Synopsis
It was the right thing. It was the wrong thing. It was the only thing their hearts would allow.
A free-spirited single mother forms a connection with the wedded headmaster of an Episcopalian boarding school in Monterey, California.
1965 Directed by Vincente Minnelli
A free-spirited single mother forms a connection with the wedded headmaster of an Episcopalian boarding school in Monterey, California.
Flight of the Sandpiper, Le Chevalier des sables, ...die alles begehren, Castillos en la arena, Castelli di sabbia, Út a szeretet felé, Adeus às Ilusões, Кулик, Písečný ptáček, Castells a la sorra
Away from the hype of Hollywood and humanity, there is an intelligent romance in the quietude of Vincente Minnelli’s “The Sandpiper.”
Released at a fever pitch of fervor over the now married stars of the film, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, having left each others spouses for one another, “Sandpiper” was caged into controversy even before it hit cinemas.
With a script co-written by Dalton Trumbo, and a luscious background of Big Sur, “Sandpiper” is more beautiful and more wise than it received credit for on release. It is a work of religious examination and romantic complexity that has consideration for a depth of social values. Perhaps lacking in the expected hysterically steamy melodrama promised by a Burton-Taylor partnership, it…
An utterly gripping installment of the long-running, hugely popular Liz and Dick soap opera, barely disguised as an actual movie.
At this point, Liz had earned her reputation as a dirty home wrecker twice over. First, she busted up little apple-cheeked Debbie Reynolds’ marriage to Eddie Fisher. For that infraction, MGM forced her to play the role of a prostitute — albeit a strong-willed and sympathetic one — in Butterfield 8. Then, not even two years later, while filming Cleopatra at Cinecittá, an intrepid paparazzo caught her making out with the still-married Richard Burton on the deck of a yacht. The whole world immediately lost its collective shit, and Liz once again had to pull her scarlet A out of…
“Men have been staring at me and rubbing up against me since I was twelve years old.”
There are good films, bad films, and films that are bad in a special way. Those seeing The Sandpiper out of its context might simply consider it a boring soap opera. For those of us who saw it in 1965, it was a hoot, a camp classic.
The scandalous Liz-and-Dick romance dominated the news media during the lengthy production of the equally scandalous Cleopatra in a way it is hard to contemplate now in our world of 24-hour news channels, the internet, and social media. Those who enjoyed famous people misbehaving were enthralled. The couple followed Cleopatra with The V.I.P.s, but that was…
POV: you are a bird with a broken wing being lovingly tended by Liz & Dick on a bed of Minnelli Red cloth.
While THE SANDPIPER is a tad long and awkward, I found it disarmingly sincere with an elegant visual flow. Melodrama is nothing to laugh at, and Minnelli knew it. All the earnest chatter about sin and freedom and social adjustment and gender roles may seem "dated" to some, but the film resists the preachy finality I was dreading in favor of melancholy ambiguity. Eva Marie Saint as Burton's wife is arguably the MVP. Her rounded character invests the film's love triangle with a sense of balance and painful regret.
Not gonna lie, though: the boho West Coast beach…
this kid being horny for his mom, liz taylor.....yeah u stay in school son
35mm. Metrograph.
oh my god elizabeth taylor playing an atheist feminist artist who mends broken bird feathers and paints at the beach all the while looking extremely hot doing it, this is it this is cinema
if vincente minnelli can do anything it's make an elegant-looking movie regardless of whether the material deserves it!! anyway liz is extremely cool in this, however i'm always unconvinced of richard burton's appeal lmao sorry to this man
A heartbreaking clash of ideology and ultimately a moral struggle between the private and the public, which is arguably the source of all political ideology. Minnelli’s mise-en-scène reached a state of fluidity and inspiration at this point in his career that very few ever achieved, and this is one of the most complex plots he’s worked on.
big sur! caftans! extratextual: the movie! hollywood presents: the push & pull of dwelling 1960s ideologies! adult conversations! messy & human drama! so many conversations! a companion piece to minelli's earlier feature the cobweb!
was really surprised by this one