For the Barney and the Backyard Gang video, see Barney and the Backyard Gang

Barney and the Backyard Gang

Barney and the Backyard Gang is a direct-to-video series produced by The Lyons Group and was produced from October 13, 1988 to October 20, 1991. This series launched the stardom of the PBS television show Barney & Friends....

. For the album by Sonia Dada, see A Day at the Beach (album)

A Day at the Beach (album)

A Day at the Beach is the second LP by Chicago group Sonia Dada.-Track listing:Sources: Official Site, Allmusic...

.

A Day at the Beach is a 1970 film based on the 1962 book Een dagje naar het strand by Dutch author Heere Heeresma

Simon Heere Heeresma

Simon Heere Heeresma , was a Dutch author and poet.Simon Heere Heeresma was born in Amsterdam in 1932. His first collection of poetry, published in 1954, was called Children's Room, but his breakthrough came in the 1960s and 1970s in the Provo generation...

. The screenplay was written by Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...

, who was originally intended to be the director, although most of the direction was finally done by first-timer Simon Hesera.

Plot

Set in a rundown Danish seaside resort, it depicts a day in the life of Bernie, a self-destructive alcoholic (played by Mark Burns

Mark Burns

Mark Burns was an English film and television actor.Burns was born in Bromsgrove in the county of Worcestershire and educated at Ampleforth College, North Yorkshire...

), as he takes Winnie (Beatie Edney

Beatie Edney

Beatrice "Beatie" Edney is an English television actress.Born Beatrice Edney in London, she is the daughter of famous British actress Sylvia Syms and cousin of Nicholas Webb. Edney first came to audiences' attention as Heather MacLeod the 1986 film Highlander, the first film in the Highlander series...

), a young girl with a leg brace, to the resort despite constant rain. Though Winnie calls Bernie "uncle," it is very likely he is her biological father. Over the course of the day, they encounter various people whom Bernie alternately berates and scams for alcohol, while Winnie is often left alone to fend for herself. Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

 makes a cameo appearance

Cameo appearance

A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

 as a gay shopkeeper who flirts with Bernie.

Release

The film was never released in theatres at the time of its completion, but has seen limited runs at film festivals since then. A small clip of the film appears in the documentary The Unknown Peter Sellers.

The film is available on DVD in the U.S from Code Red DVD.