The Four Seasons

Alan Alda said the film was inspired by a real incident in which he judged a friend very harshly. He realized he was not the only one at fault and that friendship goes through "seasons," so he wrote the screenplay around that idea.

PRODUCTION STORY · SOURCED

The scene in which Jack (Alan Alda) calls Kate (Carol Burnett) "perfect" was not in the original screenplay. Burnett asked for the scene to be added.

BEHIND THE SCENES · SOURCED

The botanical photographs were actually taken by Alan Alda's wife, Arlene Alda.

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The film was the ninth most popular film at the US and Canadian box office in 1981.

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The skiing scenes were shot during a very dry winter in New England. In fact, the only snow seen at the ski resort all season fell just a few days before the crew arrived to shoot.

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It was the first feature film for actress Bess Armstrong, as well as for Beatrice Alda and Elizabeth Alda.

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When Len Cariou began work on this film, he had just come off playing the original Sweeney Todd on stage.

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It was the first feature film directed by actor-writer Alan Alda.

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The film was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards in 1982, including Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical and Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical for Carol Burnett, while Alan Alda was nominated in two categories, Best Screenplay - Motion Picture and Best Actor - Comedy or Musical, but the film won none of these categories.

CAREER & AWARDS · SOURCED

For this film, Alan Alda was nominated by the WGA (Writers Guild of America) in 1982 for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen, but lost to Steve Gordon for Arthur (1981).

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Martin Bregman agreed to produce the film only if Universal agreed to finance Scarface (1983).

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It was the first of a three-picture deal between Universal Pictures and Alan Alda and producer Martin Bregman. The second picture was Sweet Liberty (1986). A New Life (1988) was made at Paramount Pictures.

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Beatrice Alda, who played Lisa Callan, is the daughter of writer-director-actor Alan Alda, as is Elizabeth Alda, who played Beth Burroughs.

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The film was turned into a short-lived CBS series, The Four Seasons (1984), which aired thirteen episodes. Alan Alda served as executive producer and appeared as Jack Burroughs only in the pilot episode (Pilot: Episode 1 (1984)).

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The film was the ninth highest-grossing film of the year, earning more than 50 million dollars, which would be over 164 million dollars in 2023 dollars.

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It was the only feature film Alan Alda and Carol Burnett made together, though Alda appeared on Burnett's famous variety show The Carol Burnett Show (1967).

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The car Danny (Jack Weston) drives is a 1980 Mercedes-Benz 300SD, priced at about $26,000 in 1981 (over $85,000 in 2023).

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The cast includes two Oscar winners, Rita Moreno and Sandy Dennis, and one Oscar nominee, Alan Alda.

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Alan Alda took on a number of roles on this film: screenwriter, star and lead actor, and director.

CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

The film won at least one film industry award when its director, Alan Alda, won the Bodil Award in 1982 for Best Non-European Film (Bedste ikke-europæiske filmi).

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It is the second of six collaborations between actor Alan Alda and producer Martin Bregman.

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According to actor Bruce Dern's autobiography, he took his role in Tattoo (1981) only after Paramount Pictures turned down the part of Nick Callan in this film, which went to Len Cariou.

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The publication edited by Kate Burroughs (Carol Burnett) was Fortune magazine.

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The film was released only six months after the similarly themed and similarly titled A Change of Seasons (1980).

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The film spans four seasons yet still follows the usual three acts. The first act takes place in Spring, where the characters are introduced: three couples are on vacation, and all of them holiday in every season. The next two seasons, Summer and Autumn, carry the main plot: one of the husbands, who has a new young girlfriend, leaves the group when he returns to his ex-wife. The past season, Winter, resolves the couples' difficulty in adjusting to this new normal that they struggled with in the previous two acts. The actions are: Introduction… Problem… Resolution.

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The sailboat used in the summer scenes is named "Sandavore," out of St. Thomas Harbor in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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It is the first of two nude scenes in Bess Armstrong's career. She later appears topless in The House of God (1981).

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Alan Alda, Rita Moreno and Jack Weston were all former guest stars of The Carol Burnett Show (1967-1977).

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Jack Weston and Rita Moreno had previously appeared together in the film "The Ritz" (1976).

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Jack Weston's character is a dentist. In Cactus Flower (1969), he plays a dentist who is one of the main patients of Walter Matthau's character.

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The film's end title sequence states: "The producers wish to thank: U.S. Department of the Interior and Virgin Islands National Park Service, Vermont Film Commission, Virginia Film Commission, Charlottesville Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Film Commission, Virgin Islands Film Commission."

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When Nick and Ginny swim naked, Ginny's full buttocks are clearly visible twice. Nick's body, however, is concealed by the water.

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