(1972)
2
Michael Hastings
One of the more egregious examples of a masterful novel being turned into mush on the big screen, Larry Peerce's filmization of John Knowles' ode to adolescent-boy angst and resentment would hardly set the standard for the countless boarding-school period pieces that would follow (Dead Poets Society, The Chocolate War, The Emperor's Club). In true '70s-Hollywood fashion, Peerce made it his goal to cast unknowns, but this time, at least, the conceit doesn't pay off: the nonprofessionals, saddled with screenwriter Fred Segal's uninspired, literal adaptation of the book's dialogue, seem unnatural, embalmed, and worst of all, anachronistic. Where the novel delicately traced the parallels between the boys' in-fighting and the larger specter of WWII, the wartime allusions in the film are painfully spelled out, most infamously in an embarrassing anti-Hitler chant invented for the film. Making for a poor study guide and an even poorer entertainment, A Separate Peace's only notable achievement, then, is that it launched the career of future cipher-heartthrob Parker Stevenson -- a dubious achievement at best.
cast-crew for A Separate Peace on AllMovie
A Separate Peace (1972)
