A Summer Place | |
---|---|
Directed by | Delmer Daves |
Screenplay by | Delmer Daves |
Based on | A Summer Place 1958 novel by Sloan Wilson |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Harry Stradling |
Edited by | Owen Marks |
Music by | Max Steiner |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 130 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
A Summer Place is a 1959 American romantic drama film based on Sloan Wilson's 1958 novel of the same name, about teenage lovers from different classes who get back together 20 years later, and then must deal with the passionate love affair of their own teenage children by previous marriages. Delmer Daves directed the movie, which stars Richard Egan and Dorothy McGuire as a couple, and Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue as their respective children. The film contains a memorable instrumental theme composed by Max Steiner, which spent nine weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1960. [2]
Alcoholic Bart Hunter (Arthur Kennedy), his long-suffering wife Sylvia (Dorothy McGuire) and their teenage son Johnny (Troy Donahue) operate a crumbling inn on Pine Island off the Maine coast. The inn was previously Bart's elegant family mansion in an exclusive resort, but as his family fortunes have dwindled, the Hunters are forced to rent rooms to paying guests. Bart receives a reservation request from an old acquaintance, Ken Jorgenson (Richard Egan), who was a lowly lifeguard on the island twenty years ago but is now a millionaire research chemist. Ken wants to bring his wife and daughter to the island for the summer. Bart suggests that Ken is just coming to lord his new wealth over Bart, who is no longer rich. Bart wants to refuse the reservation, but Sylvia insists that he accept because they badly need the money, even going so far as to move themselves into the small guest house so their own master bedroom suite can be rented to Ken and his family.
Ken arrives with his wife Helen (Constance Ford) and teenage daughter Molly (Sandra Dee). Helen and Ken have an unhappy marriage, sleep in separate bedrooms and frequently argue, including over proper behavior standards for their daughter. Helen is a prude who disapproves of Molly's developing figure and interest in boys, particularly Johnny, who is also attracted to Molly. Ken, who is much more relaxed and permissive, tells his daughter that her lustful desires are not shameful. Helen tries, unsuccessfully, to put on airs and impress the upper-class residents of the island, while Ken is not interested in pretense and is even happy to talk with older people who remember him from when he worked as a lifeguard.
As it turns out, Ken and Sylvia were teenaged lovers twenty years previously. It soon becomes apparent that they still love each other, and that Ken returned to Pine Island in hopes of seeing Sylvia again. They had broken up because Ken was a poor college student while Bart was the son of a rich, established family, so Sylvia married Bart, and Ken, after seeing Sylvia's wedding announcement in the newspaper, married Helen. Both marriages were unhappy, but Ken and Sylvia stayed in them because of their love for their respective children, Molly and Johnny. Ken and Sylvia find themselves drawn to each other again and begin secretly meeting every night. They are soon spotted by the island's night watchman, who informs Helen. Helen initially keeps quiet, on her mother's advice, planning to catch them in the act to ensure a large divorce settlement.
Ken goes on a weekend business trip, during which time Molly and Johnny, with Ken's permission, go sailing around the island. Their boat capsizes in rough water, stranding them on the beach overnight. The Coast Guard rescues them the next day. Helen is suspicious that the teens had sex on the beach, although they deny it. Helen sends for a doctor to forcibly examine Molly, finding she is still a virgin. Horrified, Molly runs away and sees Johnny, who threatens to kill Helen if she hurts Molly again. Helen contacts law enforcement, and then in a fit of anger reveals Sylvia and Ken's affair in front of Bart, Ken, Sylvia and Johnny. Bart reveals he has long known about Sylvia's love for Ken and offers to forgive her, but she cannot go back. The Hunters and Jorgensons each go through an acrimonious public divorce and the teens are sent to boarding schools several states apart. Molly and Johnny are angry at Ken and Sylvia and stop speaking to them, becoming increasingly dependent on each other for emotional support, despite Helen's constant interference and criticism of Molly's morals.
Ken and Sylvia eventually marry and move into a Frank Lloyd Wright beach house. They talk Molly and Johnny into visiting them there, to which they agree largely because it will give them a chance to be together away from Helen, who is unable to prevent the visit due to a court order. During their visit, Molly and Johnny have sex (off camera). Ken and Sylvia suspect that the teens are sleeping together and are concerned about the possible ill effects, but in view of their own past history, feel they cannot order Molly and Johnny to stop. Soon after, Molly discovers she is pregnant and runs away with Johnny, planning to get married. They seek Bart's blessing, but he drunkenly tries to talk them out of marriage, later calling Helen to let her know what happened. The local justice of the peace suspects that they are under legal age to marry and turns them down. In desperation, Molly and Johnny go to the house of Ken and Sylvia, who are supportive. In the end, happy Johnny and Molly, just married, return to Pine Island for their honeymoon.
The film was shot in Pacific Grove and around the Monterey Peninsula. [3] Sloan Wilson wrote the first screenplay, which covered the 22-year span of the novel. Delmer Daves focused the new draft on one year. Daves said:
I have two kids who are just about the same age of these two in A Summer Place and I know how difficult communication between generations can be. And while this may sound corny, it can be assisted by love and understanding. Amid some rather tempestuous social activities, this is what we are trying to demonstrate. That there are two affairs may sound sensational, but that's not the point. We have received the approval of the Johnstone office, because the intent of the picture is a moral one. Frankness and impatience will help pull the cork on a situation blocked by intolerance. What we are trying to do is dramatise that pulling of the cork. [3]
Some exterior and interior scenes involving Ken and Sylvia's beach house were filmed at Frank Lloyd Wright's Mrs. Clinton Walker House, built in 1948. In the film, Sylvia tells Molly that Wright designed the house, ostensibly located on the East Coast near the movie's "Pine Island" location (since Molly and Johnny drive from Pine Island to the house after being sent away by the justice of the peace). In reality, Walker House is located on the beach side of Scenic Road on Carmel Bay in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. The real house has only one level, although in the movie, the house is depicted as if it has a lower level at the same level as the beach. Additional scenes were filmed at the Honeymoon Cottage located at Mission Ranch in Carmel. [4]
The movie became popular after its release, but had a mixed critical reception. Harrison's Reports , an industry newsletter for independent movie theater owners, defined it "money in the bank at the box office," "a well-made bit of entertainment," and "sleek and svelte in the best tradition of popular films," but warned exhibitors the film was "devoted almost exclusively to the most popular cinema topic of the day—sex." [5] Howard Thompson of The New York Times called it "one of the most laboriously and garishly sex-scented movies in years" with "Max Steiner's music hammering away at each sexual nuance like a pile driver". [6] On Rotten Tomatoes, A Summer Place holds an approval rating of 83% based on six reviews, with an average rating of 6.00/10. [7]
The 1960 instrumental hit "Theme from A Summer Place", composed by Max Steiner, was used in the film as a secondary musical theme (not the main title theme) for scenes featuring Molly and Johnny. The version used in the film was recorded by Hugo Winterhalter. It was later arranged and recorded by Percy Faith and performed by his orchestra. In 1960, the Percy Faith version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for nine consecutive weeks, a record at that time. [2] The theme has been covered in instrumental or vocal versions by numerous other artists, including The Lettermen, Andy Williams, The Chordettes, Cliff Richard, Julie London, Billy Vaughn, Joanie Sommers, and The Ventures, and has been featured in many other films and television programs. Percy Faith would re-record the piece twice; first in 1969 and later in 1976.
Troy Donahue co-starred in The Crowded Sky , another Warner Brothers film released about ten months after A Summer Place. In a restaurant scene between Donahue's character and co-star Efrem Zimbalist Jr., the popular "Theme from A Summer Place" is heard on the restaurant sound system.
In the 1971 film The Omega Man , the lead character Robert Neville played by Charlton Heston, listens to the film soundtrack main theme in his car on an 8-track tape cartridge during the precredit opening sequence.
The lyrics of the song "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee" from the musical Grease are in part specifically about the events in this movie.
The film is part of a plot point in the Barry Levinson 1982 film Diner . Set in 1959, the character "Boogie" and several of his friends attend a movie theater showing of A Summer Place, where Boogie plays a sexual prank on his date as Molly and Johnny kiss onscreen.
The 1985 Canadian film My American Cousin , set in 1959, plays the song a number of times.
Jasper Beardsley sang the theme song with the fictional lyrics "It's the theme, from A Summer Place..." while auditioning for the Be Sharps in the 1993 The Simpsons episode Homer's Barbershop Quartet .
The 'I washed my hair for you scene' can be seen on the 1990s show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the first-season episode: "Honeymoon in Metropolis". Lois is spending the weekend at the Lexor hotel in town for relaxation but is getting bored with the love stories being shown on television. [8]
The 1997 thriller-comedy Con Air features the song during a scene in which a character played by Dave Chappelle is thrown out of an airplane.
The 2001 version of Ocean's Eleven contains the theme from A Summer Place during the initial scene between Daniel Ocean (George Clooney) and Tess (Julia Roberts).
The theme song is used in a comedic scene of two separate seductions in National Lampoon's 1978 blockbuster comedy, Animal House .
The theme song features in a comedic scene of The Sopranos in which Tony Soprano outs Bobby Baccalieri for mistaking Nostradamus and Notre Dame for being the same thing.
The theme appeared in the 2024 TV show Fallout based on the popular video game franchise. The similarly comedic scene features the protagonist Lucy MacClean and Maximus talking about sex.
Annette Joanne Funicello was an American actress and singer. She began her professional career at age 12, becoming one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the original Mickey Mouse Club. In her teenage years, Funicello had a successful career as a pop singer recording under the name "Annette". Her most notable singles are "O Dio Mio", "First Name Initial", "Tall Paul", and "Pineapple Princess". During the mid-1960s, she established herself as a film actress, popularizing the successful "Beach Party" genre alongside co-star Frankie Avalon.
Sandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials and then film in her teenage years. Best known for her portrayal of ingénues, Dee earned a Golden Globe Award as one of the year's most promising newcomers for her performance in Robert Wise's Until They Sail (1957). She became a teenage star for her performances in Imitation of Life, Gidget and A Summer Place, which made her a household name.
Constance Ford was an American actress and model. She portrayed Ada Lucas Hobson on the long-running daytime soap opera Another World, from 1967 until shortly before her death in 1993. She also appeared in nearly two dozen movies from 1956 to 1974, with her most noteworthy role being the matriarch Helen Jorgenson in A Summer Place (1959).
Gidget is a 1959 American CinemaScope comedy film directed by directed by Paul Wendkos and starring Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson, James Darren, Arthur O'Connell, and the Four Preps.
Richard Egan was an American actor. After beginning his career in 1949, he subsequently won a Golden Globe Award for his performances in the films The Glory Brigade (1953) and The Kid from Left Field (1953). He went on to star in many films such as Underwater! (1955), Seven Cities of Gold (1955), The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956), Love Me Tender (1956), Tension at Table Rock (1956), A Summer Place (1959), Esther and the King (1960) and The 300 Spartans (1962).
Troy Donahue was an American film and television actor, best known for his role as Johnny Hunter in the film A Summer Place. He was a popular sex symbol in the 1950s and 1960s.
The beach party film is an American film genre of feature films which were produced and released between 1963 and 1968, created by American International Pictures (AIP), beginning with their surprise hit, Beach Party, in July 1963. With this film, AIP is credited with creating the genre. In addition to the AIP films, several contributions to the genre were produced and released by major and independent studios alike. According to various sources, the genre comprises over 30 films, with the lower-budget AIP films being the most profitable.
Gidget Goes Hawaiian is a 1961 American romantic comedy musical film starring James Darren, Michael Callan and Deborah Walley. Released by Columbia Pictures, the film is a sequel to the 1959 Sandra Dee beach film vehicle Gidget. Dee was under contract to Universal for the rival series film Tammy Tell Me True (1961) and would not be released to Columbia to reprise her hit role.
A Summer Place is a 1958 novel by Sloan Wilson, and follows his 1955 bestseller The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. The novel is about an adult couple who rekindle a long-ago summer romance that ended because of class differences, and their two teenage children from other marriages who also fall in love with each other. It was adapted into the 1959 film A Summer Place.
"Theme from A Summer Place" is a song with lyrics by Mack Discant and music by Max Steiner, written for the 1959 film A Summer Place, which starred Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue. It was recorded for the film as an instrumental theme by Steiner. Originally known as the "Molly and Johnny Theme", this lush extended cue, as orchestrated by Murray Cutter, is not the main title theme of the film, but an oft-heard secondary love theme for the characters played by Dee and Donahue. A subsequent recording by Hugo Winterhalter was the first to use the "Theme from A Summer Place" title. The theme has become a canonical representation of the easy listening genre, and is considered by some to be the definitive easy listening track of all time.
Imitation of Life (1959) is an American drama film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal International. It was Sirk's final Hollywood film and dealt with issues of race, class and gender. Imitation of Life is the second film adaptation of Fannie Hurst's 1933 novel of the same title.
Critters is a 1986 American science fiction comedy horror film directed by Stephen Herek in his directorial debut, and co-written with Domonic Muir. It stars Dee Wallace, M. Emmet Walsh, Billy "Green" Bush and Scott Grimes in his film debut. The plot follows a group of small, furry aliens with carnivorous behavior escaping from two shape-shifting bounty hunters, landing in a small countryside town to feast on its inhabitants.
Street Scene is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film produced by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by King Vidor. With a screenplay by Elmer Rice adapted from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, Street Scene takes place on a New York City street from one evening until the following afternoon. Except for one scene which takes place inside a taxi, Vidor shot the entire film on a single set depicting half a city block of house fronts.
Parrish is a 1961 American drama film made by Warner Bros. It was written, produced and directed by Delmer Daves, based on Mildred Savage's 1958 novel of the same name. The music score was by Max Steiner, the Technicolor cinematography by Harry Stradling Sr., the art direction by Leo K. Kuter and the costume design by Howard Shoup. The film stars Troy Donahue, Claudette Colbert, Karl Malden, Dean Jagger, Connie Stevens, Diane McBain, Sharon Hugueny, Sylvia Miles, Madeleine Sherwood and Hayden Rorke.
Monster on the Campus is a 1958 American black-and-white science fiction/horror film from Universal-International, produced by Joseph Gershenson, directed by Jack Arnold, from a script by David Duncan, that stars Arthur Franz, Joanna Cook Moore, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue, and Whit Bissell. The film was theatrically released as a double feature with the British horror film Blood of the Vampire.
Palm Springs Weekend is a 1963 Warner Bros. bedroom comedy film directed by Norman Taurog. It has elements of the beach party genre and has been called "a sort of Westernized version of Where the Boys Are" by Billboard magazine. It stars Troy Donahue, Stefanie Powers, Robert Conrad, Ty Hardin, and Connie Stevens.
Hack! is a 2007 American horror film directed and written by Matt Flynn. The film centres on a group of students who, while on a field trip, become victims in a snuff film, and stars Danica McKellar, Jay Kenneth Johnson, William Forsythe, Sean Kanan, Juliet Landau, Justin Chon, Travis Schuldt, Adrienne Frantz and Gabrielle Richens. The film was released in the UK on July 20, 2007, before receiving a US release on December 11, 2007.
Susan Slade is a 1961 American Technicolor drama film directed by Delmer Daves and starring Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Dorothy McGuire and Lloyd Nolan. Based upon the 1961 novel The Sin of Susan Slade by Doris Hume, concerns a well-to-do teenage girl who secretly has a baby out of wedlock. With cinematography by Lucien Ballard, the film was released by Warner Bros.
Mrs. Clinton Walker House, also known as Cabin on the Rocks, is located on Carmel Point, near Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. The house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1948 and completed in 1952 for Mrs. Clinton "Della" Walker of Pebble Beach. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 17, 1977.
Mission Ranch is a historic hotel and restaurant in Carmel, Monterey County, California, United States. It is located in the unincorporated Mission Tract south of the incorporated city of Carmel-by-the-Sea, near the Carmel Mission, at 26270 Dolores Street. The property was bought in 1986 by Clint Eastwood, who restored the premises in the style of the original buildings. The hotel has 31 rooms located within ten buildings on the property.