Ils n'ont que vingt ans...

This movie has only one thing on its naughty little mind - sex. There are those who are getting it, those who aren't getting it but want it, and those who aren't getting it and are pretending they don't want it. One character in the latter category bandies words like "slut" and "harlot" about freely, but she didn't fool me. The four adults have managed to screw up their relationships, but the two very cute teenagers, played by Sandra Dee and Troy Donohue, look as if they'll get by okay if they just follow their hearts. I can't pretend that this is a great movie, but I had fun watching it. That's because the dialogue is way over the top and the actors deliver it with relish. In particular, Constance Ford (as Dee's evil, neurotic mom) and Arthur Kennedy (as Donohue's drunken sot of a dad) get all the best verbal poison arrows, and some of them are quite funny (sometimes unintentionally so). At one point Dee asks Donohue straight out: "Have you been bad with other girls?" That's the temper of the screenplay - everybody says precisely what's on their minds. I have to give the film credit for depicting the utter helplessness of adults in trying to manage their children's lives. Richard Egan and Dorothy McGuire (as lovely as ever) try to behave with stoic dignity which is hard to do when you're sneaking out to the boathouse for a midnight rendezvous and maybe a little you-know-what. The Technicolor location photography is very beautiful, with California doubling, I hear, for New England. And I enjoyed the costumes (okay, okay, I also enjoyed what was in them).

One of the great young love romances ever done on the screen, A Summer Place is the story of two romances, one born and the other rekindled.

Richard Egan and Constance Ford with their daughter Sandra Dee are returning to Pine Island, Maine where years ago before Egan became wealthy as a research chemist he was employed as a lifeguard and where he romanced one of the town beauties. Pine Island is like Kennebunkport, the private reserve of the Bush family. This is the private reserve of several old Yankee families who if they can't trace their ancestors on the Mayflower at least they go back to Puritans who might have found New England more hospitable than Restoration Great Britain.

Egan's rented out several rooms from thinning blue blood Arthur Kennedy and his wife Dorothy McGuire. It was McGuire who Egan loved and lost those many years ago.

Neither Egan and McGuire have found much happiness in their second choice for spouses. Constance Ford, a truly uptight and frigid woman from Buffalo has not kanoodled with Egan for years. You know he's good and ready. As for McGuire's marriage, Kennedy has all the airs of a patrician, but not the money any more. Did he lose it because of his alcohol problem, or is he drinking because the family fortune has gone? It's your choice.

So Egan and McGuire discover each other and Sandra Dee discovers Kennedy and McGuire's son, Troy Donahue. Because of her mother, Dee's led a sheltered life and I'm betting the isolation of Pine Isle with its very few inhabitants hasn't improved Donahue's social skills either. The two kids are sadly a textbook case for sex education.

Feeling betrayed by their parents, all of them when you come right down to it, the young people feel they have only each other. The passion multiplies exponentially.

Right up there with the human cast members in making A Summer Place a big commercial hit for Warner Brothers is Max Steiner's theme, played when Dee and Donahue are together. It's popularity on the radio and jukeboxes sold many a ticket to this film.

Egan and McGuire are also appealing in their way to discover their passions are still the same. The odd spouses out are also turning in fine performances. Arthur Kennedy who was never bad in any film he ever did is both arrogant and yet pitiable as the sad sack alcoholic. The villain of A Summer Place is really Ford, she's made life hell for Egan and Dee. Yet you wonder throughout the film what must have she been like back in the day for Egan to fall for her in the first place and what changed her.

It's Eisenhower era America and the story is dated somewhat, but not all that much. I can see A Summer Place being a candidate for a remake, who would you cast in a remake among today's players?

This is one of the first films to deal with young love, and is by all means one of the best! The story centers primarily on Molly and Johnny, two teenagers who are deeply, madly, and wildly in love, but their parents just won't have it. It seems their parents are willing to do just about everything to keep them apart. Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue are both magnificent as the star-crossed lovers. All right, so Troy seems a little stilted at times, but Sandra is perfection as the beautiful young girl who constantly finds herself at odds with her eagerness to do the right thing, and fulfilling her love for Donahue. Dee hits all the right marks as the emotionally troubled girl, delivering what is possibly her all-time best performance. It was certainly a breakthrough for the gifted young star who proved that she could do more than play smiling, giggling, relentlessly perky teens. It's a magnificent achievement, and anyone who has ever doubted Sandra's acting abilities are in for a big surprise when they see her in this film. Other acting honors go to Richard Egan and Constance Ford as Dee's unhappy parents, and the always marvellous Dorothy McGuire as Egan's old flame. That's not to say that the actors don't stumble at times with some supremely silly dialogue, but their star power and great talent rides rather smoothly over the film's bumpy spots, making this film an enjoyable classic of the teenage-angst genre. It's also one of the most stylishly done films in the genre. The great director Delmer Daves gives the film his full attention, and it's a sleek, colorful production that ranks right up there with other films with similarly-related themes like REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS for example. It all may seem rather dated, but truthfully, this film is just as enjoyable now as it was when it was first released in 1959, and that title theme is still hauntingly beautiful and memorable.

This was an OK movie. The big draw was Troy Donahue in his first starring film role. A fine looking young Sandra Dee was also a big draw, although not as big as Donahue. I remember that I was a lad in high school when the film was released and all of the girls raved about the fantastic looking blonde wonder boy, Troy Donahue. Whenever one of the guys started acting a little too cool, he was brought quickly back to reality with the question, "Who do you think you are? Troy Donahue?" The Theme song of the movie was played by Percy Faith and his orchestra and was called simply "Theme from a Summer Place" and was on the pop charts for months. Guys loved the song as much as girls because it had a slow and lilting rhythm that even the most awkward oaf could dance to and the girls just loved to be held tightly when it was playing. The scenery was delightful as the film was shot at the seashore where there was lots of water, sand and lush greenery. The plot was fairly comprehensive and involved affairs and marital deceit compounded by the love that developed between Troy and Sandra's characters. All in all not a bad movie, certainly worth the 45 cents admission that I paid to see it in 1959.

Saw this film when I was about 12 - fell for the older Richard Egan..not Troy Donahue. Richard Egan MADE THIS MOVIE (for ME anyway.)

Have this film on tape-enjoy it each time I watch it again. The theme music is good, the scenery and color are beautiful (for l959).

Dorothy McGuire did an excellent job as the wife of an alcoholic and Constance Ford was convincing as the wife of a man she could not "make happy....or herself."

Troy Donahue did a good job...after all he had not had much experience at this time. (Some moments...yes, he was a bit "stiff".) I thought the beautiful, young Sandra Dee did a wonderful job. I am a huge fan of hers and have enjoyed Sandra Dee in each of her films. She and Troy had some "silly" lines but afterall, it WAS 1959.

This is a movie for sentimental souls. It's for people who are smart enough to recognize that some lines and scenes ARE SILLY...but realize that the majority of this film is worth watching over...and over...and over again.

Any female whose "HEART JUST DOES NOT STOP" when the handsome RICHARD EGAN walks into a room is DEAD ALREADY!!! He was SUCH a handsome man.

He always seemed to be such a "decent" sort of individual as well.

If you want to e-mail IF YOU ARE A RICHARD EGAN FAN OR SANDRA DEE FAN...PLEASE DO SO. WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU.

ROBBY