Love Story

Love Story (1970)

  • 57% of critics liked it
    (23 reviews)

  • 73% of users liked it
    (33,896 ratings)

In director Arthur Hiller's hit tearjerker -- based on Erich Segal's novella -- Ryan O'Neal plays Oliver Barrett IV, a comfortably off Harvard pre-law student who falls in love with Radcliffe music student Jenny Cavilleri (Ali MacGraw), a freewheeling, delightfully profane product of a blue-collar… More

PG, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By
Arthur Hiller
Written By
Erich Segal
Genres
Drama, Romance
In Theaters
Dec 16, 1970 Wide
On DVD
Apr 24, 2001
Paramount Pictures

Critic Reviews

  • , TIME Magazine

    Ryan O'Neal gives the character of the neon scion a warmth and vulnerability entirely missing from the bestseller.

  • Variety Staff, Variety

    Love Story is an excellent film.

  • Vincent Canby, New York Times

    The only really depressing thing about Love Story is the thought of all of the terrible imitations that will inevitably follow it.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    Hiller earns our emotional response because of the way he's directed the movie.

  • Jaime N. Christley, Slant Magazine

    With this Love Story Blu-ray, Paramount proves that you can, in fact, polish a turd.

Read all 15 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • AJ V


    The best romantic drama of the seventies! It's sweet, tragic, dramatic, intense, and very modern too. I loved it and if you like sad romantic dramas you will love it too. I especially loved O'Neal in this movie.

  • Red L


    I better stop watching 40-year-old movies. When I see them today, they seem disappointing compared to today's movies, and there are a few of these 1970's era movies I have down-rated from my initial rating. Very simple script. Still you should see it - it made a big… More

  • Conner R


    It's exactly what it aspires to be, an extremely honest and believable romance drama. It has great dialogue and acting, the chemistry between Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw is what makes it work as well as it does. It's sort of the reason all movies like it since seem… More

  • jay n


    Puerile drama with one of the worst performances, by Ali MacGraw, ever recorded on film. Somehow this was an enormous hit in its day, the mind reels as to why or how.

  • Jason O


    My dad's favorite movie of all time. In "Love Story," a rich guy, Oliver (Ryan O'Neal), and a poor girl, Jennifer (Ali MacGraw), fall in love while both are attending Harvard University. When you see the two characters, it's hard to see how a smart talking… More

Read all 15 featured audience ratings

Cast

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