Summer Children
Directed by James Bruner
Written by Norman Handelsman; original story by James Bruner
1965/USA
Robinette Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime
[box] West: But everyone looks up to Franky.
Diana: Yes, but looking up to people can be a pain in the neck.[/box]
Trite story of young people boozing and screwing their way to and around Catalina Island on a yacht is lifted to the extraordinary by Vilmos Zsigmond’s stunning cinematography.
Three couples and a mystery deck hand set off on a sailing party to Catalina on West’s daddy’s yacht. The hanky panky begins almost immediately. One of the girls is not interested in this nonsense and is of course, the most desirable. Franky, one of the boys, has musical beds in mind. All this is accompanied by hard drinking. The basic scenario does not change when the kids land on the island. There we get some music and dancing to go with it.
An R-rated beach party movie without the beach. Leering tone kind of left me feeling icky. But the cinematography is far better than it deserves. The views of the yacht and the sparkling sea are spectacular.
