A Day at the Beach

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AMG AllMovie Guide:

A Day at the Beach

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Plot

Roman Polanski wrote the screenplay for this decidedly offbeat drama. Bernie (Mark Burns) plays a rootless wanderer with a fondness for alcohol and no clear goals in life. Bernie stumbles into a seaside resort community with Winnie (Beatrice Edney), a young girl in leg braces, in tow. As Bernie starts hitting the bottle, his physical and emotional stability starts to crumble, and Winnie begins to worry for his safety, until he finally collapses and Winnie panics, with no one left to look after her. Peter Sellers makes a brief cameo appearance as a gay shopkeeper who sets up a booth to take advantage of the beach traffic. While Polanski originally intended to direct A Day At The Beach, he later turned over the reigns to filmmaker Simon Hesera; it was his first dramatic feature, and his last. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Cast

Eva Dahlbeck; Fiona Lewis; Graham Stark; Jack McGowran

Credit

Simon Hesera - Director, Alastair McIntyre - Editor, Mort Shuman - Composer (Music Score), Gilbert Taylor - Cinematographer, Gene Gutowski - Producer, Roman Polanski - Producer, Roman Polanski - Screenwriter

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Wikipedia on Answers.com:

A Day at the Beach

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A Day at the Beach
Directed by Simon Hesera
Produced by Gene Gutowski
Written by Roman Polanski
Starring Mark Burns
Beatie Edney
Peter Sellers
Cinematography Gilbert Taylor
Editing by Alistair McIntire
Release date(s) 1970 (1970)
Country United Kingdom
Language English
For the Barney and the Backyard Gang video, see Barney and the Backyard Gang. For the album by Sonia Dada, see A Day at the Beach (album).

A Day at the Beach is a 1970 film based on the 1962 book Een dagje naar het strand by Dutch author Heere Heeresma. The screenplay was written by Roman Polanski, who was originally intended to be the director, although most of the direction was finally done by first-timer Simon Hesera.

Contents

Plot

Set in a rundown Danish seaside resort, it depicts a day in the life of Bernie, a self-destructive alcoholic (played by Mark Burns), as he takes Winnie (Beatie Edney), a young girl with a leg brace, to the resort despite constant rain. Though Winnie calls Bernie "uncle," it is very likely he is her biological father. Over the course of the day, they encounter various people whom Bernie alternately berates and scams for alcohol, while Winnie is often left alone to fend for herself. Peter Sellers makes a cameo appearance as a gay shopkeeper who flirts with Bernie.

Release

The film was never released in theatres at the time of its completion, but has seen limited runs at film festivals since then. A small clip of the film appears in the documentary The Unknown Peter Sellers.

The film is available on DVD in the U.S from Code Red DVD.

References

External links


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A Day at the Beach

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Drink Recipe
www.webtender.com

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Copyrights:

Mentioned in

Summer Tales (1989 Children's/Family Film)
A Day at the Beach: Barney (TV Episode) (1990 Children's/Family TV Episode)