I'm watching 1959's "A Summer Place" right now, which I think I first heard of when I saw the wonderful "Diner," which features a memorable scene at the movie theater where "A Summer Place" is playing and, uh, Boogie lets L'il Boogie into the popcorn box. (You have to see it.)
Anyway, it's just such a goofy snapshot of a time that I'm not at all sure really existed. A time where a freaky mother tries to bind down her daughter's curves and makes a doctor inspect her to see if she's a virgin, where Sandra Dee and her daddy have a semi-creepcestuous relationship, where Troy Donahue ends up getting her pregnant and it's really never clear how they figured out how to have sex.
It's one weird mama jamma of a movie, and that swirly, haunting theme song that just begs you to put lyrics to it. I love it. And oddly enough, it's also authored by Sloan Wilson, who wrote "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit," another of my trapped-in-time favorites.
5 comments:
Being an Old Guy, I remember the vocal version of "Theme from a Summer Place" by the Lettermen. I don't know who wrote the lyrics, though.
i love that movie; I cry everytime I watch it.
For some reason this movie also reminds me of Picnic with Kim Novak, Cliff Robertson and William Holden.
Gael, thanks for working in a "Diner" reference. My favorite film of all time!
Have you noticed that the movie Billy and Eddie go to see is "Another Bergman Classic"?
("I've been to Atlantic City fifty times, and I've never seen Death walk on the beach!")
Speaking of creepiness, I have a weird vivid memory of the lovely "Summer Place" theme -- it was playing on the radio when I was reading a comic book I stole from my uncle, and to this day I still see bug-eyed aliens whenever I hear this song.
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