FILM · 1979 · UK
Sunburn
37 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (37)
- #001
This was the last production in which Farrah Fawcett was billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors, before her separation and divorce from Lee Majors. Earlier in her career, before that marriage, she had been known as Farrah Fawcett.
- #002
Farrah Fawcett's first hotel bungalow in Acapulco, Mexico, was guarded around the clock by security personnel. Fawcett was constantly mobbed by fans during the shoot.
- #003
Farrah Fawcett-Majors was reportedly paid 750,000 US dollars for this film. This was reported in the 16 July 1979 issue of the entertainment trade paper 'Daily Variety'.
- #004
This was the final cinema film of actress Eleanor Parker, who played Mrs. Thoren.
- #005
Producer John Daly once said of the Acapulco, Mexico, location: "Acapulco is still a magic name for people all over the world; it represents the ultimate in luxurious living. It's a place most people will never get to see. We want to show them as much of it as possible."
- #006
Farrah Fawcett-Majors nearly drowned while filming the scuba diving scene. The incident occurred underwater when stunt performers accidentally pulled her under before properly fitting her breathing apparatus. The actress struggled to breathe until the crew and first aid brought her ashore.
- #007
The film's end title sequence reads: "The producers wish to thank the following for their help and cooperation: Teddy Stauffer and Miguel Torres for allowing us to film at D. B. Q., and Carlos, Tollo and Tony Rullan for allowing us to film at 'Le Jardin', and for their invaluable assistance in the making of this film."
- #008
The film was notable and memorable for featuring a car chase in a bullfighting ring.
- #009
During the making of this film, a serious accident occurred when a matador was attacked and trampled by a wild bull while filming the chase scene in the bullfighting arena.
- #010
The film's title was formed inside a pair of sunglasses on the American film poster.
- #011
Actors Keenan Wynn and Alejandro Rey had appeared together in High Velocity (1976) about three years earlier.
- #012
This film was made and first released about nine years after the 1970 first publication of its source, Stanley Ellin's novel "The Bind".
- #013
This was the first cinema film of actress Delores Devine, who played the secretary.
- #014
According to the film's press release, producer and screenwriter John Daly, president of the UK-based production company Hemdale Leisure Corporation, chose Stanley Ellin's crime novel 'The Bind' (1970) as the film's source, added a lighter comic tone to the story, and redesigned the book's setting, changing it from Florida in the US to Acapulco in Mexico.
- #015
The film starred one Oscar winner, Art Carney, and two Oscar nominees, Eleanor Parker and Seymour Cassel.
- #016
The film's lead actor, Charles Grodin, once admitted of the starring role of Jake Dekker that he was "... the sixth choice for the part."
- #017
This was the second cinema film starring Farrah Fawcett-Majors, then a television actress who had left the series 'Charlie's Angels' (1976-1981) with its final episode airing in 1980. Her first feature film vehicle had been the previous year's 'Somebody Killed Her Husband' (1978).
- #018
The car Art Carney and Farrah Fawcett drove in the car chase was a yellow 1977 Datsun 200SX Coupé.
- #019
According to an article published in the 24 May 1978 issue of the entertainment trade paper 'The Hollywood Reporter', the film's estimated production budget was 5 million US dollars.
- #020
The entire film was shot in Mexico, mainly with a Mexican crew. This was reported in a review published in the Spanish-language newspaper El País.
- #021
The film was financed by the American cinema chain participant United Artists Theatres Corporation and the UK-based British production company Hemdale Leisure Corporation. Its US release, including home video rights on cassette and laserdisc in the US, would go through the distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. This was reported in the 14 February 1979 issue of The Los Angeles Times.
- #022
Star Charles Grodin was cast as Jake Dekker following Warren Beatty's big-screen success in Heaven Can Wait (1978). Similarly, the film's other successful supporting player, Dyan Cannon, took a role in Coast to Coast (1980) for the same reasons. All three films — Sunburn (1979), Coast to Coast (1980) and Heaven Can Wait (1978) — were distributed theatrically in America by Paramount Pictures.
- #023
During development, Hollywood's major studios, with this film in mind, were skeptical about television actress Farrah Fawcett-Majors's ability and potential to become a movie star, after her previous film and first feature-film vehicle, Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978), had recently failed at the box office.
- #024
According to an article published in the 16 July 1979 issue of the show-business trade paper Daily Variety, the production's financing received a healthy number of pre-sales, reaching approximately 10 million US dollars through advances from theatrical, home video, network television, cable and syndication rights. This was attributed to star Farrah Fawcett-Majors's internationally famous status and ensured the picture would turn a reasonable profit. However, if the film performed poorly, her salary and the pre-sale figures for her future film projects would drop significantly. Farrah Fawcett-Majors's "top star" salary cheque for this picture was reportedly 750,000 US dollars.
- #025
The production deliberately planned principal photography for the autumn season in Mexico, which is especially rainy, in order to avoid the holiday season and the crowds of tourists that could cause production problems, particularly spectators and audiences hoping for a glimpse of the then very famous and popular Farrah Fawcett-Majors.
- #026
During the making of this film, a tragic death occurred when a security guard employed by the filmmakers was killed while off duty, although the incident had nothing to do with the film.
- #027
Hollywood film industry executives believed that Sunburn (1979) and its top-billed star Farrah Fawcett-Majors's career in this picture meant that succeeding in a film career was "as successful as her career on magazine covers," according to an article published in the 14 November 1978 issue of The Los Angeles Times.
- #028
The film rights to the source novel were first bought by producer Phil Waxman in November 1969, before the book was published, while it was still in galley form. Waxman wanted Robert Redford for the lead role of Jake Dekker. The rights were later acquired by producer John Daly from the UK-based British production company Hemdale Leisure Corporation.
- #029
The film featured two sex symbols of their time: Joan Collins and Farrah Fawcett, billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors. In the 1980s, the Australian home video cassette release through VCL carried the promotional line: "Farrah Fawcett and Joan Collins star together in Sunburn." This was despite Collins being in a supporting role.
- #030
The production shoot in Acapulco, Mexico, lasted ten weeks.
- #031
Farrah Fawcett-Majors, whose filming took place in Acapulco, Mexico, had visited there as a university student ten years before this film was shot.
- #032
The Italian censorship visa # 74359 was issued on 24 November 1979.
- #033
The daily sum, excluding expenses, that private detective Jake Dekker (Charles Grodin) offered the modelling agency to have a woman pose as his wife and accompany him to Mexico was 500 US dollars a day. Traditionally, in the private detective film genre, the daily fee of the P.I./shamus/gumshoe/detective, along with any driver or expenses, is usually specified in the script dialogue. This film departs from that paradigm by addressing the private detective's assistant.
- #034
Actors Joan Collins and Eleanor Parker had appeared in Warning Shot (1967) about twelve years earlier.
- #035
Harrison Ford was initially announced to star opposite Farrah Fawcett in this film. The role, ultimately the private detective Jake Dekker, went to actor Charles Grodin. Ford later played an LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) detective in Hollywood Homicide (2003). Ironically and strangely, Ford would shortly afterwards play Rick Deckard, a name similar to Jake Dekker, the lead character in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982), whose profession is also a kind of private detective work.
- #036
Actor Art Carney, who plays a veteran investigator living in Acapulco in this film, had similarly played a retired private detective in another film only a few years earlier. This was the role of Ira Wells in Robert Benton's The Late Show (1977).
- #037
The film has many connections to the spy film genre and the James Bond film series: (1) The picture was shot in Acapulco, Mexico, exactly ten years before the later Bond film Licence to Kill (1989) was shot there; (2) the film features an iguana/lizard, as does Licence to Kill (1989); (3) Farrah Fawcett was known for playing a female agent in the series Charlie's Angels (1976-1981); (4) Tanya Roberts, who replaced Fawcett in the series, was the Tanya Roberts who later appeared in the Bond film A View to a Kill (1985); (5) Paul McCartney and Wings sing the theme song, as they had previously done for the Bond film Live and Let Die (1973); (6) there is a party scene featuring a man in a tuxedo; (5) an excessive car chase and a bullfighting ring are James Bond material; (6) Sunburn was released in the same year as the Bond film Moonraker (1979) — both the sun and the moon are planets — and the first James Bond continuation novel was titled Colonel Sun (1968).
Continue through the archive
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb kaydı
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work