Lifeguard

Is life-guarding a grown-up job? What does it mean to be a grownup, anyway? Who decides how people should spend their lives?

These are among the questions examined in this beautifully written character study of a man who has decisions to make.

They're not issues that will change the world, but the kind of small decisions we wrestle with every day. What is really important? Why do we do what we do? Who influences how we behave? Should we conform because that's what people want of us?

I remember once in TV Guide an ad that showed a buffed-out Sam Elliott with the caption, "He's every woman's dream--Lifeguard!" But this film has nothing to do with looks, and everything to do with character.

It's a terrific piece of work, ringing true in scene after scene.

This is a great document of the 70's...years from now, sociologists will study this film to try and make some sense of this most confusing period in American history. Fascinating because of its story as well as cinematic style which lingers over young bikini-clad chicks bouncing along the sand. The straightforward, politically-incorrect depiction of sexuality is discomfiting and somewhat dirty. The music is...I don't know what to say about the music. It just has to be heard.

Well worth the time and money. Lifeguard is a hit!

I first saw this movie about five years after a miserable divorce. I had worked fifteen years supplying a monster home, Mercedes for her, Jag V12 for me, all for nothing. With everything now gone I saw this film not once but two days in a row. The actors, the plot and the Bee-Gee's background music was almost hypnotic. It helped me change my vocation from being corporate cattle, to one that I love doing. A copy rests in my video library and is viewed regularly. It's 5 star to me.

Back in the 70s i had to have seen all those party movies , for example, The Van and The Gas Pump Girls, and lifeguard was so much of a breath of fresh air along side of those others, i grew up hanging out at redondo beach and Hermosa beach California which is where this movie was filmed, in fact on ricks tower u see the letters HR i believe that stands for Hermosa/redondo and this is also 1 of the beaches that mike love and Dennis Wilson of the beach boys used to hang out at as they lived in near by Hawthorne, I have this movie on VHS not available on DVD yet, and I watch it at least once a month, as i live in new york now and this movie brings back some special memories of my fun days, i even love that song time and tide in this movie, and watching him drive to the beach in his stingray passing all those very familiar businesses, wow, well if your nostalgic then i don't have to explain the feeling. LIFEGUARD is on my list SAM elliots #1 movie.

This is one of the finest films of the seventies. It deals with the complexities of life and society, and forces you to make a decision on what's important in life. Do we need to conform and fit into a society that has its own set of rules?....or is it O.K. to do what makes you happy as an individual, in turn giving you a better sense of fulfillment in life. Sam Elliott, Kathleen Quinlan, and Anne Archer, are all wonderful. This movie is a wonderful portrait of Southern California and the 1970's. Don't miss the chance to see it, you will not be disappointed.