Summertree

Summertree is a 1971 American drama film directed by Anthony Newley, about a young man who drops out of university, falls in love with an older married woman, and contemplates dodging the draft to avoid serving in the Vietnam War. The screenplay was written by Edward Hume and Stephen Yafa, based on the 1967 play of the same name by Ron Cowen. Plot In 1970, 20-year-old Jerry (Michael Douglas) visits his parents Herb (Jack Warden) and Ruth (Barbara Bel Geddes) to tell them he is considering dropping out of university to find himself. His parents are worried, not only because they have wasted expensive tuition on Jerry, but also because the Vietnam War is raging and by dropping out, Jerry will lose his student draft deferral. Inspired by a television advertisement, Jerry becomes a Big Brother to a black child named Marvis (Kirk Calloway). When Marvis is slightly injured in a fall, they visit a hospital where Jerry meets a nurse named Vanetta (Brenda Vaccaro). Jerry and Vanetta soon fall in love, despite Vanetta being older than Jerry, and they begin living together. Jerry accidentally discovers an autographed photo of Vanetta declaring her love to a man named Tony (Bill Vint). Vanetta explains that Tony is her husband and they separated two years ago, although they are not divorced. Jerry follows through on his plan to drop out of university. Confident in his self-taught guitar playing, he auditions for the conservatorium and gets a regular paying gig playing at a local coffeehouse. Herb discovers that Jerry has dropped out when he receives Jerry's draft notice in the mail. Jerry is initially not worried because he expects to be accepted to the conservatorium, which would restore his student draft deferral. Unfortunately, despite his impressive audition, the conservatorium rejects him for lack of any formal musical training. He investigates other ways to evade the draft, to no avail.