Of all the major Hollywood studios, Universal's vault is probably the one most filled with lost artifacts of the '50s and '60s. If it's shame that's keeping Universal from promoting DVD releases of their drive-in classics, they needn't be so worried; there's always appreciative audiences out there for angst-ridden teen tales and heavy-petters like "The Restless Years". Written by Edward Anhalt, an adaptation of the play "Teach Me How To Cry" by Patricia Joudry, and produced by no less than Ross Hunter, the picture stars Sandra Dee as a small town lass with a secret and a strange-acting mother, as well as a possible boyfriend in well-meaning John Saxon. Still quite young at this point, Saxon knows instinctively how to work his brooding handsomeness for effect (and it's refreshing to see him using it on a nice-guy role for a change and not as the villain of the piece). The story threads are dated, of course, but the look of the film and the tone are both intriguing. Still, the simplicity behind the melodramatics are no longer relevant, which makes the heated clinches all the more amusing. **1/2 from ****
Review of The Restless Years
