Another one of those strange Elizabeth Taylor "American" pictures like THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN---this one with locations at Big Sur and studio interiors in France!
With the exception of “Divorce His; Divorce Hers,” no movie starring the Burtons is more rollickingly mockable than “The Sandpiper,” and the laughs start right at the beginning and continue right to the finish. The movie’s a refresher on the state of the Burtons during the 60s; it personifies the public view of their infamous adulterous affair before they eventually married. Hardly a scene or an utterance of a line that’s not geared for exploitation; every bit of Liz reeks of booze fat; every time the camera closes in on Dick you can see his embarrassment. An acknowledged money-grab, Liz hadn’t any movie offers two years after “The V.I.P.s” — primarily because she was being sued by Fox who falsely claimed her scandalous behavior was the cause for the alleged box office failure of “Cleopatra.” Minnelli is credited with the direction and Dalton Trumbo gets a nod for helping write what you’ll never believe, no matter the proof, he had much of a hand in. (The camp dialogue suggests that John Michael Hayes sneaked on the set.) Some argue that had it been camp on purpose, it might have been the funniest soaper ever made; when Liz screams at slime bag Robert Webber that he’s a “creep...a terrible creep” and threatens him with a hatchet while wearing a blue halter top barely capable of containing its two occupants, some of us would argue that it couldn’t be anything else. Sucking in her pre-Martha love rolls, sometimes hidden in pre-Zee caftans, Liz is on another vacation from acting. Originally William Wyler was set to direct, and he was the bait that lured Taylor to the project. In spite of critical howls, a big hit, because the audience enjoyed being in on the joke. Winner of the Harvard Lampoon’s 1965 Worst Movie of the Year.
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