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Roman Polanski wrote the screenplay for this bleak drama with a hauntingly accurate look at alcoholism. Bernie (Mark Burns) plays a rootless wanderer with a fondness for drinking and no clear goals in life.Bernie stumbles into a seaside resort community with his daughter, Winnie (Beatrice Edney), a young girl in leg braces. As Bernie starts hitting the bottle, his physical and emotional stability starts to crumble, until he finally collapses and Winnie is left with no one to look after her. In one of his most inventive roles, Peter Sellers makes a brief cameo appearance as a gay stall owner who sets up a booth to take advantage of the beach traffic. While Polanski originally intended to direct A Day At The Beach, he later turned over the reigns to filmmaker Simon Hesera due to the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson family. A Day At The Beach was Hesera’s first dramatic feature, and also his last.
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