Author Topic: A Separate Peace  (Read 9156 times)

Online southendmd

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A Separate Peace
« on: July 12, 2011, 08:13:21 pm »

OK, I'll admit it:  I'm a Parker Stevenson fan. 

Had a huge crush on him in the 70s, when he was Frank Hardy.  Luckily, my sister was a Shaun Cassidy fan, and I got to peruse her teen magazines.  She even had a large poster of Joe and Frank in her room.  Joe Hardy (Shaun) was a drip, but Frank was dreamy as the smart one. 

Anyway, I got a notion to see his first film again, "A Separate Peace", the first film version of the famous young adult novel.  Didn't many of us read it when we were 12?  Did I even understand the attraction between the main characters, Gene and Finny?  I know I saw the film way back when.  Turns out, it's not on DVD.  So, I found a cheap copy of the VHS on Amazon that included a free DVD transfer !  Score! 

I watched it last night.  For those who aren't familiar, it is a novel in flashback form, set in a New England boys' prep school in the 1940s, with WWII looming.  Some see it as a loss of innocence story, others a kind of love story.  It involves Gene (Parker Stevenson), an inhibited, bookish, smart and serious student and his friendship/rivalry/infatuation/confusion with Finny/Phineas (John Heyl), an atheltic free spirit with incredible charisma, who invents games, doesn't believe the war is happening.  The book was narrated by Gene as an older man, looking back on a pivotal year in his life at "Devon". 

The film is lovely, lovingly portraying the changing of the seasons at Devon, actually filmed at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire (where the author attended school).  Beside Parker Stevenson, all of the actors were actually students or alumni of Exeter, providing both realism and naivetĂ© in the acting. 

The main characters are 16/17, younger than Jack and Ennis, but I found similarities nonetheless.  The confusion of what they were feeling, the inability to express themselves directly.  Some fighting/tussling scenes were very familiar.  Parker as Gene has enormous Jack eyes, and Finny has Ennis's physicality. 

A couple of pivotal scenes are not up to the book, likely lacking a necessary voice-over, but I found it an earnest and welcome adaptation. 

Online southendmd

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Re: A Separate Peace
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2011, 08:15:56 pm »
Gene (Parker Stevenson) and Finny (John Heyl)


Offline Meryl

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Re: A Separate Peace
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2011, 10:11:32 pm »
I loved the Hardy Boys!  8)
Ich bin ein Brokie...

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: A Separate Peace
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2011, 10:46:04 pm »
The main characters are 16/17, younger than Jack and Ennis, but I found similarities nonetheless.

Funny you should post about this today. In my mail today I received a TLA Video catalog, and there immediately jumped out at me a listing for a film called Outpost. I've never heard of it, but the description reads, "Outpost tells the story of the doomed love affair between two 17-year-old Midwestern farm hands in the early '40s. Though laced with nostalgia, the film paints a darker portrait of classic Americana, exposing the intolerance and domestic violence that lie just beneath the surface."

The catalog lists a release date of 2009, but it also gives a running time of only 45 minutes. I think I may need to do some research to see whether I can learn anything else about this film.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline milomorris

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Re: A Separate Peace
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2011, 12:24:05 am »
Phillips Exeter has a drop-dead gorgeous campus. You should see it covered in snow!!! Harvard is pretty, but Phillips trumps it.
  The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

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Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: A Separate Peace
« Reply #5 on: July 13, 2011, 01:17:56 am »
A Separate Peace is a must-see for me (aside: my new grandson is named Phinny). Maybe Outpost as well!!
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Online southendmd

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Re: A Separate Peace
« Reply #6 on: July 13, 2011, 06:53:31 am »
Phillips Exeter has a drop-dead gorgeous campus. You should see it covered in snow!!! Harvard is pretty, but Phillips trumps it.

Very true.  I have visited a friend who works in the town of Exeter, and she walks her golden retriever on the Phillips campus.  I wonder if that tree is still there...

A Separate Peace is a must-see for me (aside: my new grandson is named Phinny). Maybe Outpost as well!!

Like I said, it's difficult to find on DVD.  There is a remake, a TV version from 2004, but I haven't seen that one. 

I'll have to look for Outpost.

Online southendmd

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Re: A Separate Peace
« Reply #7 on: July 13, 2011, 06:56:16 am »

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: A Separate Peace
« Reply #8 on: July 13, 2011, 11:45:13 am »
I have two degrees of separation to Parker! Kirstie Alley, whom I grew up with, was once married to him! Want me to wrangle an intro?  :laugh:

And on the subject of boys named Phineas, now I find there's a TV show on the Disney Channel named Phineas and Ferb! My daughter must be on to something!
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline Monika

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Re: A Separate Peace
« Reply #9 on: July 13, 2011, 12:12:30 pm »
I have two degrees of separation to Parker! Kirstie Alley, whom I grew up with, was once married to him! Want me to wrangle an intro?  :laugh:
You grew up with Kirstey Alley? Must have been exciting to see somebody you know become a celebrity.


Besides being married (which I didn´t know), they both appeared in "North and South". Kirstie in the original series and Parker in the sequel "North and South 2"

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: A Separate Peace
« Reply #10 on: July 13, 2011, 12:29:53 pm »
Kirstie Alley, whom I grew up with

I'm glad she didn't turn you into a Scientologist!

Was she a mess growing up?
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Online southendmd

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Re: A Separate Peace
« Reply #11 on: July 13, 2011, 02:31:31 pm »
I have two degrees of separation to Parker! Kirstie Alley, whom I grew up with, was once married to him! Want me to wrangle an intro?  :laugh:

Awesome, Lee! 

I always admired Parker because he got an architecture degree from Princeton, just in case the acting thing didn't work out!