''Last Summer'' is a 1969

teen drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

film directed by

Frank Perry Frank Joseph Perry Jr. (August 21, 1930 – August 29, 1995) was an American stage director and filmmaker. His 1962 independent film '' David and Lisa'' earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (written ...

and written by his then-wife Eleanor Perry, based on the 1968 novel of the same name by

Evan Hunter Evan Hunter, born Salvatore Albert Lombino,(October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005) was an American author and screenwriter best known for his 87th Precinct novels, written under his Ed McBain pen name, and the novel upon which the film '' Blackb ...

. It stars

Barbara Hershey Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including weste ...

, Richard Thomas,

Bruce Davison Bruce Allen Davison (born June 28, 1946) is an American actor and director. Davison is well known for his starring role as Willard Stiles in the cult horror film '' Willard'' (1971) and his Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning perfor ...

, and

Catherine Burns Catherine Burns (September 25, 1945 – February 2, 2019) was an American actress of stage, film, radio and television. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in ''Last Summer'' (1969). Early ...

. The film follows the exploits of four teenagers during a summer vacation on

Fire Island, New York Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also Long ...

. Released in the United States on June 19, 1969, ''Last Summer'' received generally positive reviews, with Burns garnering an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Plot

Dan and Peter, two youths vacationing on Fire Island, befriend a young woman named Sandy, who has found an injured seagull on a beach. While nursing the seagull back to health, the three friends spend time experimenting with alcohol, marijuana, and their sexuality. Dan and Peter, both virgins, express interest in having sex with Sandy, whom they suspect is also a virgin. The trio make the acquaintance of a slightly younger teenager, Rhoda, a shy girl who confides in the others that her mother died in a drowning accident. Rhoda becomes close with Peter and they share a kiss. One day, the boys find that Sandy has killed the seagull after it bit her. The three older friends pull a prank by arranging a dinner date with an older man, Anibal, through a

computer dating Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in which two individuals engage in an activity together, most often with the intention of evaluating each other's suitability as a partner in a future intimate relationship. It falls into the categor ...

service. After getting him drunk, they abandon him to a group of local bullies despite Rhoda's protests. Tension builds between Rhoda and the three older teens, and in the final sequence Dan, Peter, and Sandy pin down Rhoda near the beach as Dan rapes her. After the attack, Sandy and Dan are seen walking away, as Peter, standing alone, stares into the ocean.

Cast

* Richard Thomas as Peter *

as Dan *

as Sandy *

as Rhoda *Ernesto Gonzalez as Anibal

Production

The film takes place and was filmed on

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also Lo ...

, a long sandbar off Long Island with the Atlantic Ocean on one side, the Great South Bay on the other, and upper-class summer homes built on its beaches and dunes. For the final week of principal photography, production moved to Bay Shore, Long Island. The accidental breaking of a seagull's neck during filming affected Barbara Hershey sufficiently for her to change her surname to Seagull for a couple of years. Evan Hunter, author of the source novel, wrote a sequel novel titled ''Come Winter,'' which was released in 1973.

Release

The film was given an

X rating An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences. Aust ...

when it was first submitted to the

MPAA The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...

due to the scene that depicted Rhoda's rape. ''Last Summer'' was one of a handful of high-profile X-rated movies that were released in 1969, along with the Best Picture Oscar winner ''

Midnight Cowboy ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama film, based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, with notable smaller ...

'' and

Haskell Wexler Haskell Wexler, ASC (February 6, 1922 – December 27, 2015) was an American cinematographer, film producer, and director. Wexler was judged to be one of film history's ten most influential cinematographers in a survey of the members of the Inte ...

's docudrama ''

Medium Cool ''Medium Cool'' is a 1969 American drama film written and directed by Haskell Wexler and starring Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz, Marianna Hill and Harold Blankenship. It takes place in Chicago in the summer of 1968. It was notab ...

.'' The scene was edited shortly after its initial theatrical release so the film could receive an R-rating, though this version still contained nudity and strong language. When the film was occasionally broadcast for television, a further-censored PG-rated version was presented, which cuts all nudity and heavily edits the scene of Rhoda's rape. The R-rated version is the one distributed for the VHS videotape release. All original 35mm prints of the film were lost for years. In 2001, a

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ed ...

print was located at the

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national c ...

after a two-year search and was brought to Los Angeles. It was reportedly the only surviving film print of the movie. The 16mm print was given a rare screening at the

American Cinematheque The American Cinematheque is an independent, nonprofit cultural organization in Los Angeles, California, United States dedicated exclusively to the public presentation of the moving image in all its forms. The Cinematheque was created in 1981 as ...

Egyptian Theatre Egyptian-style theatres are based on the traditional and historic design elements of Ancient Egypt. The first Egyptian Theatre to be constructed in the US – which inspired many of the identically-named theatres that followed it – was Graum ...

in Los Angeles in 2012. On June 4, 2017, the print also received a screening at New York City's

Quad Cinema The Quad Cinema is New York City's first small four-screen multiplex theater. Located at 34 West 13th Street in Greenwich Village, it was opened by entrepreneur Maurice Kanbar, along with his younger brother Elliott S. Kanbar in October 1972. I ...

. To date, the film has not been issued a DVD release.

Soundtrack

The film had a soundtrack album ( Warner Bros.-Seven Arts WS 1791) of the score composed by John Simon and

Collin Walcott Collin Walcott (April 24, 1945 – November 8, 1984) was an American musician who worked in jazz and world music. Early life Walcott was born in New York City, United States. He studied violin and tympani in his youth, and was a percussion stud ...

. Heard on the soundtrack are John Simon (piano), Collin Walcott (sitar, tamboura), Aunt Mary's Transcendental Slip and Lurch Band (rock band), Cyrus Faryar (voice), Buddy Bruno (voice),

Ray Draper Raymond Allen Draper (August 3, 1940, New York City – November 1, 1982) was an American jazz tuba player. Early life and education Draper was born in New York City and attended the Manhattan School of Music in the mid-1950s. Career As a ...

(tuba, voice), Electric Meatball (rock band), Henry Diltz (banjo, voice), Bad Kharma Dan and the Bicycle Brothers (motorcycle gang).

Rick Danko Richard Clare Danko (December 29, 1943 – December 10, 1999) was a Canadian musician, bassist, songwriter, and singer, best known as a founding member of the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. During ...

, Levon Helm and

Richard Manuel Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, best known as a pianist and one of three lead singers in The Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and ...

of The Band are heard on the soundtrack as well, but were uncredited because they recorded for another record label.

Critical reception

''Last Summer'' received positive reviews. Roger Ebert gave the movie four stars, writing:

From time to time you find yourself wondering if there will ever be a movie that understands life the way you've experienced it. There are good movies about other people's lives, but rarely a movie that recalls, if only for a scene or two, the sense and flavor of life the way you remember it.
Adolescence is a period that most people, I imagine, remember rather well. For the first time in your life important things were happening to you; you were growing up; what mattered to you made a difference... ntop of the desire to be brave and honorable, there was also the compelling desire to be accepted, to be admitted to membership in that adolescent society defined only by those excluded from it...
Frank Perry's ''Last Summer'' is about exactly such years and days, about exactly that time in the life of four 15- or 16-year-old adolescents, and it is one of the finest, truest, most deeply felt movies in my experience.

References

External links

* * * *
Bruce LaBruce's Academy of the Underrated: ''Last Summer''
at Talkhouse {{Ed McBain 1969 films 1960s coming-of-age drama films 1960s teen drama films Allied Artists films American coming-of-age drama films American teen drama films Films based on American novels Films directed by Frank Perry Films set in New York (state) Films set on islands Films shot in New York (state) Films about juvenile sexuality Films about rape in the United States Albums produced by John Simon (record producer) Teensploitation 1969 drama films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films