MovieChat Forums > A Summer Story (1988) Discussion > Does anyone else think Frank is just a c...

Does anyone else think Frank is just a creep?

posted 12 years ago by suzygallup
6 replies | jump to latest

I do!

I am surprised by all the good reviews of this film. I thought it was a
well-done film, but the story was heart-breaking and aggravating. Frank was
a very selfish main character. It was so painful to see, not beautiful
the way everyone else seems to see it. A man takes complete advantage
of a girl, promises he'll never leave her and within two days drops her
like a hot potato. He never comes back. Meanwhile, she's pregnant, has
his child and dies of a broken heart. Not that she wasn't to blame, she
shouldn't have been so foolish to fool around with him. I like movies
where people like him are the villain, not the hero (Like Willoughby in
Sense and Sensibility, or Wickham in Pride and Prejudice were villains)
People, stop thinking that selfishness and taking advantage is "romantic!!"
Viewer, BEWARE!

[–] LeMarchand 12 years ago

...erm, isn't the fact that he does turn out to be a Grade-A bar steward the point of the film and what makes it so tragic? I think you'll find that most people find it heartbreaking, but the fact that it can stir such strong emotions is what makes it so great.

I personally think he genuinely loved Megan and did intend to return initially - but hiding from her once he had met people from is own class shows that he was an utter cad.

No tears please, it's a waste of good suffering.

[–] lacedemonians 12 years ago

Frank was a cad - but not an utter cad. He followed her because part of him wanted to join her (no - not just THAT part of him). But he let social convention and the opinions of others dictate his (and poor Megan's) future. This movie is about strength of character as much as it is about romance.

“There is NO such thing as a free lunch.” - Milton Friedman

[–] PretoriaDZ 12 years ago

Yes, he was a cad but we see his payback for that in the final minutes of the film. He finds out about the baby (which he never knew was on the way at the time of his desertion), then we hear his crabby wife arrive back at the car and start nattering at him as SHE drives them away, then he comes face to face with the beautiful young man (who makes eye contact and smiles at him) that was his son he was never to know, a son who looked so much like the young woman Frank had dumped. And earlier in the film, it was indicated that he loved children but at the end of the film, at the grave, when asked if he had children of his own, he replied "No, no children." Ha! Serves him right!

[–] MorbiusE-philologist 11 years ago

Well put, PretoriaDZ. I finally saw A Summer Story this week, and I agree with your analysis about the ending. Frank was a weak, mixed-up cad although not quite such an insensitive cad as his friend on the walking tour at the beginning - that one really was a creep.

This film had a lot of depth. It worked at a number of levels, and was not simply a "romance" movie. As always, the Delerue score gave an added dimension to it, and the photography and period detail fleshed it out beautifully.

[–] jmichael3387 11 years ago

He acted nice on the outside, but on the inside he was NO GOOD. Way worse than his friend, who just does them and dumps them. To be able to let a girl hang like that....to see first hand how miserable and sad she was....and to not at least say SOMETHING? He is lower than low. Because if you really think about it, only someone with no heart could do that. Even the worst guys would have said something.

[–] deronadams 7 years ago

I concur - he was a bastard & should've been horse-whipped.