A little girl (age 11), suffers from heart trouble that her parents know could end her life. Heading towards the beautiful province of Nova Scotia for her final days, they try to make the last of her life as enjoyable as possible.Not only was the Nova Scotian scenery beautiful, the story itself was too; it's incredibly tragic and melancholy but shows how you can make the most out of things at even the most horrible of times.Jodie Foster acted in one of my favorite films that year, The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (also filmed in Canada but on the horror side rather than drama), and she was just as good in this role, playing Deirdre, as she was playing the murderess Rynn Jacobs. Even similar movies like Never Let Me Go(2010) and Paperhouse (1988) are lacking something compared to this one. With its great acting, memorable soundtrack, beautiful scenery and original plot, Echoes of a Summer is one movie that really stands out.

Jodie Foster (Diedre) solidly plants her feet in this role and has flashes of the brilliance that made her the darling she became. Philip's (Brad Savage) dialogue is at times unrealistically savvy or philosophical as he alternates between being 7 and 37 but he has some good comic lines and Savage performed creditably.The relationship between Eugene (Harris) and Diedre is more poignant in what is, initially, left unsaid. When a child is dying words are cheap, better to make the most of the time left. Despite the sadness of the core theme, there are light moments and it serves the right message: death isn't the important thing, it's what we do before then.Some gripes. For a singer/songwriter, Richard Harris sang the opening/closing theme sounding like a bag of irate cats being pushed through a revolving door, a tender piano instrumental would have served. The overpaid (Dr.) Hallet's callous offhandedness was flawed and grating. If he was using psychology it was from a Martian textbook. Sarah's implication that Diedre was paying for a godless household seemed trite, insensitive and out-of-character.That aside, the film was better than expected. Jodie was more feminine in this role than she was in Freaky Friday or Candleshoe and it suited her. I was glad to catch this example of her on the cusp of greatness.

I seen this movie when it first came out in 1976. This is my all time favorite Jodie Foster movie. I think this is one of Jodie's best as a child actress. Not that she didn't do a great job in her other roles; but for whatever reason, this movie has been my favorite. Dealing with the reality of death and dying, which most children around this age(between 7 & 13)it's a big fear factor. And for the family(mother and father, siblings)dealing with with the emotional stress of losing a love one, at such a young age. Has to be the most heart breaking experience. I love the drama of this movie. How it deals with reality. It's a great movie. Richard Haris does a great job portraying the father. It helped me deal with the reality of death and dying.

When Jodie Foster-admirers discuss her long career, this title usually gets left out. It's a simple, sentimental story of an ill young girl and the effects her strength and will has on the people around her. Richard Harris is a bit heavy as her father (and I could have done without his non-singing over the credits: "Deeer-draaah!"), but Foster makes the most of her scenes, particularly with William Windom as a doctor surprised by her maturity and Brad Savage as a local boy who's curious about sex (they hold hands and lie together on the beach in a stunningly delicate moment). Based on the flop Broadway play "Isle of Children", which starred a post-"Miracle Worker" Patty Duke, the movie gets a little hectic in its final stages as the filmmakers try to wrap up the story with a birthday party sequence I didn't much care for. Still worth-seeing for Foster, luminous at eleven years and holding this picture together. **1/2 from ****