A Summer Place

1959
Approved
2h 10m

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

YOUR RATING

Shocking events at a summer resort in this trailer

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1 Video

99+ Photos

Drama Romance

A self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples.A self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples.A self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 3 nominations total

Dr. Matthias
(uncredited)

Phil Chambers

Sheriff
(uncredited)

Joe Connors

Driver
(uncredited)

Peter Constanti

Captain of Yacht
(uncredited)

Richard Deacon

Pawnbroker
(uncredited)

Ann Doran

Mrs. Talbert
(uncredited)

Gertrude Flynn

Helen's Mother
(uncredited)

Bonnie Franklin

Girl in Dormitory
(uncredited)

Director
- Delmer Daves
Writers
- Sloan Wilson
- Delmer Daves
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The telephone operator asks for an additional $2.00 for a 3-minute continuation of the long distance call between Johnny and Molly. This equates to about $34.50 in 2017, which accurately depicts the cost of long distance telephone calls at the time. They were expensive and rare for the average citizen.

Goofs
When Molly is getting ready to go Christmas shopping with her mother, her mother begins to zip up the back of her dress. Molly breaks away and runs to bed to get letters, argues with her mother, still with her dress unzipped. When she runs to fireplace to burn the letters, her dress is zipped.

Quotes
Helen Jorgenson: [after she has seen Molly Jorgenson and Johnny Hunter kissing] Well, your daughter didn't waste any time. She's let that boy kiss and maul her her very first night here.
Ken Jorgenson: Where were they?
Helen Jorgenson: Down below me, in the garden.
Ken Jorgenson: If they had anything to hide, you think they'd do it right under your window?
Helen Jorgenson: Are you defending her cheap behavior?
Ken Jorgenson: Cheap? A girl kissing a boy in the moonlight? You know Molly's as decent as this boy seems to be.
Helen Jorgenson: [really angry now] No decent girl lets a boy kiss and maul her the very first night they meet! I suppose it's your Swedish blood in her. I've read about how the Swedes bathe together and... and have trial marriages and free love. I've read all about that. Anything goes.
Ken Jorgenson: [angry and disgusted] So, now you hate the Swedes. How many outlets for your hate do you have, Helen? We haven't been able to find a new house because of your multiplicity of them. We can't buy near a school because you hate kids. They make noise. And there can't be any Jews or Catholics on the block, either. And, oh, yes, it can't be anywhere near the Polish or Italian sections. And, of course, Negroes have to be avoided at all costs. Now, let's see: No Jews, no Catholics, no Italians, no Poles, no children. No Negroes. Do I have the list right, so far? And now, you've added Swedes. And, oh, yes, you won't use a Chinese laundry because you distrust Orientals. And you think the British are snobbish, the Russians fearful, the French immoral, the Germans brutal, and all Latin Americans lazy. What's your plan? To cut humanity out? Are you anti-people and anti-life? Must you suffocate every natural instinct in our daughter, too? Must you label young love-making as cheap and wanton and indecent? Must you persist in making sex, itself, a filthy word?
[Helen, without a word, leaves the room. Ken slams the door after her]

Connections
Featured in Diner (1982)

Soundtracks
Liebestraum
(uncredited)
Composed by Franz Liszt

User reviews96

Review

Featured review

9/10

Glossy and very steamy for 1959.

Ken and Helen Jorgenson (Richard Egan and Constance Ford) have a dead marriage. They haven't slept together for years, by her request. Helen is also a spiteful, nasty bigot who tries to indoctrinate to her daughter, Molly (Sandra Dee), that sex is dirty and evil. This highly dysfunctional and sad lot are on vacation at Pine Island, Maine...a place where Ken was a lifeguard two decades ago. There is more to the history of Pine Island than that, however, as Ken had once had an affair with a girl, Sylvia Hunter (Dorothy McGuire). Now Sylvia and her husband, Bart (Arthur Kennedy), run a hotel on the island...the hotel where the Jorgensons are coming for their summer vacation. As for the Hunters, Bart is an alcoholic and has checked out of his marriage from the very beginning. Not surprisingly, Ken and Sylvia are miserable and fall back in love. What is a bit surprising is that their children, Molly and Johnny Hunter (Troy Donahue) have fallen in love as well.

The writers and filmmakers did a great job of showing how adultery and premarital sex are NOT necessarily black & white issues. In the case of Sylvia and Ken, both have been emotionally abandoned by their selfish and detestable partners. And, in the case of Molly and Johnny, they are normal hot-blooded teens who have been thrust together by Molly's mother and her rants about the evils of sex. So, it's all very understandable...and all very, very risqué for 1959. But because the story is so well written and the production so glossy, it makes difficult moral issues and choices much more palatable--and provide for a lot to consider. It also makes for a wonderful film for young married couples to watch...sort of a morality tale about what NOT to do!

A highlight of this film is the speech Ken makes to Helen early in the film...about her many, many, many prejudices. According to IMDb, the crowd at one performance gave it a standing ovation! A very powerful scene indeed.

Overall, this film has many strong scenes, excellent acting, nice music and all the gloss a Hollywood production could have. It also has quite a bit of depth and raises many interesting issues...making it perhaps the best soap opera movie of the day. And, fortunately, while the film might seem a tad dated (such as the custody arrangements), it also is timeless with its themes.