John & Mary
A perceptive analysis of a one night stand,John and Maryarrived with the tagline, "It's not your mother's love story." And so it isn't. With hindsight, though, this New York-set, European-style romance seems more quaint than revolutionary. John (Dustin Hoffman) meets Mary (Mia Farrow) at a bar where they bond over Jean-Luc Godard. Turns out she isn't a fan, but the ice has been broken, and a connection is made. The timeline proceeds to shift from the night they met, the day after their tryst, and their previous relationships (his with a flighty model, hers with a married politician). Aside from quotable lines, like "Cinema verité is just an excuse to follow a little girl into the ladies room," John Mortimer's script uses voiceover to convey the couple’s inner thoughts. With his preppy outfits, Hoffman looks much like his post-collegiate character inThe Graduate, while Farrow, with her baby-doll dresses, looks much like her hip housewife inRosemary's Baby, though their performances here are quite different. Featuring a spare soundtrack by Quincy Jones and direction by the versatile, if inconsistent Peter Yates (Bullitt),John and Maryis an underrated look at love among young singles torn between convention and desire. The sexual politics may seem dated, but the chemistry between Hoffman's fastidious John and Farrow's flippant Mary is as appealing as it is unlikely (TIMEmagazine dubbed them "The Moonchild and the Fifth Beatle"). With Olympia Dukakis as John's mother and Tyne Daly as Mary's roommate.--Kathleen C. Fennessy