Echoes of a Summer

Take Richard Harris' off-key singing over the opening credits as a warning: This is a bad film.

Based on the flop Broadway play "Isle of Children" (11 performances in 1962) this maudlin story about a dying kid approaching her 12th birthday is nothing but talk and more talk set along the Nova Scotia coast.

Jodie Foster plays little Deirdre as a pint-sized Camille with occasional coughs and sputters and chest clutching. She's dying from a bad heart. Daddy (Richard Harris) is her best friend and has apparently packed up the family to a coastal village in Nova Scotia (this is a Canadian film production) to give Deirdre one last wonderful summer. She's a little princess and he's built a miniature castle for her on a stairway landing by the sea.

Mommy (Lois Nettleton) seems to spend her time chasing doctors and wringing her hands over Deirdre's fate. She and daddy fight constantly about what to do. Of course there is nothing they can do. There's also a stern tutor (Geraldine Fitzgerald) who makes Deirdre memorize historical knowledge (why?) and blathers about Jesus. The family is not religious.

There's also a neighbor, a 9-year old (Brad Savage) who is Deirdre's best friend. He seems to serve as a sounding board for the family and asks questions only an adult would ask. Then there's a brief appearance by William Windom as a non-nonsense doctor who tells the parents for the hundredth time the kid is doomed.

The ending, where the parents put on a play with a herd of overdressed children from the village in the audience, is intolerably bad yet seems to serve as a "happy ending" for all involved. I suppose it's supposed to be a bit of whimsy, but it falls flat even though the children watch this nonsense in rapt attention.

Main problems are that sturdy little Jodie Foster is the wrong choice for playing Deirdre. You never believe for a minute that she is sickly. Harris mugs his way through his role (he also produced the film) with a wandering accent. Nettleton, Fitzgerald, and Windom all have one-dimensional roles. Savage is ok but his role as written, sounds like he's 19 rather than 9.

Also incredibly bad is the music track that churns on in the background using strains from WEST SIDE STORY's "Maria" and the theme from GONE WITH THE WIND patched into it's Muzak score.

Little Deirdre's (last) birthday wish is to be old. The audience must have been wishing for this film to be OVER.

When Jodie Foster-admirers discuss her long career, this title usually gets left out. It's a simple, sentimental story of an ill young girl and the effects her strength and will has on the people around her. Richard Harris is a bit heavy as her father (and I could have done without his non-singing over the credits: "Deeer-draaah!"), but Foster makes the most of her scenes, particularly with William Windom as a doctor surprised by her maturity and Brad Savage as a local boy who's curious about sex (they hold hands and lie together on the beach in a stunningly delicate moment). Based on the flop Broadway play "Isle of Children", which starred a post-"Miracle Worker" Patty Duke, the movie gets a little hectic in its final stages as the filmmakers try to wrap up the story with a birthday party sequence I didn't much care for. Still worth-seeing for Foster, luminous at eleven years and holding this picture together. **1/2 from ****

I saw this movie when it came out. Being just a few years younger than the character (and the actual actress) I was very taken by how well Ms. Foster played this part. From then on I wanted to see all of her movies though I had to wait until I was older to see some of them because they were not age appropriate for me at the time. Ms. Foster is a wonderful actress and this movie is a must see! The story line is very well written. The setting is beautiful and the acting puts the viewer right there with the characters. I would recommend that anyone who enjoys movies about real life situations see this movie. It's a must see for all Jodi Foster fans!

All of the acting is as good as it gets. Jodie Foster as the main character gives a flawless performance, in this extremely well written story about the life of a precocious child that is dying. Director Don Taylor, creates a visually beautiful, yet simple canvas on which the actors ply their craft. This is a movie with much raw emotion, but as light as is possible on the cliche tear jerker stuff. It offers a range of emotions and insights into the human condition. Makes you proud to be human, even with all of our flaws. Don't miss it, but be prepared to be emotionally wrung out.

i was very disappointed of the votes for this movie...why the low ranking? because is a classical? it is a very, very good movie, it is an excellent one, i might say. it has beautiful, brilliant lines...the kid (the sick girl in the movie) is simply genius... just watch the movie, i can't describe it's beauty, words simply are not enough. Yes is a typical one, it makes you cry, is sensible, it has a classical drama...but who are we to judge this in 1976?? i know that many hide behind the concept of strength, behind laughter, behind violence, behind...philosophy. is true, in 2006 homo sapient is dead...mow lives homo videns (sartori). Today, we are very visual, we communicate very often through visual arts, in media, in advertising, in entertainment, in everything...we meed special effects? too bad. this movie is too simple for us? think again...i just love it.