A Small Circle of Friends (1980)

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Released in 1980, "A Small Circle of Friends" is a drama about three friends at Harvard & Radcliffe College during the turbulent years 1967-1971. The protagonists are played by Brad Davis, Karen Allen and Jameson Parker. John Friedrich and Shelley Long are on hand as peripheral students. This is a good realistic drama about life at college during the late 60s & early 70s in America. The movie showcases the political and social craziness of those times and how it changed the students, for better or worse. It's akin to 2000's underrated "The 70s" but maybe a notch better. There are several highlights and even glimpses of greatness, like "The Star-Spangled Banner" being sung by an African-America cook from the university while sitting at a bar, a few curvy cuties, a pre-Cheers Shelley Long, a hilarious stage sequence, the absurd Vietnam draft lottery, and an unexpectedly shocking climax. There are also a couple of great songs from the era, like the Stones' "Street Fighting Man," but there should've been more instead of overdoing the sappy "Theme for the Masses." I should warn that there's one element in the last act that's just gross, but it happened then and now. As solid as "A Small Circle of Friends" is, it's thoroughly obscure; somehow it fell through the cracks when it was released. The film runs 113 minutes and was shot entirely in Massachusetts (Cambridge, Bridgewater & Groton). It was directed by Rob Cohen and written by Ezra Sacks. GRADE: B+

I first saw this film on HBO in, I guess, 1981, and it has always stayed with me. I didn't see it again until this week (I'm writing this in late August 2016) and found that it holds up very well. If the filmmakers were aiming to preserve a snapshot of turbulent campus life circa 1970, I think they pulled it off. Those were my times, too, and I was there and I saw this as it was going on. I think this film may have been the first feature to address the era as historical -- as opposed to, say, The Strawberry Statement, a film with many of the same themes as this one, but which was made in 1970.In the wraparound, in "the present," it's been about ten years since Jessie and Nick finished college. I guess my only disagreement with the film is that, given the split between Nick and Jessie after Leo's death -- she's not even aware that Nick returned to Boston, went to Harvard Med and became a psychiatrist -- there's a possibility at the end that they'll get back together. That's a nice ending, but I don't think it reflects real life. In real life, Jessie's cab pulls away, Nick doesn't run after it, and one never phones the other, ever. They are different people now.It also struck me that, here in 2016, it's been almost 50 years since Nick, Leo and Jessie first arrived on campus, and I suddenly felt pretty old when I realized that. Those days are now about as far in the past as the First World War was to the college kids of 1970 -- which is to say, pretty darn far back.(Okay, okay. Maybe Nick and Jessie did get back together. I'd like to think so, anyway.)

I was in school then. This is the only movie ever made that got it right. 30 feet a part would be kids who were fighting the war and kids who wanted no part of it. Transformations from innocence to dissident happened overnight. Karen Allen is the best actress ever and why the hell isn't she working every day? This came out in 1980 and I thought there would be many more like this but nope---just this one.It was a sweet time and every time I visit campus today, it's like a graveyard. Dull, calm, sane. I miss the charge that was in the air the 4 years I was in college, it's not there. Neither is the ambient sound track. Now everyone has speakers in their ears, not their dorm windows!

This film, and the principal people involved with it, have long held a special place in my life as I was an extra during the riot scene at "Harvard"(nee Bridgewater State College). While I don't have a truly memorable role in the finished film(although many close friends of mine do and were featured on two of the lobby cards from the film), I am part of the cluster of people on the main building's upper balcony(a most unsafe act as that creaky and once condemned balcony held about 15 of us at one point). Shooting went from 6 PM until 6 AM on a very rainy evening. All the rioters, with the exception of the principal actors, were student extras who raided their older sibling's closet to get the historical costumes. Real Boston MDC riot police were used, some of whom had been at the riots in the 60's. First take was particularly chaotic and bloody as students fought with the police who, acting upon instinct, violently did the same. Being part of the student press covering the event(with a story which, based on our notes, was picked up by AP), I got the opportunity to meet and greet the stars shortly before nationwide opening of the film. Filmed opened on a Wednesday and closed the following Tuesday. A great financial disappointment which truly hurt a burgeoning career for Cohen. Other brief notes: there are two familiar Steinman thematics running throughout the film. The first did become TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART while the second became a #1 hit for Air Supply, MAKING LOVE OUT OF NOTHING AT ALL. The reason that the film ended up at BSC did have to do with Harvard's exam schedule. As it turned out, this was the final scene in the film to be shot, leading studio execs to frantically find a suitable location in order to stay on shooting schedule and budget. Also, the "paddy wagon" seen rocking during the sequence(and featured prominently on one of the lobby cards) was actually rolled over onto it's roof during the first take. The student riding the vehicle is William Hoffman. Truly looking forward to seeing the DVD(first time the film, long out of print on VHS, will be in widescreen) and hearing Cohen's commentary on the while experience.