Search

A Summer Place

1959, Movie, NR, 130 mins

A Summer Place: Review

starstarstarstar
A highly stylized and overly glossy soap opera which could do nothing to overcome the basic shallowness of the characters being portrayed. Two steamy and controversial--by the late 1950s' standards--love affairs are offered. One is between Egan and McGuire; the other is with Dee and Donahue. McGuire is married to Kennedy, a drunken louse who mourns the loss of his former wealth. Donahue is their teenage son. The wealthy Egan and family come back to the small New England town where he was an impoverished lifeguard 20 years earlier and where he carried on a lusty affair with McGuire. They resume their affair again, only this time they are discovered. No problem: they just get divorces from their respective spouses and marry each other. Meanwhile, Egan's daughter, Dee, is carrying on with Donahue, and mother Ford looms over Dee's shoulder worrying about whether she is still a virgin. Though there is an attempt to make these situations seem highly dramatic, the performances are little more than stereotypes, a result of the wretched dialog. This film was surprisingly frank about sex and illicit romantic affairs, much more so than PEYTON PLACE had been just two years earlier. However, A SUMMER PLACE did not receive nearly the criticism of the earlier film. Novelist Wilson had experienced a cinematic hit in THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT (1956). This film, pandering as it did to both old and young, also did well at the box office, and the title song became a popular classic. Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright was responsible for the summer house of the title. This was Donahue's first featured screen role. leave a comment
Advertisement

Shop

A Summer Place
Buy A Summer Place from Amazon.com
From Warner Home Video (DVD)
Average Customer Review: nostarnostarnostarnostarhalfstar
Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy New: $13.99 (as of 3:05 AM EST - more info)

more A Summer Place products

Advertisement

Related Websites

You might be also interested in the following websites:

Most Popular TV Shows

  1. Dancing with the Stars
  2. The Game
  3. NCIS
  4. American Idol
  5. Wife Swap
more popular tv shows

Most Popular Celebrities

  1. Michelle Obama
  2. Adam Lambert
  3. Tiger Woods
  4. Kym Johnson
  5. Donny Osmond
more popular celebrities

Most Popular Movies

  1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon
  2. The Blind Side
  3. 2012
  4. Planet 51
  5. A Christmas Carol
more popular movies

Top Videos

  1. Adam Lambert
  2. #5 Adam Lambert - For Your En...
  3. #20 Adam Lambert American Mus...
  4. Dancing with the Stars
  5. V
more top videos