Up the Sandbox

Up the Sandbox is a 1972 American comedy-drama film directed by Irvin Kershner, with a screenplay by Paul Zindel, based on the novel of the same name by Anne Roiphe. The film stars Barbra Streisand as Margaret Reynolds, a young wife and mother in Manhattan, who slips into increasingly bizarre fantasies to escape the predicament of her pregnancy. The film's supporting cast includes David Selby, Paul Benedict, George S. Irving, Conrad Bain, Isabel Sanford, Lois Smith and Jacobo Morales as a character who closely resembles Fidel Castro. The film deals with themes related to feminism and the sexual revolution. Filming took place in Morningside Heights, California, and Samburu National Reserve in Kenya in 1972. It was Streisand's first picture that she made with First Artists, a production company formed by Streisand, Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier. The film was released on December 21, 1972, by National General Pictures. Although it was a critical success, it was a box office flop.