end that there is any suggestion of bigamy. There is also even less suggestion of homosexuality interest between Davis and Parker. When the 3 finally go into the same bedroom, the camera is left outside and the door closed. Their lack of involvement in activism is paralled with the radicalisation of a Texan boy scout who comes to Harvard at the same time and ends up a terrorist, and highlighted by a campus riot that comes out of nowhere. Even the Vietnam connection as a comment on the relationship and vice versa doesn't work. Sacks opens with Parker reuniting with Allen in "the present"before we start flashbacking to 1967, with Davis' absence pre-empting the outcome, and Cohen supplies matching love scene montages. Davis' has steam so apparently is more erotic and ends abruptly, whilst Parker's is set to Chances Are and ends more positively. Sacks has 2 lines I liked - a technique of breaking into a glass window "I saw it on I Spy or was it The Untouchables", though Cohen repeats it, and "Only men would come up with a draft lottery using balls". Utilising period TV and photographic images - the assassinations of the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King - and a series of bad wigs, the only sense of reality and truth comes in a moment when someone sings the Star Spangled Banner to TV closure. Davis has the impossible charming/wild man role, not helped by his looking older than the others, and the best he can do is stare child-like for vulnerability. Allen doesn't have a strong screen persona so it's easy to think one is watching Amy Irving or Janet Margolin or Brooke Adams. Of the 3, Parker probably comes off best even when saddled with a Colonel Sanders look. His character's basic dullness is probably the reason he needs to be reunited with Allen. Even when the competition is Davis, anyone that prefers to experiment with rats rather than go to an Ingmar Bergman film is definitely worth reconsidering as a partner. Watch for Shelley Long as a photographer, and Daniel Stern, billed as Dan.

Fun, well-done film about college life in the 1960s, a volatile time. The U.S. still had the draft, so that was one concern. Jameson Parker was probably best known for his role on Simon and Simon. (had some wacky adventures in his personal life.... check it out on wikipedia!) Co-stars Brad Davis (played gay roles before it was common to do so. sadly, Davis died quite young in real life.) and Karen Allen (Indiana Jones and Animal House) are students, who all get to be close friends. Also a thirty year old Shelley Long. War protesting, antics, and love affairs along the way. Good, for the most part. sometimes overly-dramatic and preachy, but good stuff. the short, symbolic scenes really catch the various sentiments of the time. the anger over the vietnam war, and the roles played by presidents johnson and nixon. and some very pretty piano music. Directed by Rob Cohen. made an interesting mix of adventure films and television series. Written by Ezra Sacks, who had only written two other things made into film.