Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys

I am from this era. I spent my earliest years in California near Malibu. This is a story about surfing and the beach and growing up and knocking the English invasion down a few notches from the top and I'll bet The Beatles would be the be the first to admit... Having studied their lives after becoming a professional in the movie business because a new acquaintance introduced me to self-published book I, a huge fan, of The Beach Boys really began to research them to see if they might be an interesting and successful movie I found so many facts and figures (because Rock and Roll was a massive success that covered so many decades it's lastes to the present and will last for decades to come. Few bands have ever topped them. My only disappoinment is they didn't tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Does anyone know the name of the song being performed by the band on stage when the Beach Boys arrived for their first live performance, a band was playing a surfer instrumental on stage at the beginning of the scene. I would love to know the title of the song or the artist being portrayed. I hope all the members of the Beach Boys know that their influence and contributions were historical and will never be matched. I am glad to be a member of the 70s Generation. The movie shouldn't have focused almost entirely on the bad elements of the band. Dennis was the one spotlighted for trouble, but if you think about it, it was the actions of Dennis that inspired most of Brian's wonderful collection of landmark hits.

This film is currently running on cable (Nov. 2004) and I had not seen it previously. From articles I have recently read about the Wilson family, the depiction of their relationships is on target. However, trying to cram so many years of Beach Boys history into 90 minutes is too difficult. So of course, the writer focused on key conflicts which make for interesting TV, but left out a lot of the intervening story. The years go by way too fast, almost confusingly. I felt the best acting was done by the actors portraying Murray and Dennis Wilson...very believable and intense. However, as the movie progressed I became more and more distracted by the changing hair styles and some of the very poor facial hair creations (especially for Brian). My son and I started laughing whenever a new "bad hair day" began. Interesting trivia...the executive producer is "Steve Dahl" -- could this be the shock rock jock who burned disco records in Chicago back in '79 or so?

I thought this was a good film that captured the essence of the Beach boys. The conflict with the Father and his unreasonable behaviour was well acted out as were the many changing faces, moods and music of this great band.

Of course in a 90 minute film covering many decades there will be omisions and errors but I was amazed at how much this film did cover. Most of the great songs are included and the actor playing Dennis Wilson was particularly good, although the Mike Love character was probably the most like the man himself, his role was underplayed.

My only real criticism is I would have liked to have heard and seen more songs and maybe some of the more joyful times that this band no doubt would have had, but overall a damn good film I'd say.

I saw this film a couple of years ago and being a Beach Boys fan, i was hoping the film would be a half decent biography. But as soon as they finish "God Only Knows" the film just becomes boring. It hardly documents on Brian's health problems and his road to recovery with the help of Dr. Eugene Landy, and it focuses on Dennis' involvement with Charlie Manson a bit too much. I just think it is too brief and it is hard to watch with interest when the songs finish. The film could have been so much better if they had gone more in depth and brightened it up with more songs. So much happened in the Beach Boys career that wasn't even shown in the film.