The Sandpiper

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The Sandpiper

Directed by	Vincente Minnelli
Produced by	Martin Ransohoff
Written by	Irene Kamp Louis Kamp Michael Wilson Dalton Trumbo
Starring	Elizabeth Taylor Richard Burton Eva Marie Saint Charles Bronson
Music by	Johnny Mandel
Cinematography	Milton R. Krasner
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Release date(s)	1965
Running time	117 min
IMDb profile

The Sandpiper is a 1965 film starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. It was directed by Vincente Minnelli. Taylor portrays a free-spirited, unwed single mother living with her young son in an isolated beach house on the California coast. Her son gets into trouble with the law, and a judge orders her to send the boy to an Episcopal boarding school where Burton is headmaster. Burton's priest character is initially horrified by Taylor's unconventional morals, but the two quickly begin a torrid extramarital affair.

The film also stars Eva Marie Saint as Burton's long-suffering wife and Charles Bronson as a beach bum and sculptor. The song from this picture, "The Shadow Of Your Smile", won the Academy Award. Morgan Mason, son of James Mason and now Belinda Carlisle's husband, played Taylor's son. The German singer Nico was an extra in a scene set at Nepenthe in Big Sur.