Complete credited cast: | |||
Richard Egan | ... | Ken Jorgenson | |
Dorothy McGuire | ... | Sylvia Hunter | |
Sandra Dee | ... | Molly Jorgenson | |
Arthur Kennedy | ... | Bart Hunter | |
Troy Donahue | ... | Johnny Hunter | |
Constance Ford | ... | Helen Jorgenson | |
Beulah Bondi | ... | Mrs. Emily Hamilton Hamble | |
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Jack Richardson | ... | Claude Andrews |
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Martin Eric | ... | Todd Harper, Handyman at Pine Island Inn |
The Hunter family has long owned a mansion on Pine Island, a summer resort located off the Maine coast. Bart Hunter's now deceased father was able to open the mansion for free when Bart was younger, but current owner Bart, a drunkard and weak man, must now live there year round for financial survival with his wife Sylvia and their late teen-aged son Johnny, the family which is barely able to eke out a living with the mansion now as a year-round inn which is in an extreme state of disrepair. Bart and Sylvia are in a quietly unhappy marriage due largely to Bart's drinking. The Buffalo-based Jorgensons - husband Ken Jorgenson, his wife Helen Jorgenson and their late teen-aged daughter Molly Jorgenson - have rented rooms at the inn for the summer, while Ken looks for a summer house on the island. Ken lived on the island twenty years ago, he actually a working class lifeguard for Bart's father at that time. Ken is now a self-made millionaire as a research scientist, who had never been back... Written by Huggo
I grew up in Monterey and I recognized a half dozen of the filming locations for this well-loved and enduring movie--most which have been identified in other postings. I'd like to add that the "private girls" school Molly is attending is, in reality, the Monterey City Hall (I obtained my Social Security card there in 1965). The used car lot Johnnie walks out of is really the parking lot of the key making store (whose sign Johnnie walks under) that was there until the 1980s on Pearl Street. The stunning Frank Lloyd Wright home is easily seen on Scenic Drive in Carmel to this day. The owners could not obtain house insurance for years because of the crashing waves that sometimes flow over the house.
The sunset/evening "watch" for the boat and stranded young lovers is filmed next to the famous "Witch Tree" at 17-Mile Drive which is very dilapidated now, but still recognizable. I used to ride my horse near one of the trails there. Where the boat crashes is right off the Carmel Highlands and can be seen today from certain cliffs.
As admirers of this movie will recall--there are truer-than-true phrases in this movie: Ken and Sylvia swear they will love each other through "all the winters all of our lives" and that "the only reason for being alive is to love and be loved" and "I love you too much to speak"and that "learned love that counts for everything" and "love and humor on your side--these are the weapons of the angels". All the characters are "arch-types" who advance the story lines---but really, haven't we all met certain people who are like these?