Based on Bernard Slade's Broadway play of the same name, this film is about George, a married New Jersey accountant (Alan Alda), and Doris, a housewife (Ellen Burstyn). The two accidentally meet in a Californian country inn in 1951. They have an affair, which they continue for the next 25 years, meeting only once a year for a weekend getaway at the same hotel. Through their long-running love affair, the audience witnesses the changes within America and its lifestyles over the course of a quarter of a century. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Review
In 1978, such American movies as The Deer Hunter and Coming Home began to address the Vietnam War, and, in its own small way, Same Time, Next Year tries to put its finger on that pulse as well. The movie follows a single adulterous relationship over almost three decades; with each passing year, there is corresponding social commentary. At times, the two lovers (Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn) make hairpin turns in their lives which serve as poignant signposts for America's changing political climate. Bernard Slade adapted his Broadway play for the screen, and the action rarely strays from the same hotel room. Despitte the somewhat overwrought conceit, Alda and Burstyn make the film bittersweet and charming; at its best, Same Time is reminiscent of some of Neil Simon's better work. The movie was nominated for four Oscars, including nods for Burstyn and veteran cinematographer Robert Surtees. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
The film opens in 1951 at an inn located on the Northern California coast. Doris (Ellen Burstyn) is a 24-year-old housewife from Oakland, George (Alan Alda) a 27-year-old accountant from New Jersey. They meet at dinner, have an affair, and then agree to meet once a year to rekindle the sparks they experience at their first meeting, despite the fact both are happily married with six children between them.
Over the course of the next two dozen years, they develop an emotional intimacy deeper than what one would expect to find between two people meeting for a clandestine relationship just once a year. During the time they spend with each other, they discuss the births, deaths, and marital problems each is experiencing at home, while they adapt themselves to the social changes affecting their lives.
Production
Exteriors for the film were shot at the Heritage House Inn in Little River, California. The shell of the cottage was built on a temporary foundation overlooking the Pacific Ocean, but the interior was filmed on a Hollywood sound stage. After filming was completed, Universal paid for the shell to be relocated to a permanent foundation and the interior was finished and outfitted with the studio furnishings. The cottage remains popular as a romantic getaway. [1]
Janet Maslin of the New York Times said, "Mr. Slade's screenplay isn't often funny, and it's full of momentous events that can't be laughed away . . . As directed by Robert Mulligan . . . Same Time, Next Year is both less and more than it could have been. By moving the action outdoors once in a while, or into the inn's restaurant, Mr. Mulligan loses the element of claustrophobia that might have taken an audience's mind off the screenplay's troubles. But he substitutes the serenity of a California coastal setting, and gives the film a visual glamour that is mercifully distracting. Mr. Mulligan seems to have been more interested in sprucing up the material than in preserving its absolute integrity, and under the circumstances, his approach makes sense . . . Mr. Alda isn't terribly playful, and he reads every line as if it were part of a joke, which only accentuates the flatness of the script. Miss Burstyn, on the other hand . . . brings so much sweetness to Doris's various incarnations that the character very nearly comes to life." [2]
Variety called the film "a textbook example of how to successfully transport a stage play to the big screen" and added "The production of Bernard Slade's play, sensitively directed by Robert Mulligan, is everything you'd want from this kind of film. And it features two first class performances by Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda." [3]
