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The Sandpiper

  • 19651965
  • TV-14TV-14
  • 1h 57m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
3.6K
YOUR RATING
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in The Sandpiper (1965)
Trailer for this love story
Play trailer3:21
1 Video
99+ Photos
Drama
A free-spirited single mother forms a connection with the married headmaster of an Episcopalian boarding school in Monterey, California.A free-spirited single mother forms a connection with the married headmaster of an Episcopalian boarding school in Monterey, California.A free-spirited single mother forms a connection with the married headmaster of an Episcopalian boarding school in Monterey, California.
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
3.6K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Vincente Minnelli
  • Writers
    • Martin Ransohoff(story)
    • Irene Kamp(adaptation)
    • Louis Kamp(adaptation)
  • Stars
    • Elizabeth Taylor
    • Richard Burton
    • Eva Marie Saint
  • Director
    • Vincente Minnelli
  • Writers
    • Martin Ransohoff(story)
    • Irene Kamp(adaptation)
    • Louis Kamp(adaptation)
  • Stars
    • Elizabeth Taylor
    • Richard Burton
    • Eva Marie Saint
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 60User reviews
    • 29Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 3 wins & 3 nominations total

    Videos1

    The Sandpiper
    Trailer 3:21
    Watch The Sandpiper

    Photos122

    "Sandpiper" Elizabeth Taylor  1965 MGM MPTV
    "Sandpiper" Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton  1965 MGM MPTV
    "Sandpiper" Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton  1965 MGM MPTV
    "Sandpiper" Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton  1965 MGM MPTV
    "The Sandpiper" Director Vincente Minnelli, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton 1965 MGM
    "The Sandpiper" Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton 1965 MGM
    "The Sandpiper" Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton 1965 MGM
    "The Sandpiper" Richard Burton 1965 MGM
    Photographer Bernie Abramson with Elizabeth Taylor during the making of "The Sandpiper"
    Elizabeth Taylor on location at Big Sur California for "The Sandpiper"
    Elizabeth Taylor on the set of "The Sandpiper"
    "Sandpiper" Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on location 1965 © 1978 Bernie Abramson MPTV

    Top cast

    Edit
    Elizabeth Taylor
    Elizabeth Taylor
    • Laura Reynolds
    Richard Burton
    Richard Burton
    • Dr. Edward Hewitt
    Eva Marie Saint
    Eva Marie Saint
    • Claire Hewitt
    Charles Bronson
    Charles Bronson
    • Cos Erickson
    Robert Webber
    Robert Webber
    • Ward Hendricks
    James Edwards
    James Edwards
    • Larry Brant
    Torin Thatcher
    Torin Thatcher
    • Judge Thompson
    Tom Drake
    Tom Drake
    • Walter Robinson
    Douglas Henderson
    • Phil Sutcliff
    • (as Doug Henderson)
    Morgan Mason
    • Danny Reynolds
    John Abbey
    • Trooper
    • (uncredited)
    Jan Arvan
    Jan Arvan
    • Trustee
    • (uncredited)
    Mary Benoit
    Mary Benoit
    • Trustee's Wife
    • (uncredited)
    Shirley Bonne
    • Celebrant #9
    • (uncredited)
    Dusty Cadis
    • Trooper
    • (uncredited)
    Joan Connors
    • Celebrant #7
    • (uncredited)
    Tom Crane
    • Walter Robinson
    • (uncredited)
    Tom Curtis
    • Trustee
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Vincente Minnelli
    • Writers
      • Martin Ransohoff(story)
      • Irene Kamp(adaptation)
      • Louis Kamp(adaptation)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Richard Burton tried to get out of making this movie, but he was under contractual obligation.
    • Goofs
      Claire Hewitt tells her husband that Danny "was reciting the Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Old English." The language Chaucer wrote in, and that Danny recites in, is Middle English, not Old English.
    • Quotes

      Laura Reynolds: [they're on the beach, along the Big Sur] I feel as alone as Robinson Crusoe. Even with the footprints of a man beside me.

      Dr. Edward Hewitt: You should always have a man's footprints beside you, Laura.

      Laura Reynolds: How do you know I haven't always?

      Dr. Edward Hewitt: Because you're afraid of them...

      Laura Reynolds: But I'm not as afraid as you think.

      Dr. Edward Hewitt: Do you think that one of these days Danny's going to feel somehow that you robbed him of a father?

      Laura Reynolds: Well, that's a chance I'm gonna' have to take. Do you know something? If I were a devoted widow, and Danny's father were a dead war hero, would you be pitching me this bit about finding a second father to replace the dead one?

      Dr. Edward Hewitt: Touché.

    • Connections
      Featured in Elizabeth Taylor - An Intimate Portrait (1975)
    • Soundtracks
      The Shadow of Your Smile
      Music by Johnny Mandel

      Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

      Performed by Jack Sheldon

    User reviews60

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    The Golden Couple of the Sixties
    "The Sandpiper" was the second in a number of films ("The VIPs" was the first) made together by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Their romance, which had begun on the set of "Cleopatra", had both enthralled and scandalised the public, and the studios wanted to make the most of their notoriety. The public perception of Dick and Liz as a glamorous but scandalous couple can only have been increased by the subject-matter of "The Sandpiper". At one time a film about a clergyman engaged in an adulterous affair would have been an unthinkable violation of the Production Code. By 1965, however, the Code, although not quite dead, was no longer in robust health, and a film on this subject, although still highly controversial, was no longer impossible.

    Taylor's character, Laura Reynolds, is an unmarried mother who works as an artist and lives with her nine-year-old son Danny in an isolated California beach house. (The film's title derives from an injured sandpiper which she rescues and nurses back to health thereafter and becomes a symbol of freedom). Danny's behaviour, however, has got him into trouble with the law, and a judge orders her to send the boy to a local boarding school. Laura is reluctant to do this; she is a free spirit who distrusts any form of institutionalised education. To make matters worse from her point of view, the school is run by the Episcopalian Church, and she is an atheist whose attitude to religion is one of positive hostility rather than mere indifference. Nevertheless, she realises that she must comply with the judge's order or risk losing custody of her boy.

    Burton plays Dr. Edward Hewitt, an Episcopalian priest and headmaster of the school. Although his values are very different from Laura's, Edward is something of an idealist and is becoming disillusioned with his life at the school, feeling that he is neither a priest nor an educator but merely a fund-raiser. (The school is currently engaged in a major fund-raising drive to build a new chapel, something Edward feels is unnecessary). Edward takes a great interest in Danny's progress and finds himself increasingly drawn towards Laura, possibly because she is so different both from him and from his wife Claire. Claire is attractive and supportive of her husband but rather staid and conventional compared to the bohemian Laura. Eventually Edward and Laura begin an affair, even though he is a married man. (This plot line reminded me of Iris Murdoch's novel "The Sandcastle", published a few years before "The Sandpiper", which also dealt with an adulterous affair between a married older schoolmaster at a boarding school and a young female artist).

    Danny himself does not play a major role, being more of a plot device than a character in his own right. I felt that this was a weakness, given that one of the themes of the film is two different philosophies of education. Laura's view is that all formal educational establishments, particularly conservative boarding schools like Dr Hewitt's, are undesirable because they exist in order to turn children into conventional conformists. Her own solution, however, home-schooling Danny in a remote part of the world away from any other children and without a father-figure in his life, struck me as being likely to turn him into a self-centred loner, although the film rather shies away from criticising Laura on this point. The opening scenes in which Danny shoots a deer strike a particularly jarring note. It seemed to me highly improbable that a woman like Laura, whose whole philosophy seems to be one of living in harmony with nature, would allow her young son to have a rifle and then, when he uses it to kill an animal out of wanton curiosity, shrug the whole thing off as a harmless youthful escapade.

    Elizabeth Taylor looks stunning, but neither she nor Burton are really at their best here. Burton is certainly not as good as he was as the world-weary spy in "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", also made in 1965. The relationship between Edward and Laura is not based simply upon sexual attraction, but upon a growing realisation that despite their differences they are kindred spirits. The unbeliever Laura, paradoxically, has more in common with Edward's Christian idealism than does the conventionally pious Claire. The trouble is that one never really senses in Burton's performance the idealistic religious believer hiding behind the mask of the formal and pedantic schoolmaster. Taylor always comes across as slightly too glamorous to be altogether convincing as a proto-hippie.

    The film contains some attractive photography of the Californian coastal scenery (although the colours in the indoor scenes are often rather dull) and there is a notable musical score, including the song "The Shadow of Your Smile". As a psychological and emotional drama it has its points of interest, but overall it is a rather dated sixties period-piece, most interesting as a record of that decade's official Golden Couple. 6/10
    helpful•31
    3
    • JamesHitchcock
    • Nov 19, 2010

    FAQ7

    • What is 'The Sandpiper' about?
    • Is 'The Sandpiper' based on a book?
    • What does the title mean?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 23, 1965 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Flight of the Sandpiper
    • Filming locations
      • Big Sur, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Filmways Pictures
      • Venice Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $5,300,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 57 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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