The Sandpiper

Laura Reynolds (Taylor) is a free-spirited, unwed, single mother living with her preteen son Danny in an isolated beach house in Big Sur, California. She makes a modest living as an artist and homeschools her son out of concern that he will be compelled to follow stifling conventional social norms in a public school. Recently, Danny has gotten into legal trouble three times, one of indecently touching a girl his age, and shooting a fawn to understand if hunting is "fun". In his mother's eyes, these things are innocent expressions of his natural curiosity and conscience rather than delinquency.

The local judge orders Danny to an Episcopal boarding school in lieu of reform school, a decision equally odious to Laura. Dr. Edward Hewitt (Burton) is headmaster and his wife Claire (Saint) teaches. Edward and Claire are happily married with two student sons boarding away from home at a college-preparatory school, but their life has become routine and their youthful idealism has been tamed via social and golf clubs, and the constant need to raise funds for the school and please wealthy benefactors.

At an initial interview, there is a fleeting attraction between Laura and Edward, but this quickly dissipates, due to their greatly differing world views and Laura's disdain of religion and bourgeois conformity. Finally she storms out. She attempts to flee the area with Danny, but the police catch them and bring the boy to school.

He has trouble fitting in; his mother's homeschooling has placed him far in advance of boys his age. He can recite the Canterbury Tales in Middle English, verbatim. The standard courses of instruction at the school leave him restless and bored. At Claire's suggestion, Edward visits Danny's mother to learn more about his unique upbringing.

Laura's unconventional morals disturb Edward because they conflict with his religious and social beliefs. After visiting her several more times, he begins to fall in love. They begin a passionate affair. Laura tells herself that Edward is a fling like her other lovers, but to her surprise she finds herself falling in love with him, becoming jealous of his wife Claire. He struggles with guilt, while she urges him to accept their love. Meanwhile, Danny flourishes after Edward relaxes school rules and allows the boy to choose more advanced classes.

Ward Hendricks, a wealthy businessman and jealous ex-lover of Laura's, who paid for two years of her art studies, exposes the affair at s dinner party. At first Claire is distraught, but later they reflect upon how their lives and ideals have diverged from their youth. Edward declares that he still loves Claire and that he will end the affair. Still, they agree to a temporary separation.

Edward tells Laura that he confessed to Claire, she is outraged by the invasion of her personal privacy, and they part angrily. The school year over, Laura tells Danny that they can move away, but he has put down roots at the school and wants to stay. Laura is ambivalent, but realizes Danny's need to be independent and agrees. Danny asks Laura to come to a church event to hear him and the choir sing. She is uncomfortable being at the church or near Edward and Claire. During the service, Edward resigns his position at the school and the church. In his resignation speech, he mentions some of the things he'll miss and although they sound generic, they are specific things he and Laura shared. Tears fill her eyes. After the service, Edward sees Laura and tells her he will be leaving the area and traveling down the coast. As a parting gift, Edward has arranged for Danny to attend school tuition-free. All Laura can do is look at Edward with tears in her eyes.

On Edward's way out of town, he stops above Laura's beach house for a silent farewell. She and Danny are on the beach. Edward up on the bluff looks down at them. Laura turns from her painting, looks up and smiles, then he turns and walks away.

• Elizabeth Taylor as Laura Reynolds
• Richard Burton as Dr. Edward Hewitt
• Eva Marie Saint as Claire Hewitt
• Charles Bronson as Cos Erickson
• Robert Webber as Ward Hendricks
• James Edwards as Larry Brant
• Torin Thatcher as Judge Thompson
• Tom Drake as Walter Robinson
• Douglas Henderson as Paul Sutcliff
• Morgan Mason as Danny Reynolds

The film was originally written for Kim Novak.^[1]

The film received negative reviews from critics. LIFE magazine was dismissive and disappointed: “[the generous salary package for the couple] was clearly enough to get both the Burtons to act in what is possibly one of the most tedious, inane and ludicrous films ever made. In fact the intention of everyone connected with this $5.3 million sleeping pill can only have been to make money. If any one of them had any intention of making even a passably fair film it would have showed up somewhere in a line of dialogue, a bit of direction, a moment of honesty during the picture’s interminable two hours….Any publisher could comb through [the] script and come out with a best-selling dictionary of cliches. As for the humor—in a drama of doomed lovers?—Are you kidding? There were, nevertheless, countless whoops of hilarity from the audience I was with. They broke up, for instance, when Burton, prone upon the sand beside his mistress, announced, ‘I have lost my sense of sin!’ What Burton has really lost is his sense of the appropriate. He could have chosen any number of cushy roles which would have fulfilled his talents or even challenged them. There is, after all, nothing wrong with making money. The people involved in ‘The Sandpiper’ manufactured a motion picture—they didn’t rob a bank. So what’s the crime? The crime is that a truly great actor has danced to the tune of petty pipers.”^[9]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 21% based on 28 reviews.^[10]

By 1976 Variety estimated the film had earned $7 million in theatrical rentals in North America.^[11]

• List of American films of 1965