The Summer
of the Swans
(aka SARA'S SUMMER OF THE SWANS)
With: Heather Totten (Sara), Christopher Knight (Joe), Priscilla Morrill (Aunt Willie), Betty Ann Carr (Wanda), Doney Oatman (Mary), Eve Plumb (Gretchen), Scott McCartor (Frank), Mike Tucker (First Bully), Kevin McCarley (Second Bully), Reed Diamond (Charlie)
***
SYNOPSIS: Teenager Sara dreads her summer vacation; her sister is always off with her boyfriend, her father is always off at work, and her aunt is always doing housework. Her She doesn't get along with her classmates, so her only joy is taking a hike with her kid brother Charlie down to the lake, to see the beautiful swans. One night, Charlie wanders off by himself to see the swans, and gets lost. Sara enlists the aid of her peers to find Charlie, and learns the importance of accepting others in the process.
SARA'S SUMMER OF THE SWANS is probably one of the most beautiful telefilms ever produced; it is virtually a perfect film, and conveys a personal evolution so endearing and profound as to be indelible.
Long-suffering Sara (an incredible performance by Heather Totten), is a troubled adolescent on the cusp of the age of reason, stifled by her repressive family and bored out of her skull during one dreary summer.
Her older sister is a bimbo, her aunt a helpful cipher. Dad, naturally, is an emotionally (and physically) distant businessman. Kid brother Charlie is her only ray of sunshine in this dull family. Sara feels like the proverbial ugly duckling amongst her peers, a too-bright outsider, ala "Lisa Simpson".
Sara spends her time doing meaningless tasks like dying her sneakers in an attempt to change her oppressive surroundings. She wears a prisoner T-shirt (her number is #618510), a popular '70's emblem of existential teenage angst.
One of her few joyous activities is to run through the idyllic woods with Charlie to see the swans gliding by in a nearby lake. Unfortunately, Charlie runs out alone after dark one night to see the swans again (for reasons unclear), and gets lost in the woods, ala "Hansel & Gretel". At the obligatory tragic end of Act II, Charlie is lost and wandering and wounded.
Charlie's rescue is the catalyzing event which brings everyone together. Sara learns, amongst other things, to stop prejudging people, and to know when to ask for help. After finally forgiving her distant father on the telephone, we see a most miraculous thing (via an animated visual by Dave Brain): Sara actually "grows up" before our eyes, leaping up a staircase and hugging the sun. Only in the 1970's!
Two TV superstars shine also in this great TV drama; Christopher Knight from THE BRADY BUNCH as good-hearted teenage hunk Joe Melvy, and Eve Plumb (also a Brady) as Gretchen Wyatt, the misunderstood "popular" girl in school.
As it truly Sara's summer to morph into a beautiful young being, it is thus telling that the opening main title for the film states simply, THE SUMMER OF THE SWANS, whereas at film's end, the main title is repeated, as SARA'S SUMMER OF THE SWANS. Indeed. SARA'S SUMMER OF THE SWANS is a striking and nearly flawless drama, surely one of the crown jewels of the After School Specials.
DVD availability: Brentwood/BCI Eclipse
(1974, U.S.) color 46 minutes
Martin Tahse Productions / American Broadcasting Company
Story: Betsy Byars (from her novel)
Screenplay: Bob Rodgers
Music Supervision: Bill Loose, Jack Tillar
Cinematography by Bob Collins
Produced by Fred W. Bennett, Martin Tahse
Directed by James B. Clark
