Three middle-aged wealthy couples take vacations together in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Along the way we are treated to mid-life, marital, parental and other crises.
A married man and a married woman end up sleeping with each other, and decide to meet at the same place every year on the anniversary of their one night stand. As the years go by, they observe changes in each other and their relationship.
Offbeat fashion student Betsy Hopper and her strait-laced investment-banker fiancé, Jake Lovell, just want an intimate little wedding reception, but Betsy's father, Eddie, a Long Island ... See full summary »
Eugene, a young teenage Jewish boy, recalls his memoirs of his time as an adolescent youth. He lives with his parents, his aunt, two cousins, and his brother, Stanley, whom he looks up to ... See full summary »
Director:
Gene Saks
Stars:
Blythe Danner,
Jonathan Silverman,
Stacey Glick
In 1944, in Brooklyn, two Jewish kids become friends. One is from a very conservative family, and the other is more liberal. The issues of importance of tradition, parental expectations and the formation of Israel cause constant friction.
Director:
Jeremy Kagan
Stars:
Maximilian Schell,
Rod Steiger,
Robby Benson
Three middle-aged wealthy couples take vacations together in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Along the way we are treated to mid-life, marital, parental and other crises.Written by
Robert Nolty <nolty_r@caltech.edu>
At the very beginning of "Autumn," we see leaves falling as a blue Mercedes sedan whooshes by (the camera catches the right side of the car) on a curvy road. All we see is the right side/front of what is very clearly a late '70s/early '80s S-class Mercedes (likely a 450 SEL or a turbodiesel variant of the same body style). However, in the next shot, the car shown is the same color, but very clearly a 300 class (300 Diesel or 300 Turbodiesel) model. The latter is used in all interior and exterior shots throughout the Autumn (at the Connecticut inn) and eventually sinks on thin ice in "Winter." See more »
Quotes
Nick:
[to Jack, about Anne]
She remembers the day she got her tooth filled. Christ, I can hardly remember the first time I got laid.
See more »
Alternate Versions
CBS edited 10 minutes from this film for its 1984 network television premiere. See more »
I was 14 the first time I saw this film in 1981 on HBO. I found it to be a totally engrossing movie that made one actually think about the complexities of life and relationships other than just your typical movie fare of sex and violence. They just don't make movies like this one anymore, and probably never will again (which is sad).
Like Vivaldi's Four Seasons, the cast of characters cover a range of emotions; through anger, grief, and denial of the departure of the spouse of one of the couples who vacation quarterly together and finally acceptance when a new and (younger) addition enters the picture.
The banter between the couples is unusually intelligent, and hysterically funny in some scenes. Jack Weston's character Danny is my favorite. Alda's Jack describes him in one scene as being hypochondriachal, which is the understatement of the year. He seems to feel that he is dying at any given moment of any number of diseases. Death to him is imminent, and his portrayal of this emotion is brilliantly funny because of the sincerity with which he tries to convince the others of the validity of his fears. I loved the scene where he and his wife Claudia have an arguement and she offers up the suggestion once too often that her Italian heritage is the reason for her behavior and Danny cuts loose on her. He gets so into it, that it doesn't seem to matter to the director that he flubbed the line where he's screaming out the window that "I'm sick of your I'm your Italian", when he really meant to say "I'm sick of your I'm Italian". So the scene is left in.
The scene where Jack and Kate laugh their a**e* off on the boat one night while listening to Nick and Ginny having sex is also hysterical.
Really great movie. Highly recommended for people as desperate as I am for some intelligent and thought provoking entertainment.
32 of 35 people found this review helpful.
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I was 14 the first time I saw this film in 1981 on HBO. I found it to be a totally engrossing movie that made one actually think about the complexities of life and relationships other than just your typical movie fare of sex and violence. They just don't make movies like this one anymore, and probably never will again (which is sad).
Like Vivaldi's Four Seasons, the cast of characters cover a range of emotions; through anger, grief, and denial of the departure of the spouse of one of the couples who vacation quarterly together and finally acceptance when a new and (younger) addition enters the picture.
The banter between the couples is unusually intelligent, and hysterically funny in some scenes. Jack Weston's character Danny is my favorite. Alda's Jack describes him in one scene as being hypochondriachal, which is the understatement of the year. He seems to feel that he is dying at any given moment of any number of diseases. Death to him is imminent, and his portrayal of this emotion is brilliantly funny because of the sincerity with which he tries to convince the others of the validity of his fears. I loved the scene where he and his wife Claudia have an arguement and she offers up the suggestion once too often that her Italian heritage is the reason for her behavior and Danny cuts loose on her. He gets so into it, that it doesn't seem to matter to the director that he flubbed the line where he's screaming out the window that "I'm sick of your I'm your Italian", when he really meant to say "I'm sick of your I'm Italian". So the scene is left in.
The scene where Jack and Kate laugh their a**e* off on the boat one night while listening to Nick and Ginny having sex is also hysterical.
Really great movie. Highly recommended for people as desperate as I am for some intelligent and thought provoking entertainment.