In the 1964 movie The Young Lovers, the young woman decides to get an abortion, In the abortion room, however, she decides at the last moment that abortion is murder. She and her mother decide to move to another city during the remaining pregnancy. Her boyfriend says he will marry her, and it seems at the movie's end that he will do so.
The movie teaches that pre-marital sex is a mistake and that abortion is wrong. If pre-marital sex causes pregnancy, then the couple should marry.
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I recently recorded The Young Lovers from the TCM television channel and watched it twice. I appreciated the movie's depiction of college students in 1964 -- their conduct, attitudes, clothing, music, dancing and romantic relationships. College students generally shared society's opinion that abortion was dangerous and wicked and so the proper solution to a pregnancy was to get married. In this regard, The Young Lovers contrasts with Dirty Dancing, which takes place in 1963 and which presents abortion as a valid option.
Another aspect of the movie that I appreciated was its portrayal of a young man who preferred to become an artist -- despite that occupation's lower earnings -- rather than pursue a conventional career. I felt that The Young Lovers supported my earlier article titled My Sociological Criticism of Dirty Dancing.
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Two young men -- Eddie Slocum (played by Peter Fonda) and William "Tarragoo" Scoonmaker (played by Nick Adams) -- share an apartment as they attend college. Eddie is a senior, and Tarragoo seems to be in a younger class. Both are unambitious students. Eddie's favorite class is drawing, and Tarragoo's favorite class is art appreciation.
When the story begins, Tarragoo has a girlfriend, Debbie (played by Deborah Walley), who is determined to remain a virgin until she marries. She is a college student, but her academic interests are not mentioned.
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| Tarragoo and Debbie in a publicity photograph |
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| Tarragoo and Debbie in a scene from "Young Lovers" |
Toward the movie's end, however, Debbie changes her mind about pre-marital sex when Tarragoo receives a notification that he will be drafted into the Army and so will be away for the next two years.
After Debbie and Tarragoo have sex together, however, he is rejected from military service because of his flat feet and so will not be away after all. Debbie and Tarragoo become engaged to marry. She will continue to study while he goes to work in his father's used-car business.
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At the beginning of the story, Eddie begins a romance with Pam Burns, a prim young woman who is studying to become an elementary-school teacher.
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| Eddie picks up Pam at the movie's beginning |
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| Eddie and Pam dance a tango in his apartment |
Then Pam informs Eddie that she is pregnant. He is upset because he does not want to get married now, and he thinks that abortion is wrong. Tarragoo too learns about Pam's pregnancy. Tarragoo too thinks that abortion is wrong, and he insists that Eddie marry Pam. Eddie and Tarragoo get into a physical fight about the issues of abortion and marriage.
Pam thinks some more about the abortion and then decides to do it. She goes back to the doctor and is taken into the abortion room. There, however, she decides that abortion is murder. Then she and her (divorced? widowed?) mother decide that she will drop out of school and they will move together to another city, where they will raise the child without a father.
Eventually Eddie decides that, because abortion is wrong, he must marry Pam, whom he does love. At the end of the movie, it seems that Eddie and Pam probably will marry.
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Although Eddie is quite intelligent, he has a bad attitude about his college studies. He feels guilty that his parents, not rich, are paying his expenses. He is interested only in his drawing class. His art teacher promises to get him a one-year scholarship on the condition that he pass all his other classes.
Eddie admires his art teacher although he recognizes that the teacher is frustrated and poor. It's obvious that Eddie is thinking about becoming an artist himself despite that occupation's relatively poor prospects.
Eddie's hesitancy to marry is caused largely by his desire to pursue an artist's career. If he has to get married and raise a family, then he will become trapped into a conventional occupation.
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The entire movie Young Lovers can be watched on YouTube.
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If you do not want to watch the entire movie, then I recommend that you look at the following segments:
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6:05 - 7:02
Throughout the movie, an attractive, flirtatious blonde, named Karen (played by Jennifer Billingsley), makes romantic advances toward Eddie, but he brushes her off. He apparently prefers prim young women such as Pam. I think Eddie fears that a romantic relationship with Karen would be dominated too much by Karen.
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10:43 - 11:30
In a foreshadowing dialogue, Pam tells Eddie she would like to be a beautiful lady with lots of secrets and one big tragedy in her life.
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15:40 - 16:42
Tarragoo tries unsuccessfully to talk Debbie into becoming sexual.
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16:43 - 20:55
Eddie dances a tango with Debbie in his room, but she leaves because she has become too aroused.
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21:55 - 23:45
A professor catches Eddie drawing a picture of Pam in an ancient-history class. Eddie displays his bad attitude, mentioning that college professors had to sell apples on the street during the Great Depression. The professor expels Eddie from the class.
Notice how well the other students are dressed.
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52:30 - 55:45
Pam's mother discovers that Eddie has slept overnight in Pam's room.
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1:05:10 - 1:07:45
Eddie's art teacher talks about the frustrations of trying to make a living as an artist.
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1:12:35 - 1:21:50
Thinking that he soon will depart for the Army, Tarragoo throws himself a farewell party.
The party has interrupted Pam's plan to tell Eddie that she is pregnant.
During the party, Debbie decides to become sexual with Tarragoo.
Karen hints to Debbie that Debbie can make Eddie marry her by getting pregnant.
Pam hints to Eddie that she might be pregnant, but he thinks she is just making a drunken joke.
Pam leaves the party, and Eddie dances and walks off with Karen.
Tarragoo and Debbie dance a waltz in anticipation of having sex.
Notice the clothing, hairstyles, music and dancing.
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1:21:50 - 1:25:00
Pam goes to a doctor to arrange an abortion. The doctor tells her she must think some more about her decision.
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1:25:00 - 1:28:00
Tarragoo and Eddie argue and fight about the issues of abortion and marriage.
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1:29:10 - 1:31:00
Pam and Eddie discuss her pregnancy. She hints that she should get an abortion, but he thinks it's too dangerous. He says he will marry her if she's pregnant. She is disappointed by his reluctance.
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1:35:05 - 1:35:26
Pam goes into the abortion room.
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1:37:45 - 1:39:45
Pam tells Eddie what happened in the abortion room.
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1:45:20 - 1:47:20
The movie's denouement. Various situations are explained.
I expect that Eddie and Pam will marry.
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The movie The Young Lovers shows what American society -- in particular college students -- commonly thought about romance, pre-marital sex, pregnancy and marriage in 1964. Society thought that pre-marital sex was a mistake and that abortion was dangerous and murderous. Young women resisted having sexual intercourse until they were at least engaged to be married. If a young woman became pregnant, then the best solution was that her boyfriend marry her.
The movie shows also how college students dressed and groomed their hair in 1964 -- which was not like what you see in the following screenshot.
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| This 1964 college girl needs sensible clothes and a perm. |
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During Tarragoo's farewell party, there were a couple of mentions that the party should be a hootenanny, which is a party that features folk music. Following are a couple of video clips from the television show Hootenanny, which was broadcast during 1963-1964. This was college students' idea of great entertainment.
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