I saw this film so many years ago, probably around the time it came out, and I've thought about it off and on ever since. Having been so much younger and inexperienced back then, I thought the scenes of sexual lovemaking and masturbation were unusually explicit and shocking to be seen on screen. The tearoom scene with Anne Osborne (Sarah Miles) and Jim Cameron (Kris Kristofferson) was a step beyond even Meg Ryan's humorous outburst in "When Harry Met Sally". But the thing I remembered best and was most affected by was the dispassionate murder of Kris Kristofferson's character at the end of the story. Particularly when it seemed like young Jonathan (Jonathan Kahn) was seemingly becoming friends with his mother's lover. However, the influence of the sociopathic leader (Earl Rhodes) of Jonathan's school age cohort was too strong and demanding to challenge, except for the single instance when Jonathan got into a scrap with him at school. The 'Chief's' penchant to dissect and take things apart to determine their true nature is given questionable support in that scene involving a cat, disturbing enough by itself to cause squeamish viewers to abandon the film altogether by that point. Taken to its extreme, all five boys eagerly took to participating in the final act that would purge Jim Cameron's presence from their seaside community. The feeling that the film leaves one with is that of conflict and horror at the senseless murder, and if one takes it to the next level, imagining what might have happened when the seaman's disappearance was discovered, especially as it related to the relationship between Jonathan and his mother.
