Have a good cry when 'Love Story' returns to LI screens

Love, according to writer Erich Segal, means never having to say you're sorry. It also means breaking out the Kleenex — big time — when "Love Story," the 1970 weepie based on Segal's monster of a bestseller, returns to theaters Feb. 9 and 12 as a lead-in to Valentine's Day.

Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw star as college students who fall in love, get married and then deal with tragedy in the sudser, part of TCM's Big Screen Classics series. Four local theaters — Regal Deer Park 16 & IMAX, Regal Westbury 12, AMC Stony Brook 17 and Regal Hampton Bays 5 — will present 50th anniversary screenings of the movie at 1 p.m. Feb. 9 and 7 p.m. Feb. 12. For tickets and additional info, go to fathomevents.com.

"Love Story" racked up seven Oscar nominations, including best picture, best actor (O'Neal), best actress (MacGraw) and screenplay (Segal). It's sole win was for Francis Lai's haunting musical score.

But the big winner may have been the up-and-comer making his film debut as O'Neal's college roommate: That would be Tommy Lee Jones, who would go on to win an Oscar for "The Fugitive" (1993).