That Summer!

First saw this film in 1989 when I taped it. Unfortunately it got taped over about five years ago and I have spent the last five years looking for another copy. Luckily, I now have it on DVD. Although the acting isn't really anything to speak of, the soundtrack is really good. It's also nice to see how things have changed in the area since 1978. I recently visited the Pickwick which is where Steve worked. It's changed quite a bit, different colour with some building work done. One thing that always makes me chuckle about the film is the continuity errors. Didn't the director realise you can't see Torquay Harbour out of the window of the Pickwick.

I like these old British movies. I wasn't even born when this was out but it makes me reminisce about a time that's long gone and imagine what life was like for my mum, Aunty and father. I love Ray's films but this one didn't have the wow factor. I enjoyed it but don't think I'd go back to it. Other reviewers are right though, the soundtrack is quality and I'm going straight to Discogs to find a copy!

I absolutely LOATHE coming-of-age films, for their embarrassing-ness, stupidity, and exaggerated, unrealistic portrayal of that time of life. Normally this would be no exception. However, the soundtrack to this film was on the sharpest cutting edge in its day; the chat boards/threads here have comments from several of us on the soundtrack.

Plot is four British youths -- two girls, two guys -- go to a seaside resort town in England. They hook up there, work, go out, quarrel, have sex for the first time, etc. etc. They are repeatedly antagonized by a trio of mean-spirited Scottish thugs. The lead character, played by Ray Winstone, is focused on a swimming race/contest which he deeply wants to win.

Back to the soundtrack: it contains the likes of Eddie & the Hot Rods, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Mink DeVille, the Boomtown Rats; plus a lot of the score is composed around the melody of the Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet." This was the stuff of the fantastic, now-classic original punk rock & New Wave of the late '70s. Whoever did the music supervising/selection (I'd like to know who this was) was well in-tune with this edgy genre, and matched the songs' lyrical content well to the scenes. The use of Patti Smith's "Because the Night" particularly comes to mind in this regard.

I've finally seen this film now (July 2009), and it's a treat in that I was the EXACT same age as these kids (18) in the year of the film's release (1979). As an American it was also a glimpse into what life was like for my contemporaries across the pond. It was very, very different; and I can say the life of American 18-year-olds in 1979 was NOTHING like the Brits' portrayed in this film. It may have been sort of like this in the U.S. back in the 1950's, but that's about it. Also, I couldn't understand some of the dialog, due to the accent factor.

The soundtrack may be New Wave, but the characters are not. They were what we American punkers back then would've termed "regular," "mainstream," or "straight" people. But ironically, one of the Scot thugs, Georgie, looks as contemporary now as he did 30 years ago.

The film's title is oriented in hindsight; as if referring to looking back on the past experience of one's younger days; when nostalgia selectively blocks out the bad times and remembers mostly the good. I wish in some ways that I could've had a teenage beach summer like this...ah, but I was too busy in the gritty city, being a punk rocker. Aaarrrgghh! :-P

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.

... but the soundtrack ROCKS! Basically a snap shot of the best of British and American power pop and poppy punk, circa 1978: the Undertones' "Teenage Kicks," Patti Smith's "Before the Night," Elvis Costello's "Chelsea," Richard Hell and the Voidoids' "Blank Generation," the Boomtown Rats' "She's So Modern" and "Kicks," Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World," the Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet," Zones' "New Life," the Ramones' "Rockaway Beach"....it's perfectly sequenced and keeps up from start to finish.

Unfortunately, the album's long out of print and the movie just isn't available on VHS or DVD anywhere as far as I can tell.