DVR ALERT! LAST SUMMER with Barbara Hershey, Bruce Davison, Catherine Burns and Richard Thomas on Turner Classic Movies.

LAST SUMMER (1969)Directed by Frank Perry.%0D\ TCM Tuesday, February 2nd at 2:45 AM est; 1:45 cst, 11:45 PM (Feb 1st pacific time).%0D\ %0D\ Not on home video. There may have been a VHS at one time but never on DVD.

• And WEHT Catherine Burns? I believe she got an Oscar nomination for this.

• I think Bruce Davison shows his ass in this.

• And thanks to the dumb fucks at DirecTV, I can''t watch TCM in HD.

• R3- Except for the widescreen movies, most of the film prints are not that much different in HD, especially the older titles. I was excited when we got TCM HD too but it''s not all that different from the standard version. I do like that I don''t have to reformat expand the letterboxed features. They are automatically formatted on the HD channel. That is nice.

• Originally rated X probably get a PG now.

• Thank you, OP! My dvr is set, but I''m almost afraid to watch. I don''t know if I''ve seen it since it first came out (at the Playboy theater in Chicago, IIRC) and my memory is of a totally gut-wrenching film. I wonder if it can live up to the hype I''ve created in my own mind.

• This is the movie with the dead seagull that Barbara Hershey changed her name to Seagull for a few years. \ \ From wiki...\ \ During the filming of "Last Summer", a seagull was killed. "In one scene", Hershey explained, "I had to throw the bird in the air to make her fly. We had to reshoot the scene over and over again. I could tell the bird was tired. Finally when the scene was finished the director, Frank Perry, told me the bird had broken her neck on the last throw."[16] Hershey felt responsible for the bird''s death and changed her stage name to "Seagull", as a tribute to the creature.

• The movie was from 1969, but she didn''t get credited as Barbara Seagull until 1973.

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• Frank Perry was such an interesting director, so many varied films from David and Lisa to Mommie Dearest to Compromising Positions. %0D\ %0D\ Uneven but interesting,

• Just watched it. Meh.

• Interesting movie. It must have been pretty risque, for 1969.%0D %0D Who knew that "John Boy Walton" was so fucking beautiful? I couldn't take my eyes off him. Really gorgeous.%0D %0D And for those twinks out there that think they'll be young forever, just take a look at the three lead actors - Hershey, Davison, and Thomas. They were at their peak of beauty in this movie, and yet their looks faded, in time.%0D %0D I only saw parts of the movie, because I kept getting interrupted. Did Thomas and Davison ever hook up? They were getting awfully close to each other in the movie, and it looked like there could have been a m/m scene in there somewhere. How I wish.%0D %0D After watching this movie, I looked each of the actors up, and found out that Davison didn't get married until he was 40, and he is/was VERY active in HIV/AIDS causes. Why so close to his heart? I have a feeling that he dabbled in the homosex in his youth. Anyone know?%0D %0D I'd love to hear some dish on Thomas and Davison. I'm intrigued by them after watching this movie.

  http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index.jsp?cid=374444

• SPOILERS, obviously.\ \ [quote]Did Thomas and Davison ever hook up? They were getting awfully close to each other in the movie, and it looked like there could have been a m/m scene in there somewhere. How I wish.\ \ No, they did not hook up. There is one scene where Davison and Hershey stumble across two guys making out on the beach, though.

• [quote] There is one scene where Davison and Hershey stumble across two guys making out on the beach, though.%0D\ %0D\ I saw that. Since the movie was shot on Fire Island, it was a nice acknowledgement of the gays.%0D\ %0D\ There was the shampooing hair scene, and the lying on Barbara Hershey''s lap with their heads right next to each other scene, so I hoped there might be a little bit of man on man action. Guess not.%0D\ %0D\ Then again, we''re talking 1969, not 1989 or 1999.

• [quote]There was the shampooing hair scene, and the lying on Barbara Hershey''s lap with their heads right next to each other scene, so I hoped there might be a little bit of man on man action. Guess not. Then again, we''re talking 1969, not 1989 or 1999.\ \ No we''re talking about two straight friends. Not all straight guys are cold and distant as some of you seem to believe and terrified of intimacy with another guy. That doesn''t mean sexual.

• I''m sorry I missed this. Bruce Davison was beautiful when he was young and remains very underrated as an actor.

• Bruce did run his hands over Barbara''s breasts twice during the shampoo scene.

• That movie theater they run out of to the ferry was one of my neighborhood movie theaters as a kid on Long Island. It was in Bayshore LI.

• "In one scene", Hershey explained, "I had to throw the bird in the air to make her fly. We had to reshoot the scene over and over again."%0D\ %0D\ God, that is awful. That is animal cruelty. I guess laws about the way animals were used in movies didn''t exist then. The bird died in the movie; Hershey''s deranged character bashes its head in (thankfully offscreen). I was upset at that; I didn''t know it was even worse, that the bird died in reality too, due to abuse.%0D\ %0D\ What happened to Catherine Burn''s character? I know she gets raped (by one or both of the boys?) but what happened to her after that?

• Watched it on TCM. The version shown was not as explicit as the original theatrical X and R rated versions.%0D\ %0D\ A sequel called "Come Winter" was planned but never made. You might be able to find the book on line. Rhoda is only referenced once in the book. She was living in Paris.

  Rilke

• Count me in as another who was surprised how beautiful Richard Thomas was... For the first time, I was able to concentrate on something other than... uh... you know... (in a hushed tone) "the mole."

• I''ve worked with 3 out of 4.%0D\ %0D\ Richard is the sweetest man in the world, everyone loves him and he is kindness personified. Grew up in NYC as a stage kid, I think his parents ran a ballet school. He''s been married at least a couple of times and has a horde of kids of greatly varying ages from the two marriages (the first one gave him quints). Seems gay but I guess not!%0D\ %0D\ Bruce is kind of a cold fish, aged in a bland way. Is (or was?) married to (former?) actress Lisa Pelikan.%0D\ %0D\ I did a play with Catherine Burns over 25 years ago. She was very nice but seemed kind of depressed....not unlike her character in Last Summer. I wasn''t too surprised to find she''d left the business soon after that. I don''t know of her current whereabouts.

• Wasn''t Richard''s dad gay? I thought I heard he came out later, after getting married and having kids?

• "Whatever happened to Catherine Burns?" is one of the most common questions on movie and theater message boards. One answer that frequently pops up is that she is working as a secretary or receptionist in NY while writing a book on acting techniques or theater history. Don''t know how true that is, but that''s the most common answer. %0D\ %0D\ (Isn''t it funny that, with all the NYers posting here, nobody has ever said they''ve run in to her in a business office or on the street?)

• The last time I heard about Catherine Burns was when she did a play at Lincoln Center sometime in the 70''s. I really liked her in another movie she did with Richard Thomas and Desi Arnaz,Jr. called RED SKY AT MORNING.

• I missed this -- is there any other time it will be on TCM?

• "Hershey felt responsible for the bird''s death and changed her stage name to "Seagull", as a tribute to the creature."\ \ Then a few years later, she bought a chocolate bar. She carelessly tossed it into her purse. Upon pulling it out she realized she had broken the chocolate bar to smithereens. As a tribute she changed her stage name to "Hershey".

• Not during the month of Feb, R26. But I am sure it will be back on TCM again. I''d check their website for future broadcasts.

• Love TCM''s diverse titles and love the fact they don;''t play movies to death but I wish they would play a film, twice. My DVR screwed up and I didn''t get it and that might be the only play for the year.

• That it was dull and hated that the dialogue was all looped. It was shot cinema verite but comes off as fake when you notice their mouths aren''t in sync w/the words. And it''s sort of slow and meh as someone said. The music sucks, too. Hated the Catherine Burns character.

• [quote]What happened to Catherine Burn''s character? I know she gets raped (by one or both of the boys?) but what happened to her after that?\ \ You don''t know. The 3 go into the forest with the unspoken intent to have sex, but Rhoda follows them at the last minute. While in the forest, they drink and start trying to force Rhoda to drink, then to take her clothes off. When she doesn''t, Sandy and Peter hold her down while Dan (Davison) rapes her. Then they walk off. Sandy and Dan seem unconcerned but Peter stops following them and looks freaked. End of movie.\ \ That was one of my problems with the film, that it followed these rich white kids around and showed them turning into sociopaths without bothering to show us the results of their actions. We see Anibal get hit but never hear of him again; we see Rhoda raped but don''t even see her walking out of the forest. They don''t care about the victims and neither does the film.

• Watched it last night. This was the edited version as R20 mentioned. I remember that the final scene was more graphic and that there was more nudity for Bruce Davison and Barbara Hershey.

• I remember some Bruce Davison ass... not shown on TCM version.

• Did they KILL poor Rhoda? The film seems to suggest that.

• No, R34. They just left her in the woods. From another post, there was a planned sequel but this never happened.

• A real Debbie Downer. The scene where they wash each other''s hair looks like a 60s Pepsi ad.

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• Catherine Burns taught acting at The Women''s Project or something like that (it took over Circle Reps''s classes when it folded) in the mid 90''s

• I just read the novel. It doesn''t end with them walking out of the forest. The book ends over Labor Day when the families all go back home. The kids see Rhoda waiting for the boat with her father but they all ignore each other.

• started my search about 6 months ago. Found a tremendous following for this movie. As far as I know it is still out of print.. yes? Does anyone know if it will be airing on cable anywhere???

• COME FALL, the sequel to the novel LAST SUMMER is disturbing and repellent. If you didn't hate the trio by the end of the first book, you probably will by the second.

• Mesmerizing movie. It's one of those films where the cinematography, editing, and body language of the actors perfectly capture a mood. It reminds me of "Shampoo" in the way that it conveys a tone (in this case, cruel and wistful) without necessarily relying on dialogue or plot devices. All of the performances are strong, but Burns and Hershey are the standouts. It's a shame that Burns in particular left the movie business soon afterwards. Her monologue in "Last Summer" is excellent. I recorded it off of TCM last night and have watched it 3 times since. It's truly one of the forgotten gems of 60s American cinema.

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  Barbara Seagull

• [quote]That it was dull and hated that the dialogue was all looped. They had no choice. Shooting right on the beach was difficult because of the surf noise.

• I saw this movie a long time ago. I have no desire to see it again. I do vaguely remember the attack on Rhoda and the trio leaving the scene; I remember thinking that maybe they'd killed her, since she wasn't with them. It was a stupid ending. I think a lot of people wanted to know what became of poor Rhoda.

• This movie was on pretty recently, like a week or two ago and after I watched it I read the IMDB message boards. Pretty much everyone on there said that they got the feeling that Rhoda was killed by them. Also, the part with two guys making out, was that not John Boy and some guy? I thought it was and that maybe he was gay which is why he wasn't trying to bang Hershey like the other guy was.

• R46, Perhaps the seagull bashed to death in the forest by Hershey's character is a foreshadowing of Rhoda's murder in the woods. Like the gull, Rhoda was a plaything for the group - something to be manipulated, tortured, and ultimately killed. The more I reflect on this movie, the darker it becomes. And how eerie is the soundtrack? Creepy sitars abound.

  R42 - loving this film

• r47 I only watched it once, I will have to see it again. Hershey was gorgeous in it but was such a bitch, she did a great job.

  r46

• I did a play with Catherine Burns in the early 80s. She was a sweet lady but seemed kind of depressed and defeated. I think she was smart enough to know she wasn't easily castable and stopped acting. I guess she must be old enough now (mid-60s?) to have a comeback as a very interesting character actress.

• R49, It's criminal that someone with Burns' degree of talent would have difficulty finding work. What was it like acting with her? Thanks for sharing!

  R42