We don't really get to understand the meaning of the title until the very last scene or two. It is a reference to doing something different, perhaps spontaneous, perhaps even 'naughty' instead of always doing the safe thing. As in when someone might say 'don't get carried away'. He did get 'carried away.'
This is a love story between two people who are 30 years apart in age, in the 1960s. But it is also a love story about two same-aged teachers who have been friends for life, and have come to take each other for granted.
Dennis Hopper, who was closer to 60, is 47-year-old teacher Joseph Svenden, living on a spread with his house and a barn and a small amount of land. He is 'dating' Amy Irving as Rosealee Henson, a fellow teacher and widow in this small rural community. They have a very safe relationship, they never 'get carried away.'
Things get more interesting and more complicated when Amy Locane, who was probably 23 during filming, as 17-year-old Catherine Wheeler moves into the area to attend school and also ends up boarding her horse with Svenden. She is smart and experimental and quickly sizes up Svenden as an easy mark. One day soon after her horse arrives, he finds Catherine in the hay loft of the barn. They chat a bit, then she takes off her top to reveal a really nicely sculpted physique without a bra. What is a man, a schoolteacher, to do, since she is 17 and she is a student of his?
The movie never delves into the deep moral or legal aspects of the situation. Instead it is a study of a man who is living out life with no excitement whatever and wondering how it would be to get 'carried away' before he dies.
Gary Busey is good as Major Nathan Wheeler, Catherine's dad. Also good is veteran Hal Holbrook as the local physician, Doctor Evans, who sees just about everything that goes on in the community but does not judge too harshly. He understands what human nature is all about.
SPOILERS: That first day when she takes off her top, Svenden is at first very surprised, then leaves the barn, but outside sees his elderly mother through the screen, weak and frail, then turns around and goes back to the, saying "I believe we should make love." Later we hear him tell that is was because he wanted to get 'carried away' for once. There is another scene, where he gets undressed in Rosealee's house, and encourages her to do so also, in spite of her reluctance. They had made love many times, in the dark, but this time he wanted them to 'get carried away' and do something daring. In the end everyone learned about the ongoing affair he was having with the student, even her dad understood, and in the very end Svenden and Rosealee appear to be headed for a life together, getting 'carried away' by romping into the sea surf in their street clothes.
This is a love story between two people who are 30 years apart in age, in the 1960s. But it is also a love story about two same-aged teachers who have been friends for life, and have come to take each other for granted.
Dennis Hopper, who was closer to 60, is 47-year-old teacher Joseph Svenden, living on a spread with his house and a barn and a small amount of land. He is 'dating' Amy Irving as Rosealee Henson, a fellow teacher and widow in this small rural community. They have a very safe relationship, they never 'get carried away.'
Things get more interesting and more complicated when Amy Locane, who was probably 23 during filming, as 17-year-old Catherine Wheeler moves into the area to attend school and also ends up boarding her horse with Svenden. She is smart and experimental and quickly sizes up Svenden as an easy mark. One day soon after her horse arrives, he finds Catherine in the hay loft of the barn. They chat a bit, then she takes off her top to reveal a really nicely sculpted physique without a bra. What is a man, a schoolteacher, to do, since she is 17 and she is a student of his?
The movie never delves into the deep moral or legal aspects of the situation. Instead it is a study of a man who is living out life with no excitement whatever and wondering how it would be to get 'carried away' before he dies.
Gary Busey is good as Major Nathan Wheeler, Catherine's dad. Also good is veteran Hal Holbrook as the local physician, Doctor Evans, who sees just about everything that goes on in the community but does not judge too harshly. He understands what human nature is all about.
SPOILERS: That first day when she takes off her top, Svenden is at first very surprised, then leaves the barn, but outside sees his elderly mother through the screen, weak and frail, then turns around and goes back to the, saying "I believe we should make love." Later we hear him tell that is was because he wanted to get 'carried away' for once. There is another scene, where he gets undressed in Rosealee's house, and encourages her to do so also, in spite of her reluctance. They had made love many times, in the dark, but this time he wanted them to 'get carried away' and do something daring. In the end everyone learned about the ongoing affair he was having with the student, even her dad understood, and in the very end Svenden and Rosealee appear to be headed for a life together, getting 'carried away' by romping into the sea surf in their street clothes.