A Little Romance: GenX’s First Teen RomCom
Unknown Speaker 0:00
Welcome to the pop culture Preservation Society the podcast for people born in the big wheel generation who saved their allowance for Bubble Yum, Bubblicious and Big Daddy bubble gum. We believe our Gen X childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters and images, and if we don't talk about them, they'll disappear, like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition, and today, we'll be saving the quiet, little movie that captured tweenage hearts and gave millions of kids their first crush in the form of a newcomer named Diane Lane in the 1979 sleeper hit, a little romance. I'm Carolyn, I'm Kristen and I'm Michelle, and we are your pop culture preservationists.
Unknown Speaker 0:51
As we get closer to the release date of my new book, The Scott Fenwick diaries, on July 22 we're zeroing in on the phenomenon that lies at the heart of that book and is universal to pretty much all of us, and that is the oh so melodramatic tween age crush we all had them. And I'm guessing that crush did not play out in real life the way it did in your daydreams. And that's because being 12 or 13 is one of the most unique time periods of your entire life. To be 13 is to be singularly and uniquely delicate, because you start yearning for things that you have no idea how to get. You have absolutely zero experience or familiarity with this thing that you yearn for. If you are listening right now, you are probably beyond the age of 13. But nobody gets to 57 without being 13 first, it's not possible. We may have forgotten about it, but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen, and that thing we start yearning for at 13 is served up to us on a silver platter in the 1979 film, a little romance which allows us to see our daydreams come true. It stars a 13 year old Diane Lane in her film debut, 13 year old falonius Bernard in his first of only two movie roles and one of the final film appearances by 79 year old film veteran Sir Laurence Olivier, who shepherds two young lovers from Paris to Venice in their quest to fulfill the legend of kissing beneath the Bridge of Sighs at sunset while the bells toll, which will ensure that they will be in love forever. Some of you listening right now got just got Husker dude big time at the mention of a little romance. And some people have no memory of it at all, because this quiet little movie severely dented the hearts of those who saw it. But you could only see it if it came to your town. And this was not a blockbuster. Instead, it has been called the biggest sleeper hit of 1979
Unknown Speaker 2:47
Did you guys have any knowledge of a little romance when you were young? I'm so sad that I didn't, because I would have been all over this movie.
Unknown Speaker 2:57
Oh my gosh. What you said though, I think is really important about even though we're all in our 50s, and we can say, Oh yeah, we all had that, but we might have forgotten it. This movie. It's so authentic. It portrays this type of romance so authentically that you do then remember how it felt. You get all those feelings again. It triggers your memories that you may have suppressed. You're like, no, 13 wasn't so bad. I don't remember who my crush was. Okay, watch this movie, and it'll all come back, come back to you, because it's not campy or goofy or silly, it's it's authentic.
Unknown Speaker 3:34
Yeah, it's very like realistic and, yeah, relatable. And I have no this is so interesting, I have no idea exactly how successful it was, because I tried and failed to find box office information about a little romance, and I found nothing. I found absolutely nothing, except for that fact that it cost $3 million to make. But what I do know is, over the last 45 years, if I have found myself in the presence of somebody who saw a little romance when they were young, that person always, 100% of the time, was madly in love with this movie. Yeah, I can see why I'm really onto that it didn't cross my path. So it must just be that either it didn't come to where you were, or it was there for such a short period of time that you missed it, and if nobody was talking about it, how would you ever know?
Unknown Speaker 4:24
Well, listeners, we're gonna say this again and again and again and again. Go watch it. It's on YouTube. Go watch it. It is sweet and darling, and it's probably best known for its three primary cast members. I don't know about you guys, but Diane Lane came on my radar, and the outsiders, and then Rumble Fish. Both of those were in the same year, but a little romance was her first Screen role. Although she'd been acting professionally on stage since the age of six, at age 12, she had a role in the cherry orchard with Meryl Streep. Oh, my God. Wow, wow. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 4:58
She is very.
Unknown Speaker 5:00
Out of this movie. I watched several interviews with her when she was doing press for Capote, the
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feud the Capote versus one she was because she was nominated for like an Emmy, I think. But this movie comes up and she's very she still loves to talk about this movie. She makes this movie 100% she is enchanting. I couldn't look away.
Unknown Speaker 5:26
Laurence Olivier, who, as you said, Kristen. I mean, sure, I guess, yes, sure. Lawrence Olivier,
Unknown Speaker 5:32
he called her the new Grace Kelly, after making this movie with her child, she was a child, and he called she's 13. It's crazy. Yeah, there isn't a scene where she doesn't deliver authentically and make you fall in love with her. Do you guys think she was so grown up? She's and she's clearly a child. She's not she's not made to be sultry or sexy. She's 100% a 13 year old, but she just has such an air of maturity about her, so much that she commands the screen 100%
Unknown Speaker 6:04
this character is gifted. I mean, she's very, very bright, so I think she plays that really well too, because that's probably where we get a little bit of this more mature, adult aspect of her character. But she does them both seamlessly. I mean, she's 13, especially when she's hanging out with her friend from school and but yet she can seem really mature in some of her other conversations, like the book she's reading and stuff like that, I think, in real life, and also the character she plays there, she's very mature. Explains herself to that. She's just so engaging. She absolutely pulls you in to every scene that she's in. And I've loved Diane Lane for years. And also she's 60. Turned 60 this year, and she's dropped it. She's beautiful too, and just so she's so classy when you watch her
Unknown Speaker 6:58
current interviews, like last like I said, all of these were from Twitter. Very articulate. Yeah, she thinks deeply and very thoughtful. Well, in the early 80s, she was in quite a few films. You might remember her in six pack with Kenny Rogers, oh my god,
Unknown Speaker 7:12
or in the classic punk film, ladies and gentlemen, the fabulous stains. I don't, I don't remember that one, but I had to mention, because I know listeners will remember that movie, but like I said earlier, it was her roles in the back to back films, the outsiders and Rumble Fish in 1983 that really put her on the map, even though she'd had this enormous resume already. I mean, from six to age 13, she had a whole bunch of plays under her belt already. Wow. Fun facts. You know, I love a good, almost cast. Fun fact, right? She turned down splash and risky business for the movie Streets of Fire in 1984 that was with Michael pare I believe how you say his last name, Rick Moranis, Amy Madigan, William Willem Dafoe and Bill Paxton, among others, I just can't, couldn't see her in splash. You only in my mind, it's only Daryl Hannah, and I'm assuming it's for that role of Daryl Hannah, right? Bad reviews of that movie, Streets of Fire and The Cotton Club. Remember, that was a big movie. Led her to take a break to live with her mother in Georgia, but she returned to acting in the late 80s, notably with her role in the TV miniseries Lonesome Dove, which we mentioned in our mini series episode. Also another fun fact, she came very close to being cast as Vivienne ward in Pretty Woman. Oh, did you see that? Okay, listen, think about that. I think I could see it. I think I could. No, I don't, because these roles are iconic. They've become iconic for Julia Roberts and for Daryl Hannah. Hannah, right? And I And both of those roles were their breakout roles. So it's like those roles were just meant for those people. It wasn't Diane Lane, it was meant for Daryl Hannah. It was for Julia Roberts. I did read that when Diane Lane was considered for that role in Pretty Woman, the script was a little different, yeah, to say that. Yeah. Okay, yep. So script was darker when she was but she, I mean, she had costume fittings and everything.
Unknown Speaker 9:10
The role fell to Julia Roberts. Yeah, she had scheduling conflicts with another, another acting gig, so she couldn't do it. But yeah, so she had the role. It wasn't even that she was being considered. She had it. And then, I mean, I don't know, at what point do you do costume fittings? I don't know. I have a list of just she has so many great and memorable roles, and this is just a short list of some that are more popular. But the movie jack, a walk on the moon, The Perfect Storm, my dog skip. My favorite of her performances was in 2000 twos, unfaithful. Oh, that movie, my husband and I love that movie. It's so good. Man of Steel. She played Martha Kent, and then went on and Batman versus Superman. Dawn of Justice, Justice League. Did you guys know that she's the voice of Riley's mom? And inside out? No movie, inside out and the and inside out too. I know. And then, of course.
Unknown Speaker 10:00
Last year's feud Capote versus the swans. That was what she was nominated for that. I think it's, I think it's, you know, suffice it to say, We love her. We love her all caps. She is pure class and grace and elegance. And then Laurence Olivier was a highly acclaimed English actor. We know this. I mean, we're not, I'm not going to give his bio, but you know, he's an actor, director, producer, best known obviously for his iconic performances of Shakespearean plays, also recognized for his iconic roles in films like Wuthering Heights and Marathon Man.
Unknown Speaker 10:34
Basically he, like you said earlier, Kristen, he was 79 when he did this movie, he would only go on to do, I think, two more appearances and movies, because he died in 1989 when he was 82 gosh, wow, because he was so good in this movie, and so just charming. I mean, really, the definition of charming is, is what he was. The charming a lovely gentleman is who he was, yeah, yes.
Unknown Speaker 11:03
And I think you know, when you watch this movie and you see how instantly smitten Lauren Diane Lane's character is with him, yeah, as like a grandpa figure. That's how I felt, even at 56 watching it, I was like, Oh, I love him. I know I want to take him home with me, because he was sort of like a protector. Plus entertainer a little bit. And so, yeah, so Diane Lane as the 13 year old, it's almost like she needs a grandpa, and he's going to be the grandpa. And then, of course, we have Thelonious Bernard, who, like Kristen, like you said, this was his first film. He was actually just discovered by the director when he was like, playing soccer, I'm sorry, football, yeah, like in the square. Because he's French, he's French, and he lived with the director for a month so he could learn English when he didn't know English. No, he didn't know English. English is very halting, but it's very good. It is very understandable. And he's adorable. Oh my God, he's so cute. His only other film was, I can't say it because I'm not French. It was a French film, let's just say, a couple of years later, in 1981 and then he chose not to remain in the film industry, but to just keep going to school, keep working on his education. And He currently lives in France, where he is a dentist,
Unknown Speaker 12:25
and all I picture is in Rudolph, the Red Nosed Ranger. I just picture her me like,
Unknown Speaker 12:32
you know, and he's like, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, to think that he had never acted before and that he lived with the director for and he kind of like, gave him acting lessons on the fly. Right? He did a great job, because he was super confident. He's kind of scrappy, he's
Unknown Speaker 12:46
he's street wise, very just say. And so he brought that confidence to this character. I will say I kind of ran hot and cold with him, just because sometimes he was super abrupt with Lauren, and I didn't like his hot temper and his bursts of anger, and then he would get really jealous of just French and his French. I mean, ultimately, at the end of the movie, my my feeling is I love Daniel. I know or not, I'm sorry. I shouldn't say it like
Unknown Speaker 13:15
so let's just be clear that overwhelmingly, I have positive feelings for him. Well, before we move on. I want to talk about one of the other actors in this movie. Because as soon as I laid eyes on this person, I thought, What is he from? You know, how we get those moments like, what else have they been in? And so I'm talking about Arthur Hill, who played Diane Lane's stepfather, Richard. And I knew I knew him. I mean, I got this just warm feeling when I saw him, and I was thinking, No, he's not James Broderick. He is not buddy Lawrence's dad from no family. But that's the vibe I got. And so, of course, after the movie's over, I've got to look up what I know him from. And I got so hoosker dude. I keep saying, When I get hoosker Dude, this might be the most hoosker Dude I've ever gotten. But this was something that I would have never, ever ever remembered. He actually starred in a show during the early 70s, and it was called Owen Marshall counselor at law. And as soon as I saw this title, I was like, I know that show. I know I know it. I know that name. And it was a show on ABC. Also Lee Majors was in it, and he Arthur Hill was a kind he was a lawyer, but he had a 12 year old daughter in this show, and she was a main character. And I remember my mom, I think really loved this show. So it would be on, and I'd be like, probably half listening or doing whatever. But whenever there was this, the young girl would come on, I would pay attention, and it was such this loving relationship. And I felt like I felt that fatherly loving feeling when he was on the screen. I couldn't pinpoint why until I looked all of this up. Isn't that weird? Brain just was living in me somewhere. And so then I just wanted to read.
Unknown Speaker 15:00
A little bit more about that show. And here is rabbit hole. Rabbit Hole. Let's go down the rabbit hole. Carolyn, because we have to right here. Guys, I'm sorry I got to do this with you, because I looked up the show, and yes, Lee Majors was one of the stars. This is obviously pre $6 million Man, all of that good stuff. You guys, the guest stars on this show, they put Love Boat to shame. They put any Gen X battle of the network stars, anything to shame. I'm not going to read them all, but I'm just going to read you a careful few. Okay, we had everybody from John Davidson and Pat Boone to John Denver, Mickey Dolans, Patty, Duke, Farrah Fawcett. We had Sharon glass. We had Lou Gosset Jr. We had Mark Hamill. We had Pat Harrington Jr. We had Randolph Mantooth and Donald Mantooth, I don't know if that's his brother or his dad. Tim Matheson, Darren McGavin, Donna Mills, Ricky Nelson, Susan Sarandon, Dick Sargent, Tom Selleck, William Shatner, Martin Sheen, OJ Simpson. And the best of all, I've saved it for last. I can't even believe I'm gonna say this.
Unknown Speaker 16:03
Ready?
Unknown Speaker 16:06
Rory Calhoun,
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which is a coincidence, by the way, people who have read worldwide crush, he's one. He's the pop star in worldwide crush. But I thought I made it up in my head. But there was an actual, like, like, super crush named Rory Calhoun in the 50s, who then became an aging, like, Love Boat star, yeah. And he was on Owen Marshall counselor at law as a guest star. Okay, that is hilarious. This show that we only Carolyn knows about. And all of these, yeah, all of these people were on it. Wow. And lastly, Arthur Hill was one more character that you might not have known. You knew, but you knew he went on to play Lansford Ingalls. This would be Charles's dad in several houses of Little House on the Prairie. Yeah, I remember that he because he was being depressed because the mom had died. Yes, and he that's when they shoot money. Yeah, yes, yes, oh, yes. I had to turn off the TV. Well, that's what I was going to say. He's in several episodes, and perhaps one of the most traumatic, if not the most traumatic, for Kristen, is the two parter journey in the spring. So Arthur Hill has played some he's that guy that you don't know, you know, right? But you know him, and would be remiss also to talk about this movie without just mentioning Sally Kellerman playing Lauren's mother, because she's so Oh, she's so dramatic, Houston. It's just so Houston.
Unknown Speaker 17:35
But you know, I mean starting, and you know, she played Margaret, you know, hollow tulian In the movie, the movie mash, and then she was, I mean, a million, a million screen credits. I mean, she was Jodie Foster's mother and Fox's with Scott Baio with 19 these are two really important thing. They're smaller roles in the you know, they're not the stars of the show, but Sally Kellerman and Arthur Hill are our Lauren slash Diane Lane's parents. She only died three years ago. She was in her 80s, which is a nice, long life, but yeah, this movie really had some heavy weights. It really did.
Unknown Speaker 18:08
So let's go back to Diane Lane. Did you guys know that on March 3, 1979 she was featured on the cover of Time magazine with the title Hollywood Whiz Kids on the front cover. It was prior to the movie being released, so a little romance had not been released yet, and the article was actually highlighting this new wave of exceptionally talented young actresses in Hollywood. So they chose Diane to represent that on the cover. But the article also includes information about Brooke Shields and Jodie Foster and talks, actually a little bit about Christy McNichol as buddy Lawrence in family. And I think it's interesting that she gets the cover of Time. She doesn't get Tiger Beat, right? Like that's just how elevated Diane Lane is as a child, she gets the cover of Time that says so much about who she was, even as a 13 year old, and even as people are falling in love with her, like people. So if you go online and look up a little romance, it'll be all people saying how they fell in love with Diane Lane at 13 years old. That was their first crush, not Tiger Beat Time Magazine. That just makes so much sense. Yeah, and I think, going to what we said earlier, how she just portrays this maturity that, you know, she's 13 ish on this cover, but she also doesn't appear to be 13. I mean, she was the right female actor to put on the cover, I think, to actually get people to pick up Time Magazine and say, Who is this and what is this? She wasn't like, a household name or anything prior to this. Yeah, to this article coming out. So I kind of hate, though, when you go back and look at her early pictures when she was 13, and you can just Google Diane Lane and image search so many and I mean, it's same with Brooke Shields and people so highly sexualized all the pictures of her at age.
Unknown Speaker 20:00
13, yeah, they don't know how to take pictures of women without making it sexualized. They just didn't, right? And I What was interesting in this article, I thought the writer did a really good job of kind of trying to explain how these actresses now are playing sometimes these roles like you, you're saying the, you know, pretty baby and all that.
Unknown Speaker 20:20
Yes, they were sexualized. We can look back on that. Now he didn't come at it. You know, from that angle that these movies were, I mean, they were highly acclaimed movies. They weren't trashy movies, right? And these actors, well, yes, and I think that these young actresses really portrayed these pretty deep roles as they did, awful as they might look now looking back, they were not just these little children in, you know, a Disney movie, right? These younger people can actually do big things, pull it off, yeah, but it's just sad when you see the photos, though, and it's so contradict. It's such a contradiction of of Lauren, of the character she plays, not yet. And so different than Brooke Shields is like pretty baby or endless love roles Lauren, so wasn't like that. No, Lauren has her little blazer and her knee high socks and her kilt, all right? Well, you guys, we've talked about some of the actors that were famous in this movie and what they'd gone on to do, but I want to tell you guys a little bit about the director? Okay? Because he just wasn't some schlep off the streets. This was a big deal. So not only are we getting Laurence Olivier and are we getting Sally Kellerman, but George Roy Hill was our director for a little romance. Do you guys know he was born in Minneapolis? No, yeah. He's born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, went to Yale, eventually went into the film industry. His film career actually took off with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance. Kid, I love that movie. I always love that movie, yeah, wait, well, same I did. Child, I loved that movie. It's the two of those two men as buddies. I think we love a buddy movie. And those were good. And they had some like, I know, just pick up on that, you know, you just pick up on the fact that these two guys get along. They're kind of goofy, and that chemistry was so apparent that George Roy Hill went on to direct them again in the sting. Oh, he did the sting, yes. And he won Best Picture and Best Director for the sting. So he did not know that, what is the, what is the it's
Unknown Speaker 22:27
the entertainer.
Unknown Speaker 22:29
That's another piano one right here in 1975
Unknown Speaker 22:34
right? And he also directed Slaughterhouse Five, the great Waldo pepper and slap shot. I remember slaps, that was the hockey movie with Paul Newman, right? Yeah, those are all Paul Newman movies, yes. And they're all like on the list of right movies you should watch right in your lifetime. Yep, basically. And these are all prior to a little romance. So again, this isn't some director that's trying to get his first film. I mean, a little romance is, this is a big named director
Unknown Speaker 23:03
such a departure from those other movies, isn't it? Well, actually, George Roy Hill has said that all of his movies have some element of coming of age within them, like that's a theme that somehow weaves itself in, and he can connect that through all of the movies, so from slap shot to Butch Cassidy to a little romance, and this is the ultimate Coming of Age movie. Yes, right.
Unknown Speaker 23:28
Okay, well, we shall not be out done with our director. We're going to take it one more notch, and you guys are going to find out who the incredible man was who wrote the screenplay for a little romance, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. This was the distinguished American Screenwriter, Alan burns, okay, I'm not sure there is any other television producer and writer whose work significantly shaped the American landscape of television, particularly for us than Alan burns, okay, I mean smart people. And this goes from his very beginning of his career, when he was a part of creating the iconic series, The Rocky and Bullwinkle show, Dudley do right and George of the jungle,
Unknown Speaker 24:13
yes. George,
Unknown Speaker 24:19
right. Then he went on to create the beloved Captain Crunch, character for Quaker Oats. He created Captain Crunch,
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the character screenplay for a little romance. Created Captain captain, Captain Crunch. That's right, Captain Crunch. Have you ever in your whole life, until right this moment, stopped and thought someone had to create. Never happened. No, no. Creative captain. He's always been he just like came down from right with Adam and Eve, just like Adam and Eve. What came first?
Unknown Speaker 24:53
He didn't just stay animating characters. He went on then to create The Munsters and she.
Unknown Speaker 25:00
My Mother the Car, which I totally forgotten about. That show. Yes, my mom loved that show. When I look at the chronological timeline of his career, it's really interesting that it really follows, kind of our chronological growing up, because he goes on then to do some more adult like shows. So he collaborates with James Brooks and joins the writing staff of room 222,
Unknown Speaker 25:24
I loved that show. My mom watched it. I can't remember all of the storylines, but I loved it. I loved the outfits they wore, and it was so like, hip and cool. But you guys, it didn't stop there, because Alan burns and James Brooks partnered for what might be the most iconic Gen X show, at least for in some ways, the three of us. And that would be The Mary Tyler Moore Show. And now I can see his, I know I see his name,
Unknown Speaker 25:52
yeah, in that font, exactly, exactly. And of course, that show earned him Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series. And this is all prior to a little romance. Okay, so here's a question, if, if those like, especially the director and the writer, I mean, have these just amazing bodies of work behind them? Why wasn't this released more widely, or why wasn't the question the PR, you know, amped up for something like this? I'm shocked. I am shocked too. I don't recall, really, any PR I don't recall any promo. If we had seen the trailer for this movie, we would have been there in a hot second. And if I wouldn't have been there in 1979 although I would have, because I was 10, but even so, this would have been like required viewing at every slumber party I was at in 1981 Yep, because it would have been like on VHS by then or something.
Unknown Speaker 26:55
So before we start talking about the storyline itself, let's talk quickly about the music. Did you guys notice the score? Did it add to your experience? And most importantly, I want to ask, did it remind you of anything? Because there's this, the music in this movie is important, and we'll talk about why in a second.
Unknown Speaker 27:13
Well, I can say I think it definitely drove the movie for me. It was part of the of the
Unknown Speaker 27:20
feelings I got, you know, when certain certain music was playing, whether fast or slow or whatever it really added to the scene,
Unknown Speaker 27:29
I it reminded me of something. But I don't know what I mean, I just was in Italy, so I just it felt like that could have been playing as I was walking the streets of Florence or something. Some I'm going to tell you in a second what it reminded you of, and you're gonna go, oh my god, yeah, I bet I will. George De La Rue is the composer, and he won an Oscar for the score for a little romance. And the reason that it sounds familiar to you Carolyn, is because it might be reminding you of Kramer versus Kramer. Well, I have Kramer versus Kramer written down later in my notes
Unknown Speaker 28:04
with Meryl Streep, she did complete
Unknown Speaker 28:08
the circle. I That is so crazy that you say that, because a little later in my notes, I have the vibe that this movie gave me was a Kramer versus Kramer vibe. And like, would those movies still be made today, because they're just so good and you know, it's just, but they're not quiet. It's quiet, yes, yeah. Like, unassuming. These are the type of movies that creep up on you and then just grab hold, yes. So the reason it reminds you of Kramer versus Kramer is because the composer wove the work of Vivaldi into his own company. Yes, and we, we as children in particular, came to know Vivaldi because it was incorporated into the Kramer versus Kramer soundtrack. All of a sudden, everyone knew the word Vivaldi. Nobody knew. I mean, our parents may have known it, but we kids didn't know Vivaldi until Kramer versus Kramer. So this is why the score sounds both like sounds vaguely familiar. So the love theme in particular in the movie is a melding of his own composition along with Vivaldi's Concerto for lute and violins in D major. He's bringing two things together, and so it's both familiar and perfectly matched to these two little lovers to their love story. It's like adult music with sort of a childlike vibe to it. And it's also, this is classical music, right? So it's elevating the crushing experience, the teenage crushing experience of seventh grade, which you know, let's be honest, that tends to get trivialized by adults or dismissed by adults as not real or not important. But when you set the seventh graders love theme to Vivaldi, you are taking it seriously. You are saying that those feelings are important, but it's still all very innocent. It's not sultry or dramatic, it's tender, and it brought.
Unknown Speaker 30:00
Me to tears numerous times, especially, I'm sure we'll talk about this in a minute at the end, the very final scene, well, I'm not gonna say anything right now, but the music. But the music combined with that end scene, I was sobbing. I was just sobbing. So like I said, it won the Academy Award for Best Score, and the other nominees that year included the Amityville Horror The Champ, which had music by Dave gruesome. So that's super legit Star Trek, and 10 with Bo Derek and all of that music. I remember that music that was big, right? That was huge, and that was composed by Henry Mancini. So he wins against these heavy hitters. It's quite it's quite amazing.
Unknown Speaker 30:53
Okay, so let's get to our story. Let's do and you might think I copied the synopsis from Wikipedia, but nope, I didn't. This is straight from my memory.
Unknown Speaker 31:03
Welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, well, the movie follows the burgeoning romance between Lauren Diane Lane, an affluent 13 year old American with an IQ score of 167
Unknown Speaker 31:15
FYI, 140 and above is considered genius, or near genius.
Unknown Speaker 31:21
I did not know that with my own IQ score, I had to
Unknown Speaker 31:26
look that up. Oh,
Unknown Speaker 31:29
she's living in Paris with her mother and stepfather, and we love him. By the way, Carolyn told us all about him, and right away, we love him. And right away, what don't you guys say? Just movies have taught us this. You're skeptical. You're like, he's gonna be mean. I know he's got you're skeptical, and you're so happy when you're like, Oh, he's so nice and loving. We love weird. I was never once skeptical about him, because I had that, like, in my bone. You already knew the counselor at law, right? The first scene where he's like, sitting there with his paper and his whiskey, I'm like, Oh, he's gonna be mean. And she comes right in and, like, kisses him on the cheek. So she's living with with mother, who's Sally Kellerman and stepfather. And then there's Daniel, a classic movie loving Robert Redford, super fan, French boy. And now we know why those movies were thrown in there together. And he's watching in the very first movie of the very opening of the movie. He's watching Bucha city and the Sundance Kid. Yep, he loves classic movies, but he really loves Robert Redford, and that'll come back at the end. He's also 13 who lives with his kind of conniving and grumpy taxi driver father, also Daniel, is also a genius. What are the odds? Well, funny, you should ask that, because Daniel bets on the horses
Unknown Speaker 32:48
on paper. I mean, he's only 13. He's like, his hobby, yeah, and he wins like 43% of the time. Lauren and Danielle's meet cute happens at a very Chateau museumy type place where a movie is being shot, and there's actually, it's actually a very famous place. I can't pronounce the name, so let's just go with Chateau Museum. Wasn't it? Chateau la voice, which I only know because there's not French, so I don't know the Chateau lava hotel on the north shore of Minnesota. Okay, so,
Unknown Speaker 33:17
yeah, okay. Well, Daniel's class is on a field trip there, and Lauren is there with her mother, who was in the throws of flirting with the movies director, but really she's throwing herself at him. Do you see what I did there?
Unknown Speaker 33:32
Yeah, throws and throwing. Just in case anyone out there missed that.
Unknown Speaker 33:36
That would be me. Thanks. Wordplay. Come on. I know. I know. Sorry I missed it. Lauren and Danielle hit it well, it wasn't that good. Hit it off immediately, and quickly start planning ways to go on dates. Now, after Daniel kicks a soccer ball, I mean, a football, into an elderly man at the park, literally just floors him, he just goes whomp. And that's Sir Laurence Olivier, by the way, and he plays Julian. They all go for hot chocolate naturally, as you do after you injure an old, beautiful Paris establishment, with the coolest little glass pitchers of hot chocolate. Hot chocolate. I'm gonna do that. I made a note as I was watching, like mental note winter, I'm getting little glass pitchers to pour my hot chocolate in first so then I can pour it into my cup, and he and julienne Sir Laurence Olivier tells them the love story of him and his dead wife. And Lauren is particularly smitten when he tells her of this tradition, if a couple kisses in a gondola beneath the bridge of size in Venice at sunset while the church bells toll, they will be in love forever. And she's like, let's do it. I'm pausing for everyone to go, Okay, now we're gonna speed up. We're gonna fast forward through this a little bit after Danielle punches the movie director in the stomach for insulting Lauren at her birthday party. That was adorable. That was so adorable because he's being that great.
Unknown Speaker 35:00
Old 70s dude, like, the ice castles thing, where did you get any, yeah, she's saying to the little 13 year old boy, about the 13 year old girl. Did you get any, yeah? Like, did you score when you were up in her room in front of the girl's mother? It was and Sally Kelly was like, Oh, yeah. She's just like, whatever. And then he just hauls off, and the 13 year old boy punches him in the stomach. It was awesome, but, and this tells you a lot about the mother's character, because she then forbids the two from seeing each other again, and Lauren knows there's only one way out of her despair to run away with Danielle to Venice. Well, now what follows is a delightful series of adventures and misinformation as Lauren's parents think Julian kidnapped them, and they do the whole Benji or Annie scene with the FBI is being called in, and there's a lot of important men on telephones in different rooms.
Unknown Speaker 35:51
Yeah, and, oh my gosh, there's a Mad Cat bicycle race where Danielle, Lauren and, yes, even old man Juliann, hop on bikes and pretend to be contestants. I love that they all have the little claw hats, not helmets. Remember, we don't have bike helmets. We have the little Italian biking hats, because that'll protect you, right? And Lauren's trying to ride in her Jean reference.
Unknown Speaker 36:10
We've got some clueless American tourists who saved the day, and then they don't, oh God, they were. So we have a lot of running. We have some Keystone Cops blunders. We have more running. We have so much running, a lot of running. And spoiler alert, we have a gondola ride in Venice, and we have more than a little romance. Oh, like it actually, they actually, these kids make it happen. They take it upon themselves, and they make it happen there. And and we have to emphasize the setting for all of this. Are this the cobblestone streets of either Paris or Verona or Venice, like the whole setting for every one of these scenes, even though it's the Keystone Cops, there's this European vibe throughout and, you know, and, and when the Keystone Cops are running, they'd be like alozi, alozi, right? And also, I think this is where the score that we talked about earlier really plays a significant role, because that music is playing, and it doesn't sound Keystone copy, but at the same time, you're getting that sense of urgency, or are they getting away, or the bike ride, and, oh no, we've got to wait for, you know, or
Unknown Speaker 37:19
Julian, and anyway, the music helps propel and tell that story, but not in a goofy, slapstick kind of way. It validates it. And I tell you why, because as I'm watching this movie, movie in the exact scenes that you're talking about, I was able to identify the style of music that they're playing as Baroque. Why? Because the class that I took in high school where I got a D in humanities, I learned about Baroque music. I learned to identify Baroque music in humanities, but I didn't do the work and I got a D.
Unknown Speaker 37:51
Was that your senior year? Yeah, but I can still identify Baroque music. I think that what you guys are both saying is is spot on, because I said way at the beginning, this did not feel this whole movie as a whole did not feel campy. No. So even though, in my in my synopsis, in my recap, I was saying, you know, a series of Miss of adventures and misinformation, and there's this and this and this and, you know, Keystone Cops, I made sure and say it's a delightful series of that. Yes, none of that felt
Unknown Speaker 38:23
it all just it drinking game. Everyone for the as many times as Michelle is gonna say authentic in this episode, but it felt, it didn't feel campy. It didn't feel silly. I was laughing like, of course, they were just here and now the cops are there. It's not Benny Hill, it's not,
Unknown Speaker 38:39
yeah, it was all, it all worked. Let's just say it all worked. And I think you guys, what you said is exactly right, because the score helped that That's right. It elevated the entire experience. And when you talked about the what their their meet cute, and when they start to make a plan, like they meet each other and they're gonna make a plan to see each other, that moment to me, it's I almost cried when they actually succeeded in finding and making a date, because it's the most analog experience ever. They don't have phones, they don't know where each other lives, they have no email. They have no way to contact each other, which means they have to make a plan on the spot, in person, and commit to it. And it's very urgent. It's very urgent. They're like, where, where should we go? What time, at 3pm Where do you live? And it's and they're both smiling. They're doing there's this urgency, because they're, I have to go, I have to get on the bus. It's a field trip, and I have to go, Yeah, but we're gonna meet at this place. And there's this urgency. Will they show up? Will they show up? And they're and then the scene ends, and there, you can tell that both of their hearts are just swelling, but the tension of are they going to show up at the Arc de Triomphe at the right time? How are they going to make this happen? And you don't know. And one thing we haven't mentioned that maybe we pause to talk about here, because as the dates start to unfold, they rely.
Unknown Speaker 40:00
Eye on their friends, their best friends, and, holy cow, I love these two characters so much we don't even have time, I don't think to do a whole deep dive on them, but the brace is wearing. Why did I just forget her name? Please remind me. Natalie. Natalie. Natalie, with the braces, also went on to do just become a regular that was pretty much a little romance. Was her only film that she ever did. So funny, so real, so real. She doesn't Oh, god, oh
Unknown Speaker 40:34
god, oh god for everything. I met a boy. God, I can't stand it. Who is he? His name is Danielle. He's French. God, what else? He lives in London, and his father drives a cab. God, your mother will have a fit if she finds out, you better not tell her. Are you in love?
Unknown Speaker 40:56
You don't fall in love with the boy you just met. Are
Unknown Speaker 41:01
you? Yeah, yeah. And then his best friend has, like, the fedora hand, and he's like, all of like, four feet tall just the side of those two slow dancing his head is pressed up against her chest.
Unknown Speaker 41:14
Image, I'm getting an image, a very similar image from 16 Candles. It's Joan Cusack and long duck Dong for these two with the braces and their dancing and the writing for this best friend. First of all, you know, there are some complaints about this movie, that the children are too sophisticated, but they're contrasted with this, these two best friends who are absolutely not sophisticated at all. And at one point, the best for Natalie is is talking about her cousin and how she has this crush on her cousin. And Lauren's like, that's gross. You can't love your cousin. She's like, it's a second cousin. The kids don't turn out funny or anything. But Kristen, you said something that I realized was another reason I really enjoyed this movie, because to me, it was so sweet and it was charming, but it was also kind of bittersweet because of those analog moments. I think part of me was saying, this isn't necessarily going to ever happen again this way, whether it was them making that date or something, really struck me a lot. There were several scenes where there was a newspaper in the scene, and it just really made me pause, like the way that somebody, I think the very first one was Arthur was, or the father was reading the newspaper, and the way he was holding the newspaper, and kind of that, yeah, you know that sound you kind of make when you open it up and yes. And then we go to Danielle, when he's, like, circling the movie times, and he's got it, like, folded into quarters, yes. And then the couple, the American couple. They're looking at the newspaper at one point, and so is Julian. And it just made me miss newspapers and the way we held them and the way we would fold them in certain ways to read certain parts of it. It's like tactile memory. This is a timeless story. This is a universal experience, as we know from your writing and worldwide crush and Scott Fenwick. And I do think that there is an age group that would enjoy a movie like this today. I think so. I think it would never get made today, which is, it will never happen again. And there is a it's interesting. There's a lot of talk online about how they could never make this movie again, because it's so dependent the tension in the story is so dependent on it being analog. There's another great scene. It's a total Scott Fenwick scene, where it's after their first date and they're and they're walking around Paris, and Lauren quickly kisses Danielle on the subway platform right before hopping on her train. Okay, first of all, like no, there's no 13 year old who is wandering around the city of Paris and hopping on a subway by herself. I just don't think parents today would allow that to happen. And as she hop and she is the she is the one who grabs him and kisses him super fast. It's like the Most Chaste kiss you've ever seen, but it's ever so exciting. And as soon as she does it, she turns around and runs, and she hops on the train, and the train pulls out of the station, and she waves out the window at him as the train pulls away. And they are both just giddy. They're giddy, and I am smitten this. This is a total Scott Fenwick moment, but you realize part of the excitement is that there is no I'm gonna text him from the train. Well, maybe we'll start talking when I get home, all they can do is wait for the next date that they've planned and will they show up. I mean, it's so innocent. And what has happened today is that, because of technology and everything, 13 year olds aren't that innocent, as they were in 1979 I think that there are elements of the story and the crush experience that, again, are timeless and universal. Like, yeah, you might have to change it out to be a phone, and there's some things that would be different, but that that longing and that giddiness, you know, you're, you were in play practice together, let's say, and then your mom's picking you up, and you're, I don't know it's the last day of.
Unknown Speaker 45:00
School, whatever. I mean, you can still recreate those kind of moments of longing and giddiness. And today I want to talk about the last scene, because there are several places where I cried in this film, because my heart is just bursting, and you're so You're so sad for them and happy for them all at the same time, which is, you know, the very definition of bittersweet. What bittersweet, right? And we won't tell you exactly what happens, except to say that, you know, these kids are in seventh grade. It they're not going to get married, right? There has to be an inevitable parting. There just has to be. And I want to read this to you from a film blogger named Scott Ross 79 and everything that this blogger said about the film is like, Well, I'm not even going to try and say anything, because he just says it perfectly. So just says it perfectly. So he says, When the two must part at the end, the reprise of that melody of the music that George De La Rue wrote becomes nearly unbearable,
Unknown Speaker 45:54
and by the time George Roy Hill gives us the emotional release of Thelonious Bernard's leap up into the unforgettable freeze frame with which the movie ends, and that suspends the boy in an attitude of joyous hope. It would take a stronger emotional Constitution than mine not to be moved.
Unknown Speaker 46:12
Okay, first of all, I'm gonna say this. This is like I'll say next week when we talk about the Scott Fenwick diaries. This is so it's done so authentically. Oh, everyone take a drink. Drink. Everyone drink and real. Yeah, we're a conversation you're gonna hear next week is talking about how when you're 1312, and 13, you're very, you're often very, not everybody, not 100% of the people, but I would say most, this is all new, and you're unsure and you're scared, and it's complicated and it's confusing, and I think they did it amazingly. And all I want to do is I want to, can we just walk down the street and hold hands? Yes, and that's what so to me, Roger Ebert, is that's such an ignorant, yeah, exactly, such an ignorant review. I think that that's just a lot what we talk what we'll talk about next week, when we talk about Scott Fenwick and why this movie might not have made an impact like we thought it should and made it around to theaters, because these adults, and maybe a lot of men, at least the way Roger Ebert is talking, are just making these caricatures, really, of what 13 year old kids?
Unknown Speaker 47:26
Yeah, it's just it makes me really mad, because it's like the people that are the furthest away from 13 year olds, whether being them or living with them or whatever, are making these blanket statements about this is nothing what a 13 year old would be doing. It's really what's behind the scenes. That's the movie. Yeah, no, that, no. Like, don't tell us. It's that. Yeah, because it's not that. And you've got three women here who grew up, who were 13 once and and we remember it. We remember it. Yeah, no. Roger Ebert, no, yeah, that's all I gotta say. And let's not forget that the the goal of her, of Lauren, especially, but in this movie, is just to ride in a guy. It's so romantic. It's called a little romance. It's just to ride under the Gond, under the bridge in a gondola and have a kiss. And spoiler alert, so close your ears if, although we've already Yeah, we know spoilers. But anytime they kiss. So there is another scene where they kiss, I believe it's at her birthday party after he gives her a present, and then and in front of the friends, because, because, because Natalie's like, oh god, yeah,
Unknown Speaker 48:37
it's, it's just an innocent kiss. There's no, it's not the big, open mouth back and forth, sloppy suction face. It's a hand holding it's a kiss on the cheek. And it's just very, very it's not Jenny and Greg, right? It's not a teenage romance. It's all, yes, they're 13, but it's a pre teen romance. It's first love. It's not teen love. So it's not, it's not leader of the pack. It's not Jenny and Greg. And from all my children, it's, it's a step before that. So it retains his innocence. They're not on their way to getting married. You know, they won't be together forever. And what I think Roger Ebert misses about this movie is that, yes, these kids are extremely sophisticated. I mean, they, they bond over German existentialism. I think that's funny. Actually, I think that's really funny part of the story. That's part of the storyline, because nobody else will talk about German existentialism with me, except Danielle and so what these are, yes, they're sophisticated 13 year olds, but they are aspirational 13 year olds. They are very grown up, and they are what we aspired to be. So this cancels out his criticism of it being unrealistic, because Roger Ebert is saying a 13 year old would never say that. But the real question should be, would a 13 year old want to say that, which makes it believable? Because would I get that out of my mouth?
Unknown Speaker 50:00
Know, but do I want to be that way? Yes, I do. Okay, so the critics hated it. But what about regular people? And so here's what regular people had to say. And these are like film bloggers, commenters, and, most importantly, kids, because that's the audience who saw it back in 1979
Unknown Speaker 50:15
so journeys in classic film said a little romance is perfect. 10 out of 10. No notes.
Unknown Speaker 50:22
I love that the moderator at the TCM, the Turner, classic movies, classic film festival, said, I don't know if I'd call this movie perfection, but is about as close as movies come. And then we have Scott Ross 79 again, who said a little romance completely fulfilled my ideal of satisfying romantic whimsy. So those are real people. And then let's talk about the viewers. Michelle, yeah, well, the viewers loved it, too. And we're viewers, and I think we've just given a really great, you know, hour long review on it, but we have things like a little romance is one of the cutest teen romances ever made. Strongly recommend this film for anyone who has teens, but really for anyone looking for something wholesome and heartwarming, a little romance is a masterpiece. A teacher saying, I teach eighth graders, and I love how realistic the kids are in this suck it. Roger Ebert, right.
Unknown Speaker 51:17
Okay. One says, I watched this on TCM tonight, and I've been feeling grouchy all day, and this chased away my grumps.
Unknown Speaker 51:24
I know I love that an enchanting, lovable film. Here's a here's a good one. I saw a little romance two more times before it ended its brief run at Teton cinema, there in my hometown of Jackson, Wyoming, I sat in the darkened theater my blood quickening for those two hours, memorizing Diane Lane's face while she was on screen. I fell asleep each night with Diane flickering across the back of my eyelids. I fantasized about this new Hollywood Princess telling her parents she'd like to vacation at the Grand Tetons that summer. And on that vacation, they'd come into town one day, and on that day, they'd decide to stop in Jackson drug for an ice cream sundae. And on that day, I'd be sitting on the second stool from the end at that very same lunch counter, and she would take the third stool from the end and her arm would brush mine. Mic drop. Mic drop. That's what they wanted. The director wanted somebody to experience after that film. Yes, they're, you know, fantasizing about their own little romance. But, you know, like, here's a boy who's that age exactly, he's fantasizing about something just as innocent as that whole movie. So again, I say it ice cream Sunday. Robert Ebert, Roger Ebert, right, and brushing her arm, brushing up against mine, it's as innocent as it gets and real. It's as real as it gets. Well, the joke really is on Roger Ebert, I would have to say, because guess what? A little romance won a shit ton of awards. Okay,
Unknown Speaker 52:52
as we said earlier, the film won the 1979 Academy Award for Best Original Score. It received two additional nominations that year's Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it received nominations in the Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actor for Laurence Olivier and Best Original Score again. And the films young leads, Thelonious Bernard and Diane Lane, both received Young Artist Award nominations as Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively, as well as earning the film A win as Best Motion Picture featuring youth. Roger Ebert, come on, right, right. Yeah. Somebody knew. The smart people knew, that's what I'll say they did. So obviously our our final recommendation is a thumbs up, yeah. Thumbs up. Yeah. And I'm going to wind up this conversation by again, reading from the film blogger Scott Ross 79 because again, everything that he says is exactly what I want to say, except better. And he says, As with anything in life, from a pleasing odor to a symphonic masterwork, there are movies that encountered at an especially vulnerable moment can resonate with you for life, and that merely thinking about return you to a time and a place when you were, if not happy, at least hopeful of happiness, a little romance, for me, is one of those works of popular art that, while perhaps less than perfect, because exactly what is it retains its sweetness and its charm, and more than justifies my long ago fondness for it. In fact, the ache the movie elicits from me now may be infinitely more bittersweet. I mean, I just have nothing more to say. I mean,
Unknown Speaker 54:34
so perfectly. It's the reason we talk about the movies and music from our childhoods, because we were vulnerable and innocent and full of feelings once, and that's a nice thing to remember. Thank you for listening everybody, and we will see you next time. And we'd like to give a special thank you shout out to some of our supporters over on Patreon. Today, we're saying thank you to Sheila, Christina, Linda Jill and.
Unknown Speaker 55:00
Erica, Rosarita, MP Cheryl, Julie, Susie, Mel Stephanie and Kevin. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to all our patrons. Thank you to all of our patrons. And like I said at the top of the show, my next novel, The Scott Fenwick diaries, is on sale on July 22 but you can pre order two days starting now, anywhere where you buy books, and that would be really nice if you did that. Thank you so much. In the meantime, let's raise our glasses for a toast, courtesy of the cast of Threes Company, two good times, two Happy Days, Two Little House on the Prairie. Cheers. Cheers. Everyone. You.