The Sandpiper

Taylor's physical allure is best captured by the wooden sculpture done by Kara for the film. Burton reprises a similar role to his magnificent one of a defrocked priest in "Night of Iguana"--only here he is not eventually defrocked. Burton is superb at showing internal turmoil and it is a shame that so many good performances, many of which were nominated for an Oscar (7 in all), were all bypassed by the Academy.

Minnelli must have cast Burton for the role after Huston's success with Burton in "Iguana". Taylor's agnostic rebellious life and Burton's religious moral life explode on contact and tower over all the other actors in this movie. Though Minnelli is respected for his direction, this effort of his will not be considered a major work.

Eva Marie Saint's role is elegant but not developed beyond the obvious--where are her sons mentioned in the dialogues? What's her relationship with them? Minnelli obviously took interest in the main plot, not the subplots--which is strange for an accomplished director.

The screenplay at times is very strong, e.g., with Burton's clever intonations of his repartees quoting the "Book of Proverbs" and the young child innocently reciting Chaucer in "Olde English". In retrospect the film had good tools: a good script and a good cast. But the tools in the hands of Minnelli did not sculpt a great Kara statue.

It's fun to compare this to the other film where Richard burton plays a minister.... night of the iguana. Here, he is very much the old fashioned establishment, trying to defend his religion.and trying like crazy to stay dedicated to it. In iguana, he leaves (or gets kicked out of) his church right from the beginning, and has his own demons to fight for the next ninety minutes. In this one, Burton was actually married to his antagonist (Liz Taylor), who plays a single mom raising her son as an athiest. It starts out very adversarial, but they come to an understanding, for the sake of her son. They both make compromises that will affect their lives. Co-stars eva saint and charles bronson. The little boy is played by james mason's son, morgan. It's pretty good. Directed by Vincent Minelli; he won the oscar for Gigi.

This film was designed to take advantage of public curiosity about the recent marriage of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who were kind of the Bragelina of the 1960's. Their star power were enough to make this picture a hit at the box office. Here, Taylor plays a free-spirited beatnik artist and single mother. She lives on the beach in a glamorous "shack" and makes a living as an artist while raising her son. Very touching. Her son, played by Morgan Mason, gets into trouble and winds up being sent to a religious boarding school. The school is run by the Reverend Richard Burton, along with his pretty and supportive but staid wife, Eva Marie Saint. Well, Burton is going through a mid-life crisis and it comes to fruition when he first meets Taylor and is taken by her heavy make-up and "look at my breasts" wardrobes. So he visits her home to help her keep tabs on her son's progress at school and meets some of her beatnik friends, including Charles Bronson, absurdly cast as a hippie sculptor. What happens then? Well, after taking forever to set up the story, Taylor and Burton fall in love and have an affair, to the surprise of no one. In the process, we are treated to the majestic Big Sur beaches and beautiful music, including the Oscar-winning theme song "The Shadow of Your Smile." In fact, the music and seascapes are more interesting than the story and characters, who just talk everything to death while the story drags on in predictable fashion. This would have been a better coffee table book than motion picture. My recommendation? Watch the opening credits and closing credits, which are by far the best parts of the movie.

"The Sandpiper" is not a great movie but it has a certain appeal and is graced by some beautiful seascapes along the rugged Big Sur coastline. The opening sequence, a montage of steep emerald hills and deep blue sea shot from a helicopter, is particularly well done, featuring a deer dashing up one of the oak-covered slopes, building swells breaking on the rocky shore, and one or two fiery red sunsets. Similar scenes continue to bolster the sense of setting throughout the movie. The storyline, although interesting, can't quite live up to the dramatic natural location. The love affair between Richard Burton, a jaded Episcopalian priest and headmaster at a boys school in San Simeon, and Elizabeth Taylor, an alienated artist seeking peace and solitude at an isolated beach house, is reasonably convincing. Yet the priest already has a comely wife in the form of Eva Marie Saint and his motivation for stepping outside their marriage isn't well explained, except that he wants to recapture the idealism of his youth. When a local judge orders that Taylor's troubled son must attend Burton's school, he is almost instantly attracted to her and apparently there is nothing to be done about it.

Set in the mid-sixties, when sexual morays were loosening but we were still in the grip of a churchy moralism, this had to be a controversial film, and I vaguely recall that it was. You can visit the locations used in the movie because some are easily recognizable, such as the store/club/restaurant in Big Sur known as "Nepenthe." And of course, there are the famous stone bridges on Highway One spanning two or three of the rugged chasms. Coursing through the movie, especially during the several seascapes, is the theme "The Shadow of Your Smile." It's a nice movie, if not a great one, and worth seeing more than once.

I recommend this film for one huge reason--the location. Although not terribly far from Hollywood, I am very surprised that more films have not been set around Big Sur and Point Lobos (just south of Carmel and Monterey, California), as it's one of the most beautiful places on Earth. See this location in person if you can--I just did and was captivated by its beauty and the film just brought back memories of the place. But,...back to the film itself!

"The Sandpiper" begins with a VERY free-spirited mother (Elizabeth Taylor) being hauled into family court because her young son has had another brush with the law. The problems are not serious but the judge is shocked that Taylor is so unrepentant in the way she raises the kid. She's an atheist, is extremely permissive and home schools the boy with her own blend of unusual teaching. Nowadays or even in the late 60s, this sort of child raising wouldn't have gotten much notice (particularly in California)--but here in 1965 it's a bit scandalous--especially since Taylor's character never married nor does she care about legitimizing the boy. Because of this and the child's actions, he is sent to live at a nearby residential school run by the church. Taylor thinks that the Episcopal priest running the place (Richard Burton) is shocked by all this and immediately dislikes him, but he seems rather patient and caring. However, through the course of the film, the two begin to see each other more and more and it's apparent that soon the two will be hitting the sheets together--even though he's married (to a woman, not just God). What's to come of these two? See the film if you'd like.

Apart from the great location shooting, the film is a mixed bag. Some would clearly be offended by its irreverent plot, others bored (as it's VERY talky at times and the dialog becomes awful at about 80 minutes into the film) and others would love it. Those who like really salacious soaps of the era (such as "Peyton Place" and the like) will probably adore the film--as it is filled with fiery content (not just the affair but an attempted rape) and a good looking couple (well, at least Liz). And, in many ways, these same folks often felt like they were peering into the real life relationship between this couple. As for me, I loved the scenery and laughed at the love story. It seemed contrived and you wondered just how any priest could be that stupid. Plus, the dialog between Liz and Dick on the beach was pretty laughable as was the fight at the 106 minute mark and Dick's sermon towards the end. I see the film as a guilty pleasure you see once...and only once. Then, afterwords, to make penance for this, you should watch a really GOOD film!

By the way, despite the name, San Simeon School is supposed to be in nearby Monterey (just north of Big Sur) and has no relation to the Hearst mansion (San Simeon) a couple hours south. Also, I was impressed by a supporting role by James Edwards. For a black actor, it was a great role--a non-black and non-stereotypical role. For its era, it was ahead of its time.