Though its title may have been an attempt to cash in on the then popular "Summer of '43" sequel, "Class of '63" was one of ABC's best movie of the week offerings in the 70s. The plot concerns the ten year reunion of a group of college students, one of whom has hommicidal intentions towards his former classmates, stemming from a romantic slight. But it's not a by the numbers revenge flick. The script is literate and intelligent, Korty's direction is very sharp, and the acting (especially by Cliff Gorman and Joan Hackett) is surprisingly good. I would call it almost noirish. And there is a haunting use of the song "Louise," that contributes to the suspense.
3 Reviews
An interesting cast can't save an ugly pointless thriller.
mark.waltz18 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
There's really nothing to like about the three main characters in this fortunately short TV movie that doesn't even reflect the era that is set in. These characters have no motivation other than selfish ones, and there's absolutely no chemistry between any of the actors. Joan Hackett and Cliff Gorman are an unhappily married couple who are having their 10 year college reunion and she runs into her old boyfriend James Brolin which brings out the jealousy in her husband. Slowly but surely, he goes more berserk, and eventually take things to the extremes.
There's no motivation to really root for any of these people as they are very self-centered and caught up in their own issues rather than the shape of the world or anything that really made the 1960's and 70's tick. This could be set in any era, as there have been a lot better movies made about angry husbands seeking revenge when a wife threatens to leave for a former lover. Hackett plays a character who certainly isn't worth fighting over, and Brolin is no prize even if Hackett's husband Gorman isn't either. The fault condition with the performers. It's with the script and the direction.
There's no motivation to really root for any of these people as they are very self-centered and caught up in their own issues rather than the shape of the world or anything that really made the 1960's and 70's tick. This could be set in any era, as there have been a lot better movies made about angry husbands seeking revenge when a wife threatens to leave for a former lover. Hackett plays a character who certainly isn't worth fighting over, and Brolin is no prize even if Hackett's husband Gorman isn't either. The fault condition with the performers. It's with the script and the direction.
Class Dismissed - Class of 63
arthur_tafero13 October 2019
The problem with this film about a ten year class reunion is that there is no one to root for; it has no protagonist. Everyone in the film is sleazy. The wife, the husband, Nicky, Brolin, and even the classmates are slimy and pathetic. The ten year reunion of Northern Sleazy University is an exercise in painful self-absorption. These people supposedly lived through 63-73, and yet there not one mention of Nixon, Watergate, Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement or anything of any substance whatsoever from that time period. Even conservative students went to Vietnam. Thank God I never went to a crappy school like this one. I mean, really; who brings a rifle to a class reunion except some sick psycho. I had to take a shower after watching the film.
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