Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys

I recognized most of the key points in the movie from biographies I have read in the past, so I assume it is fairly historically-accurate. However, the biopic is very rushed. It's never all that clear what time period you are in, skips over large chunks of time, and it treats everything as equally important. Brian Wilson literally goes from a clean cut Beach Boy to looking like modern-day Haley Joel Osment within minutes, and certain key events such as the development of Pet Sounds passes extremely quickly. So, what is there is accurate, and about 50% of it is fairly enjoyable to watch, but if I hadn't read a biography and didn't know some of their story going in, I wouldn't be quite sure what I had just watched. This would have been far better as a mini-series with a slower burn rate.

As an avid film buff - I've got to say that despite "Summer Dreams" being a tv movie, it is of excellent quality. The acting, in particular Bruce Greenwood in the role of the late Dennis Wilson, is superb and the way in which the story is told is intriguing, touching and real without being over hollywood-ized. Summer Dreams is perhaps the best tv movie I have ever seen. As matter of fact I have had it on video since it first aired. in 1990...quite a long time. If you ever catch it in the tv listings, give it a shot -- it is well worth watching.

Story about a $100 start-up known as The Beach Boys. How they help to paint a bright picture of west coast carefree life style. However, their own creativity was often tinge with sadness and tragedy. The film, considering it was made for TV, appears to be admirably well executed for a 90min flick. Both actors who play Dennis Wilson and Mike Live pull off a reasonable performance. The depiction of facial and head hair capture The zeitgeist of the time. For a 90 min flick, some of their or Brian Wilson songs make guest appearances. The film does hints at Brian Wilson's metal state and does it respectfully. The rest they say is history.

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.

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.