Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

Having worked on "Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams" 50 years ago as the Unit Publicist (that's the person who is in charge of a movie's publicity while it is being filmed), this was only my third job in this field, and remains my absolute favorite. During the 3-month shoot, I actually became friends with several members of the cast and crew, the nicest, most harmonious group of people I had ever worked with. I had always been a fan of Joanne Woodward, who went out of her way to be kind to me and we kept in touch for several years after the movie wrapped. She was completely down-to-earth, warm-hearted, had a terrific sense of humor, and was far more beautiful in person than she was ever allowed to be in most of her movies. Stewart Stern was a lovely man, a brilliant writer, and we also remained friends. The director, Gil Cates, gave everyone a beautiful sterling-silver Tiffanys key chain at the wrap party and when he screened the movie for us after he had finished editing it, I honestly thought it would be acclaimed as one of 1973's finest, award-winning films. The running time of Cates' cut was 112 minutes which, to me, seemed perfect. Unfortunately, as was a custom in those bygone days, the studio had a "sneak preview" of the movie at a theater in New Jersey that was showing a raucous slapstick comedy so the audience was in no mood to watch a serious, emotional drama like SWWD and the cards they filled out were mostly unfavorable. But Columbia took this nonsense seriously and ordered the movie's creative team to cut the movie down to a more "palatable" 90 minutes. Reluctantly, the director and writer (Cates & Stern) went back to the editing room and when I saw the 92-minute release print, I was horrified. Far too many crucial scenes had either been deleted or shortened, and Sylvia Sidney's scenes were so drastically shortened that her screen time now amounted to little more than 5 minutes! Of course I was thrilled to receive my first screen credit, but somehow the fact that my name was misspelled seemed appropriate! Despite the studio's butchery, "Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams" still pleased most critics and won a few awards, but I still can't help think how much more enthusiastic its reception would have been had the far more nuanced 112-minute version been released. Scott MacDonough 1/28/2023

January 29, 2023 at 3:29 AM.

Not uplifting but good drama here, Joanne Woodward never disappoints. She is a middle-aged housewife in NYC, married to World War 2 veteran Martin Balsam. When her mother passes away suddenly she begins to re-examine her life.

There are no easy answers here, or "deux ex ma-china" moments wherein everything is solved and life goes on with a saccharine smile.

As a couple, Balsam and Woodward are believable here, in a stab at saving his marriage Balsam suggests a trip to Europe. There are some interesting flashbacks here as he recalls the 1940's when he was a 20 year old soldier killing other 20 year old at the Battle of Ardennes. The scenery is evocative and atmospheric.

Both are estranged from their lives, and children, but somehow manage to hold on. Woodward is always empathic, her scene as she has a quiet breakdown in the subway while remembering her deceased mother is believable. (I have been through something similar myself, mother having died in an accident). It is well-filmed and effective. Recommended. 9/10.

By the early 1970's, films had become more personal and character studies were emerging on the screen. Such is the case with "Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams." At first glance, the film seems to be about Rita (Joanne Woodward) coping with the sudden and awful death of her mother (the wonderful Sylvia Sidney). The film then shifts to the apparently empty marriage between Rita and her husband Harry (Martin Balsam). They travel to Europe, where emotions and past resentments come to the foreground. Rita has much guilt about her son, who apparently wants nothing to do with her or Harry - we find out he is gay, but never the exact reasons why he can't stand either of them! (The son is seen only in flashbacks). Harry has a very emotional reaction while visiting Bastogne, where he fought in WWII. Rita has a breakdown in a London subway tunnel, apparently imaging she has seen her dead mother. Harry and Rita's daughter seems to have no purpose in the film except to be sanctimonious and shrill. This is not a perfect film, and at times the script jumps around. There are a few things that don't quite jive. There seems to be a lot of Freudian type psycho babble in the film (which was popular at the time). But it is the fine performance of Joanne Woodward that shines here. Ms. Woodward is one of the best actresses ever to grace the American cinema. Martin Balsam is in fine form here too. A quiet little film worth watching.

With a great performance by Joanne Woodward as a middle aged New York woman named Rita Walden going through an emotional crisis, this movie is a true original. Directed by Gilbert Cates, it shows one woman's strained family relationships as the movie goes from one scene to another where she interacts with the other characters in a series of interesting vignettes.

Rita's mother is played by Sylvia Sidney, whose career dated back to 1929 and her husband Harry, an ophthalmologist, is Martin Balsam, one of the most versatile and recognizable of actors. We see imaginary encounters that go through her mind. The opening scene is a jaw dropper. Another of theses occurs in the New York subway station as she imagines her mother and grandparents looking at her from an escalator. I didn't find these flashbacks particularly relevant to the story and they seemed jarring in an otherwise irresistible movie.

We find Rita shopping in the streets of downtown New York near Washington Square with her energetic, 73 year old mother and then stopping off at a theatre to watch a Bergman movie. The scene shifts to a cemetery covered with brown leaves in the autumn mist as the family bickers over the estate before the deceased is even in the ground. Then on a trip to France with her husband she wanders through a muddy French village where her husband fought in the war. It is here that her husband shares stories that have haunted him for 30 years.

Silvia Sydney is superb in the first part of the movie as a mother with a youthful zest for life, a sharp contrast to her daughter. Martin Balsam is the steadying force in her life but relives his own dark shadows on returning to a former theatre of war in France. Of course, it is Joanne Woodward's role that is critical to the story and she is excellent.

Rita, the "snow queen" is another of Joanne Woodward's aging spinster virgin frumps, that she seemed to specialise in the early 1970's. Depressed and discontent, her mental state is symbolised by the nightmare plane crash that director Gilbert Cates opens the film with. Writer Stewart Stern - who also wrote Rachel, Rachel - loads on the psycho-baggage. She has a demanding mother (Sylvia Sydney), a fat daughter (Doris Brenner), a gay son, and has married a man she did not love (Martin Balsam). All this would be unbearable with anyone but Woodward playing the role since she lightens it with her natural intelligence and sly sense of humour. It's amusing to see Balsam and Woodward argue in their middle-class educated way, though Rita's wearing a mink clues you that she isn't about to scream abuse. Balsam's subtlety, in particular makes you regret his few screen appearances. The only character that isn't redeemed by the acting is that of the gay son, since he is a cypher, and Cates presents his coming out in a homophobic black-and-white expressionistic sequence. Cates is fond of these kind of theatrical flourishes. There is a death at a screening of Wild Strawberries, a spirited chase at a former European battlefield, a family bickering at a graveyard, and Rita has a breakdown in a crowded London subway, which is probably the most believable of them all. Johnny Mandel provides a lovely theme, in his understated way, and then embarasses himself with trumpets in the battlefield sequence.