Comments on: I can still recall...

I can still recall...

Joe Beese — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:18:44 -0800

Roger Ebert called it "one of the finest, truest, most deeply felt movies in my experience". Rated X on initial release, it still has not appeared on DVD.

Based on a novel by Evan Hunter - author of The Blackboard Jungle and the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, though better known for his 87th Precinct police procedurals published under the name Ed McBain - Last Summer (1969) was directed by Frank Perry, fresh off an acclaimed adaptation of John Cheever's "The Swimmer". It starred Richard Thomas, Bruce Davison, and Barbara Hershey - whom her future Hannah and Her Sisters director Woody Allen "fell in love with" after seeing her in this role. Feeling guilt over the death of a seagull during filming, she went by the name "Barbara Seagull" for several years. It also starred newcomer Catherine Burns - who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

By: Bageena

Bageena — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:23:39 -0800

I can't wait to go home and download this. Thank you for the heads up!

By: chunking express

chunking express — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:40:44 -0800

Is this movie the basis for that Simpson's episode where the Simpson's go off to a cottage and everyone thinks Bart is a dork and everyone thinks Lisa is super cool and then Bart shows them her nerdy yearkbook book details and Lisa thinks they won't like her anymore but they still do. I need everything in my life to relate back to the Simpsons.

By: illiad

illiad — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:43:15 -0800

I remember seeing the latter half of this movie on TV one night. The most memorable scene involved Barbara Hershey pouring beer all over her bikini-clad boobs and Richard Thomas snatching the beer bottle back saying, "Hey! Don't waste it!" I was half-asleep on the couch at the time, mind.

By: birdherder

birdherder — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:45:26 -0800

I'm sort of skeeved by John Boy trying to get Barbara Hershey naked.

By: kuujjuarapik

kuujjuarapik — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:46:33 -0800

she went by the name "Barbara Seagull" for several years. oh get a grip, hippy.

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:47:44 -0800

Yeah, seagulls are one of the worst kind of animals that exist.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:51:59 -0800

Seagulls are the rats of the skies.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:53:04 -0800

I read a review of this years ago that mentioned the Seagull, and also mentioned she had changed her last name, and thought it was an odd coincidence. In the days before the Internet, there was so much information that was obscure or inaccessable to a film critic that they just had to guess about things.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:56:19 -0800

chunking express, Summer of 4 ft. 2 is a cobbling-together of things, with the title from Summer of '42. It sounds like a generic "teen-agers at the beach" movie, though this could have been a major reference point. I just skimmed through the review with some basic level of intrigue at the X rating, and didn't see it. Wikipedia notes: Rated X when first released, Last Summer was given a rating of R after edits to the rape scene. The cut version is the one seen in the videotape release. I was looking for photos of Catherine Burns, to see if I recognized her from her other appearances, and turned to google images, where I found a Catherine Burns who contributed to an electronic journal in Australia, and on the google preview, looks remarkably similar to the Catherine image from this movie.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:14:22 -0800

seagulls are one of the worst kind of animals that exist I went on a first date with a lovely lady, to the beach. For some reason she had in her car a very fancy set of bocce balls that were to be a gift for her parents anniversary. She thought we could go ahead and play one game on the beach. I don't know what you call the silver target ball, but while we were playing a seagull swooped down, grabbed it, and flew off toward the sea. In what I expected to be seen as the single most heroic act of my life, I threw a bocce ball and hit the seagull, which dropped the target ball just on the edge of the water. This girl was incensed at my cruelty, insisted on leaving, and wouldn't speak to me again.

By: schoolgirl report

schoolgirl report — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:15:21 -0800

Nice ABBA reference in the post title!

By: jeremias

jeremias — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:27:23 -0800

The lesser known story is that she had changed her name to Hershey after witnessing a chocolate bar melting on streets of West Hollywood.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:28:04 -0800

StickyCarpet, did you go on to play for the Blue Jays?

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:28:41 -0800

This girl was incensed at my cruelty, insisted on leaving, and wouldn't speak to me again. The shitty creature probably planned the whole thing. They should be wiped out!

By: From Bklyn

From Bklyn — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:28:49 -0800

Seagulls will poop on you. Right on your head!

By: zardoz

zardoz — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:31:35 -0800

Here I am, thinking I know a lot about movies, but not only have I not seen this movie, I've never even heard of it. Will check it out....somehow.

By: cinemafiend

cinemafiend — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:48:51 -0800

I'm still waiting for Frank Perry's DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE to appear on dvd...

By: mannequito

mannequito — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:51:04 -0800

I was thinking, "Surely this is the most seagull hatred ever gathered in one place!" , but once again I've underestimated the internet.

By: steef

steef — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:01:33 -0800

Wow. Catherine Burns is scary good in that. (Also, there's a seagull who lives within us all.)

By: euphorb

euphorb — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:03:27 -0800

she went by the name "Barbara Seagull" for several years. oh get a grip, hippy. posted by kuujjuarapik at 4:46 PM on December 16 [+] [!] Someone named is kuujjuarapik is making fun of the name Barbara Seagull? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I wonder if the name change had anything to do with Jonathan Livingston Seagull which came out about the same time as the name change.

By: recursion

recursion — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:04:30 -0800

I'll add to the seagull hatred with two stories. I first realized that seagulls are mean, nasty birds when I saw one snatch a whole hot dog from an old lady in an amusement park. The woman had the saddest look on her face as the seagull flew off with that hot dog. I first realized that seagulls would happily feast on my flesh when I encountered a swarm of a couple hundred seagull going nuts over a whole ham someone had left on the beach. I have no idea how this ham came to be on the beach actually, but it was one of those large, spiral cut hams that you might cook at Christmas. This flock of seagulls were all over it, really just tearing into the thing. I ranks up there as one of the creepiest things I've ever seen. I just stood there and watch in amazement for a while until I noticed some of the seagulls staring at me, at which point I had to leave. I'm sure they were thinking "I bet he would be tasty, too."

By: qvantamon

qvantamon — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:07:26 -0800

My name used to be Qvantamon Seagull, but I changed it to Qvantamon Hershey when I saw a Hershey bar that fell on the dirt and had to be tossed away.

By: qvantamon

qvantamon — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:10:17 -0800

And if swans are nature's porsche drivers, seagulls are nature's way to poop on porsche drivers.

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:11:57 -0800

I remember seeing this on t.v. when I was a kid, probably late seventies. It made me wish my parents would take vacations on Fire Island.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:15:03 -0800

I don't know what to make of this but I just have to yell... Roger Ebert wrote that review in 1969? Roger Ebert was writing for the Chicago Sun Times FORTY YEARS AGO?! That's all. My mind is blown.

By: emhutchinson

emhutchinson — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:32:56 -0800

Not to redirect things away from seagulls, but . . . I was of the perfect age to have The Waltons pilot (The Foundling) imprinted on my brain and watch the show until tv became irrelevant, easily replaced by excessive amounts of homework and precocious houseplaying with boyfriend. Watching John-Boy act like such a normal teenager ("Are you really thinking about my top?" or whatever it is she says) is kind of disconcerting. I had realized he was an actual grownup, since I stopped watching tv and started going to his dad's (that would be Richard Thomas, Sr.) ballet school in NYC in the late seventies. JohnBoy's litle sister Bronwyn was the star performer in their little troupe and how I wished I could dance as well as she could. Meantime big brother showed up every now and then and everyone went quiet. The male students seemed to find him particularly intriguing. So much talent wasted on acting and tv! Sour grapes are readily available in dance studios. But I digress. Looking at the young Barbara Hershey-Seagull(don't start that again!) I can see the transition to the young Diane Keaton. The seductive power of knowing disingenuousness should never be underestimated. And their smiles, and their bodies. Ah, men and their types! I will wait for it to come from Criterion. If I remember. Thanks, Joe!

By: exogenous

exogenous — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:53:58 -0800

I wonder how much of the movie exhibits the distractingly lackluster editing of the start of the youtube clip.

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:01:06 -0800

I wonder how much of the movie exhibits the distractingly lackluster editing of the start of the youtube clip. That first clip wasn't one I would have personally selected had I the whole movie to choose from. But since it might have included the actual seagull that got killed, I chose it over this - which better conveys the movie's sexually-charged dread. Which builds to a memorably disturbing conclusion.

By: stinkycheese

stinkycheese — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:35:57 -0800

All you seagull-haters should check out The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea. The evil kid in it likes to toss lit firecrackers to them, har har. Ka-blooey!

By: vronsky

vronsky — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:44:16 -0800

High and Low was based on a McBain novel too.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:08:56 -0800

Awesome to learn about this movie. Never heard of it before. So nice to have a good movie to look forward to watching. ah, Richard Thomas, John Boy. I always loved him. Bruce Davison, wow, he's done a ton of stuff. Wonder what happened to Cathy Burns who played Rhoda? She was brilliant. They were all so beautiful at that age, radiantly beautiful! Funny, all you people who have spent your lives out of touch with nature, dissing seagulls. Like all living creatures, birds eat stuff. Seagulls are hard wired to dive bomb fish from the air, so they dive bomb hotdogs or meat left outside to rot or whatever. Gannets are incredible. Other birds dive bomb too, eagles, hawks, crows. Seagulls are quite beautiful. Here's a bluebird divebombing a hawk. In 1969 Donovan's music was popular, his FairyTale album came out in the USA and there was a very likable, wonderfully hippy, anti-war song of his about seagulls, Ballad of a Crystal Man. I think it's charming that Barbara Hershey cared enough about any animal to want to honor it by changing her name. Thanks for the post Joe Beese.

By: Manhasset

Manhasset — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:09:50 -0800

Downloading right now. Woohoo.

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:10:55 -0800

I like seagulls. They have always amused me, the way they think they're all that.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:15:27 -0800

Funny, all you people who have spent your lives out of touch with nature, dissing seagulls. Being detached from nature might contribute to seagull-hating, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who's worked on a fishing vessel who likes them.

By: Seabird

Seabird — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:30:39 -0800

Just want to state that I am not a seagull. Thank you. Bur I do remember Barbara Hershey's name change ...

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:39:33 -0800

Downloading right now. Woohoo. What is there to download other than the few YouTube clips?

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:46:00 -0800

Bur I do remember Barbara Hershey's name change ... posted by Seabird at 9:30 PM on December 16 Eponysterical

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:58:33 -0800

What with Barbara Hershey's father being Jewish and her mother being an Arkansas-born Presbyterian of Irish descent, the whole Seagull thing makes perfect sense.

By: Manhasset

Manhasset — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:04:02 -0800

What is there to download other than the few YouTube clips? The movie. Torrenting.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:09:09 -0800

The movie. Torrenting. Can't find the link. Please will somebody post the link?

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:18:22 -0800

nicky, I think googling " 'Last Summer' 'Barbara Hershey' torrent" will find it. However, I don't know which torrent sites are the best. I'm sure Metafilter members are standing by waiting to help!

By: bwg

bwg — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:36:31 -0800

"But then this seagull came, and it was this is this, and that is that, and ..."

By: tehloki

tehloki — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:55:52 -0800

Damnit, now I want to see what was in the original cut that made them rate it X. Shouldn't have told me that.

By: localhuman

localhuman — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:17:40 -0800

Torrenting does not exist.

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:23:35 -0800

I downloaded a seagull! Argh! Fucksticks!

By: stargell

stargell — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:31:54 -0800

Bruce Davison, wow, he's done a ton of stuff. Including, I see, The Waltons.

By: stinkycheese

stinkycheese — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:32:26 -0800

This post inspired an AskMe question FWIW - what films of note have yet to be come out on DVD?

By: lsd4all

lsd4all — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:02:12 -0800

thanksjoe, I saw this as a pre-teen on weekend tv (imagine that?!) in soCal about 25 years ago. I remember a few scenes very well and never knew the title.

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:09:55 -0800

My ex-wife used to verbally berate me for my fond memories of slaughtering seagulls from my time in San Diego, despite my regaling her with stories of stolen food, poop on bare skin and in hair, and general psychotic nastiness. Then, during a trip back to San Diego (specifically Julian) to visit family, we headed down to Sea World. My ex-wife was really looking forward to it, as this trip had been the first time she had even seen the ocean, much less come in physical contact with it. When it came time to feed the dolphins (a strictly scheduled event), we bought two trays of fish. As she approaches the tank, fish in hand and big smile on her face, a gull dive bombs her, steals an entire tray of fish and almost becomes entangled in her hair. As she looked at me, face aghast, I smiled back and said "See? Told you."

By: OolooKitty

OolooKitty — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:51:02 -0800

I remember reading this book as a teenager and simultaneously loving it and being freaked out by it. I vaguely remember the movie, but remember the book much better. There was also another book featuring this trio in which they behaved even more heinously. That one was called "Come Winter", and I loved that too. What I found so mesmerizing about all this at the age of fourteen, I now have no idea.

By: Item

Item — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:24:27 -0800

As she looked at me, face aghast, I smiled back and said "See? Told you." Yeah, exes really do suck.

By: hal9k

hal9k — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:01:59 -0800

Several films later, in tribute, the seagulls named her "the wind beneath my wings"

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:02:01 -0800

I think googling " 'Last Summer' 'Barbara Hershey' torrent" will find it. However, I don't know which torrent sites are the best. Every site I checked for this film is showing no more than two or three seeds at most. Should take about as long to download as it would to arrive by regular mail.

By: Ritchie

Ritchie — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:16:30 -0800

This seagull talk reminds me of one of those rare times, years and years ago, when I had a girlfriend. We were huddled up together on one of the platforms at Flinders Street Station on a miserably chilly, miserably drizzly Melbourne afternoon. Waiting for the train to arrive there was nothing to do but watch the assorted pigeons and seagulls trot about people's feet on the lookout for a dropped chip. "I like seagulls" I said, for no real reason other than to break the silence. "So do I" she answered. "I like the ones with no neck" I said, pointing out a big gray fellow perched on the edge of the platform, sullenly hunkered down into his damp feathers. "I like the ones with a gimp leg" she said, pointing out another gull hopping unsteadily past. There was nothing to say after that. She broke up with me a few weeks later. I heard she married a web developer, and has a couple of kids now.

By: Mastercheddaar

Mastercheddaar — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:01:55 -0800

My seagull memory would have to be the time when I was walking to the mall and in a side lot someone had threw away a dirty diaper. I think the seagull was trying to eat it. A couple more came by and they started fighting over it. Then out of no where a hawk of some kind swoops down and in one of the bloodiest, feather filled, 2 seconds of my life the poor seagull was reduced to nothing more than a mess of inside-out bird goo. I thought damn hawks must not like them either. I then went to the mall and got a smoothie.

By: Enron Hubbard

Enron Hubbard — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:25:53 -0800

she went by the name "Barbara Seagull" for several years. Considering this was the time period that she lived with David Carradine (while he was doing the Kung Fu TV show), I suspect this name change was chemically induced.

By: inigo2

inigo2 — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:29:43 -0800

I seagull pooped on my shirt in Atlantic City. I went on to win $60 at roulette. Take that, seagull!

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:15:01 -0800

I'm picturing David Carradine kung-fu fighting a flock of seagulls. If he took them out, Barbara Hershey would have to change her name to Barbara Hershey Seagull Seagull Seagull [repeat as needed].

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:29:43 -0800

I like seagulls. I remember when I was a boy, taking the ferry across the big lake to get to Mackinac Island. The seagulls would fly alongside at the same speed as the boat. You could lift up a cracker in your tiny hand and the seagull would seemingly levitate down and carefully remove it before banking off in a wide arc. Also, Kehaar.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:51:48 -0800

Absolutely true story about seagulls: when I was a child, I could communicate with them. I could do an absolutely perfect seagull impression (involving a sort of choked squeal in the back of my throat), and when I did it at the beach, they would all swoop down and gather around me like an unholy army. My parents fucking HATED it, 'cause, you know, those birds are mean-spirited, thieving, and loud. I loved my horrible avian brethren, though. Eventually, I hit puberty, and my voice lowered, and I found that I could no longer make the screeching seagull noise. Anyway, the moral of this story is that SEAGULLS ARE AWESOME, FUCK YOU HUMANS.

By: inigo2

inigo2 — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:29:38 -0800

I'm picturing David Carradine kung-fu fighting a flock of seagulls. I'm picturing David Carradine driving a Ferarri in LA wearing a suit jacket but no shirt. Like the time I saw him doing exactly that.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:39:09 -0800

Funny, all you people who have spent your lives out of touch with nature, dissing seagulls. those of us in touch with nature find turkey vultures to be much more interesting

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:17:54 -0800

Also, Kehaar. OK, the one good seagull. As opposed to Jonathan Livingston blah blah BLAH BLAH BLAHSHUT UP ALREADY!

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:33:05 -0800

"Seagulls are the rats of the skies." I actually used to like seagulls. I don't mind the poop and I liked sleeping in the surf listening to them call. Strange, massed up at the end of a runway on a base I was on one week and they asked some of us to shoot them because they wouldn't go away otherwise. Well, I liked gulls, but I did have some friends who were pilots. Well, this took a bit and Greenpeace showed up. Or people who wore things that said they were from Greenpeace, and started protesting us from outside the perimeter fence. Some of them threw rocks (way too far off). And I'm thinking "Why do I give these jerks money?" (cos I'm pro-environment, but I don't like getting rocks thrown at me). So we started waiting until the gulls were right over the group before we shot them. Blam! And a big mass of bloody feathers and bird guts would shower down on them. Made it fun, because shooting gulls is otherwise pretty easy (if they don't spot you). Well this went on for hours. So we came back the next day, and did it again. And they were doggedly determined not to give up. So the local cops arrived (this was not in the U.S.) and a whole lot of pointing went on. Pointing at us, at the gulls, at each other. We held off on blasting the gulls for a bit. And eventually everyone left and we finished. We come back and apparently people thought we were killing some rare birds (who, as it turned out, were nesting very close to where it would have been impossible to have any human accessibility at all much less an airfield and this had been worked out many years before, by treaty, in fact. But the facts didn't enter into it. We had killed rare birds from double handfuls of miles away (pretty good shots I guess)) And there were reports we were shooting at the local folks and protestors (they were covered in blood - albiet gull blood). And that the police, valiantly, had chased us off. So I went to see the C.O. and asked him if there was a problem, if it was a p.r. thing, if we had to do anything to remedy the situation, because I didn't want folks thinking we were harming anyone, etc. He said "No. Happens every year." Fucking seagulls.

By: pearlybob

pearlybob — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:36:44 -0800

"Fly Lesbian Seagull..." I miss Beavis and Butthead. Sigh

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:43:22 -0800

Huh, this is the third time this week that I've come across a movie on MeFi that looks really good, only to have Netflix and Amazon fail me completely. Where do people find these sorts of movies if not online? I can't imagine B&M stores actually having them.