lenny nero
New Member
Late 60's coming of age psychological drama about three teens dealing with their endless adolescent summer and their awakening sexuality. Sandy, Peter, and David are on Greensward island, summer vacationing with their wealthy, affluent parents, who are non entities in their summer lives, when into their midst comes a new summer resident, Rhoda, who is the opposite of them, shy, frumpy, and introverted. They will spend their summer sunning, swimming, sailing, and sneaking beer from their parent's fridge. In the end, what happens will change them forever.
I finally caught up with this book after years of wanting to read it, as I'm a huge fan of the 1969 film that is based on it. I first saw it on cable back in the 80's and over the years it's become one of fave films. It really captures that feeling of an endless, dreamy summer. The three teens are played by Richard Thomas, Bruce Davison, and Barbara Hershey. Rhoda was played by Catherine Burns, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role. The standout scene is when Burns delivers a monologue, on her mother's death by drowning, that is one of the finest ever filmed. I think she was nominated for an Oscar based on just that scene, it's that moving. It was originally given an X rating and one scene had to be trimmed to get it down to an R rating.
Here's a pic of the 1969 one sheet that I had framed and that is hanging on my home office wall:
