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A Summer Place (1959)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
18 November 1959 (USA)
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Plot:
A self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
3 wins
&
1 nomination
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NewsDesk:
(4 articles)
Old Troy Network
(From New York Post. 26 January 2009, 11:21 PM, PST)
Actress Sandra Dee Dies at 62
(From IMDb News. 21 February 2005)
(From New York Post. 26 January 2009, 11:21 PM, PST)
Actress Sandra Dee Dies at 62
(From IMDb News. 21 February 2005)
User Comments:
"If Troy Donahue can be a movie star ..."
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Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Richard Egan | ... | Ken Jorgenson | |
| Dorothy McGuire | ... | Sylvia Hunter | |
| Sandra Dee | ... | Molly Jorgenson | |
| Arthur Kennedy | ... | Bart Hunter | |
| Troy Donahue | ... | Johnny Hunter | |
| Constance Ford | ... | Helen Jorgenson | |
| Beulah Bondi | ... | Mrs. Emily Hamilton Hamble | |
| Jack Richardson | ... | Claude Andrews | |
| Martin Eric | ... | Todd Harper, Handyman at Pine Island Inn |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
130 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound Recording)
Certification:
UK:A (cut) |
West Germany:12 (f) (cut version) |
West Germany:18 (f) (original version) |
Finland:K-16 |
Sweden:15 |
USA:Approved (certificate #19324)
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Max Steiner's main theme for this film is probably his best-known after his "Tara Theme" for "Gone With the Wind." As with "Tara's Theme," it has remained a favorite ever since, with several charting recordings. Percy Faith's version (American Columbia: 1960) went to Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1960, remaining in that position for 9 weeks, becoming both the Number One Instrumental Hit of the Rock Era and the first instrumental to win the Grammy for Record of the Year. Other charting versions were by Billy Vaughn (Dot: 1960, peaking at #2), the Lettermen (Capitol: 1965, using Mack Discant's lyrics and peaking at #16), and the Ventures (Liberty: 1969, at #83). Faith himself re-recorded it, shortly before his death in 1976, in a disco arrangement entitled "Summer Place '76."
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Goofs:
Continuity: When Molly is getting ready to go Christmas shopping with her mother, her mother begins to zip up the back of her dress. Molly breaks away and runs to bed to get letters, argues with her mother, still with her dress unzipped. When she runs to fireplace to burn the letters, her dress is zipped.
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Quotes:
Molly Jorgenson:
[watching Ken and Sylvia, her father and his mother, go to their bedroom] Oh, Johnny... Do you suppose they make love?
Johnny Hunter: Why shouldn't they do? They're married.
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Johnny Hunter: Why shouldn't they do? They're married.
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Soundtrack:
Bridal March
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (52 total)
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Sloan Wilson's best-seller was the kind of novel people read on the beach and was described at the time as 'steamy'. In 1959, this film version by Delmer Daves would have been considered 'daring' or even 'salacious' since it deals, quite frankly as it turns out, with the subject of sex. Of course, it's soap-opera but it's very enjoyable and surprisingly grown-up of it's kind and it's got some really good performances.
As the young lovers, both Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee handle the material with unusual delicacy. We aren't talking Oscars here but neither do they disgrace themselves. (Dee is particularly fine, Donahue less so, hunky but also a bit wooden, reminding you of the song from "A Chorous Line" that went 'If Troy Donahue can be a movie star, then I can be a movie star; funny how both he and Sandra Dee were immortalized in song).
As the cuckolded spouses Arthur Kennedy and Constance Ford are first-rate, (they are the villains of the piece and have the meatier roles). Unfortunately, neither Richard Egan nor Dorothy McGuire, (perpetually saint-like), have much charisma as the adulterous parents. Daves has always been an under-rated director. He made a handful of excellent westerns before embarking on a series of romantic melodramas of which this was the first and the best. It's no classic but more than serviceable for a rainy Saturday afternoon.