That Summer!

A couple of lads at the seaside pick up two girls and have a feud with three yobbish young Scotsmen. The brunette (Julie Shipley) is easy on the eye.

It's fair to say few writers will feel jealous because they didn't pen this story. What makes it worth watching is the Torquay location, where I've holidayed virtually every year since the early 90s. When a film or play is set at the seaside they usually pick Brighton, being near London and the beach is bigger than any other except possibly Bournemouth.

A lot of the action takes place at the beautiful Oddicombe Beach. It doesn't look quite so good these days, a substantial landslip in 2013 blighted its appearance and caused part of the beach to be cordoned off. The 400 nightclub subsequently became Route 66, was shut down due to drug problems, then reopened as The Quay. I can't recall ever visiting the recently closed Pickwick pub. Even Torquay's most enthusiastic champions would be hard put to argue pubs have ever been the towns best feature. At least since Wetherspoon opened in the late 90s there's no need to frequent run of the mill pubs boasting just a couple of house beers.

All in all an undistinguished but enjoyable exercise in holiday nostalgia. Though as somebody once quipped, nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Just to add some comments that Phil made about this film which I think are important. If you ever get the chance to see this film, do so at your own risk as its so cheesey that it would take pride of place in the cheese counter of Mrs Miggins Cheese Shop. Having said that I would like to thank the Producers of this film who seemed quite happy to hand out five pound notes willy nilly to snotty nosed kids like myself during the making of this film. I remember while they were filming this on the beach at Torquay at the end of the day you had to report to a man sat at a table and say how many scenes you had been an etra in and he would quite happily hand you a large wad of cash. This film set my acting career up and since then I have never looked back! (Not all of that last part was quite true)

I was in this Film. As a youth looking for fame and fortune I was surprised to see an ad in the Job Centre window (then just round the corner from the Pickwick pub) requesting Extras for the film. The working title was "Freestyle" and it was to be made by Columbia Pictures and directed by the unfortunately named Harley Cockliss. Anyway I signed up and waited for the call. It eventually came and I was summoned to the pool hall under the multi storey car park in Union street where I stood by a pin ball machine (extreme foreground) while the camera tracked passed me. By now the film was called That Summer. I thought that had been my 15 minutes but, on my way out I was asked by the second AD if I minded late nights. Without thinking I said no. A week or so later I was contacted by the production company and told to report to the model village in Babbacome at 10pm. I duly attended and spent most of the night talking to Jon Morrison in a crew bus. He was an extremely amiable guy, chatting freely to the extras and crew.

My big moment came when I was picked to be pushed out of the way by Morrison and his cronies as he attempted to throw a can of beer at a model football pitch. I was on screen for all of 4 seconds (that's me with the glasses and the "what do I do now" look on my face) but it was a fantastic experience. I taped the film when it was shown on TV in the early 80's. I've still got the tape, and bore my friends with the claim - "I was in a film with him" every time Ray Winstone appears on screen. Sadly Ray Winstone was less amiable Than Jon Morrison during the shooting and chose to spend most of the down time holed up in his caravan rather than chatting to the extras and crew, so I never actually got to meet him. I was hoping that the film would be my passport to Hollywood. Sadly I only got as far as Basingstoke!

I saw the film in the cinema of SS Canberra on the way back from the Falklands in 82. The most memorable bit of the film is when the lead man is trying to get into the drawers of the lead girl. She stops him at the critical moment and asks: "You do love me don't you?" With that and in unison with Ray Winstone the entire audience of now Falkland Veterans chorused "Of course I do!" Brilliant! This film is a classic of the era, although filmed in 78 it captured the early 80s and the quoted lines above remind of my escapades before departing for the unknown in the South Atlantic. Ray Winstone certainly cut his teeth on films like this and archetypal the great Brit actor.

Sandwiched between the TV and film productions of Scum, Ray Winstone again plays a borstal boy. He even has John Judd, Sands from Scum, playing his swimming coach. But that's where the comparisons end - Ray plays Steve, a young man who on his release, moves down to Torquay on the English Riviera with the intention to find work and to avoid getting locked up again.

Angie and Carole are two northern girls who leave their factory to work in a grand hotel, and Jimmy is another Londoner who leaves his butcher's job for a summer working on the beach.

Steve finds work and lodging in a pub, and complimented by his coach on his strong swimming performance, he puts his energies into practicing to compete a local swimming tournament. Before long, he meets his nemesis, the three yobbish Glaswegians who appear at regular intervals to torment him; by chance, one will also be competing in the swimming tournament. Steve, keen to avoid doing anything rash that may land him back in borstal, has to breathe in deep and instead hope that the tournament will help him settle scores. Steve, Tony, Angie and Carole all end up meeting at Babbacombe beach, and as can happen in a small beach town, run into each other a lot more frequently.

The story is quite predicable, but the appeal of That Summer! Lies within it's nostalgic appeal - it looks exactly as the Torquay I remember from my early childhood, and the acting leads, who, just as their characters do, give off quite the energy of a group of young adults working together over the summer, and you'd imagine they had quite a blast off set as well. The soundtrack is also spot on, making it a must see for fans of late 70s British new wave - a popular soundtrack album was also released.

The appeal of Last Summer may be limited, but this is a charming little time capsule, though as far as I'm aware (at the time of writing) there has been no DVD release, as is often the case with limited-interest films with potentially expensive soundtrack rights (see also SubUrbia (1996), The Wild Life (1984) and Purple Haze (1982). There was a VHS release, and may occasionally pop up on YouTube, which is where I saw it.