Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sundays, I will be reviewing the made-for-television movies that used to be a primetime mainstay.  Today’s film is 1973’s Class of ’63!  It  can be viewed on YouTube!

It’s college reunion time!  Alumni of all ages and from all over the country are returning to the place where they became adults and spent the best years of their lives.

Joe Hart (James Brolin), of the Class of ’63, returns to the campus but he immediately feels like a bit like an outsider.  As opposed to his former classmates, many of whom are desperately trying to recapture their fading youth, Joe is quiet and sensitive and he’s aware of the passage of time.  He hasn’t come back to college so that he can relive his carefree fraternity days.  Instead, his main interest is whether or not his former fiancée will be there.

And it turns out that Louise Swerner (Joan Hackett) is there!  She’s accompanied by her husband and fellow member of the Class 0f 63, Mickey Swerner (Cliff Gorman).  From the minute that Mickey appears, it’s obvious that he has both a chip on his shoulder and a lot of insecurity.  He is visibly annoyed when people fail to immediately recognize him.  He and Louise have a strained marriage and he’s not particularly happy with how excited she is to see Joe again.  While Mickey tries to convince everyone that he’s grown up to be a winner, Louise and Joe get reacquainted and it becomes obvious that they still love each other.  Will Louise and Joe leave the reunion together and should they be more concerned with the fact that Mickey just happens to have a sniper rifle in his luggage?  And what to make of Dave McKay (Ed Lauter), the former classmate who seems to be just a little bit too excited to see everyone?

It’s an interesting film and I have to say that it didn’t quite go the direction that I was expecting it to.  Despite the presence of the rifle and Mickey’s obvious instability, the film is less a thriller and more a look at what it means to grow up and the difficulty of letting go of the past.  None of the characters are caricatures.  Joe and Louise may seem perfect together but the film makes clear that they’re also idealizing their time together.  With neither one of them really happy with their current life, they’ve both fallen into the trap of wondering, “What if?”  Meanwhile, Mickey may be flawed but it’s impossible not to have some sympathy for him.  As hostile as Cliff can be, it’s obvious that the person that he hates the most is himself and Cliff Gorman does a good job of capturing Mickey’s raging insecurity.  Gorman’s intensity provides a good balance to Brolin’s more laid back performance and, by the end of the film, one can understand why and how Louise was able to fall in love with two men who superficially seem to be so different.

Class of ’63 is a good drama, one that requires a little patience but which ultimately rewards the audience for sticking with it.