Shag

Starring Phoebe Cates (Mrs. Kevin Kline, who knew?), as in "what ever happened to", and Bridget Fonda just as her career took off, Shag is sweet, warm, funny, nostalgic, and above all, wild. I saw a trailer for this on another DVD and added to my list of "must haves." It was well worth it.

Cates is Carson McBride, about to marry stuffy Harley Ralston (Tyron Power, Jr.). Her best friends, played by Bridget Fonda, Annabeth Gish and Page Hannah (yup, Darryl's sister) surprise her with a weekend in Myrtle Beach as a last fling. Cates is funny enough, but Bridget simply overpowers the other female leads with her boundless charisma.

They meet a couple of local boys who change their lives and have one heck of good time in the process. Speaking of "what ever happened to," Scott Coffey's Chip was the most enjoyable male character in the film, cute as a bug and delightfully innocent and whatever happened to him?

Too many films of this genre are souless, heartless and mindless. This one is the rare exception, and gives you a chance to remember the discovery and adventure of coming of age.

Although it has taken myself thirty two (32) long years to catch this film on the TCM (Turner Classic Movies) channel I really enjoyed the simplicity of the story line and the brilliant films' color that the film producers, Palace Pictures utilized. The soundtrack was a classic and rather than the typical storyline that evolves around young men, this particular jocular Romedy focuses on four (4) young ladies who take an adventurous trip by a convertible car to sunny Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to have some fun before one of the young ladies named Carson (Phoebe Cates) gets married although she has recently felt some second thoughts about her upcoming nuptials.

The other three (3) ladies fool Carson about where they are really going until their convertible drive is well underway and Carson realizes that her friends are taking her on a quasi bachelorette party. Each lady has her heart swept away by a man that they initially object to, but the young men are persistent and each of the four (4) ladies finds their destiny in a relationship they were not expecting.

The acting is exceptional and before you know it you will think that you are at. Myrtle Beach enjoying the sun, fun and music alongside this very wide range of youthful vigor dancing to the Shag.

If any of the original producers read my review I hope you are listening and are open to the idea of a sequel possibly set in the year of 2000 which would be thirty seven (37) years forward from when the original film was set in 1963. We could see if the eight characters are still together with their significant partner(s) and/or they have divorced and moved on with their lives and what does their future in the new millennium of 2000.look like?

I give Shag a highly effective 7 out of 10 IMDB rating for this Romedy film.

Contrary to British bawdy-speak, the Shag is a dance that is a smooth cross between the Jitterbug and the 50's Bop. One can Shag only to the beat of "old school" rhythm and blues music, referred to in the Carolinas, Virginia and parts of Georgia as "Beach Music". It is not an easy dance to master, although like riding a bicycle once you learn how, you never forget.

I was a regular visitor to Myrtle Beach during the 70s and 80s when Beach Music had progressed from a hometown tradition to a potential new fad with marketing potential. "New" Beach Music bands and songs were becoming popular (with acts like The Band of Oz and the Fantastic Shakers making popular tunes like "Ocean Boulevard", "Myrtle Beach Days" and "Shaggin"; even the old-school Embers wrote a new song, "I Love Beach Music"). I spent much of the summer at Myrtle Beach when this movie, Shag, was being filmed at Atlantic Beach. I even saw Phoebe Cates and Bridgette Fonda at the After Deck (nightclub) one night.

I recently bought the DVD of Shag and found it was better than I remembered. It is full of fun and silliness and in general the story is pretty true to life if not a little more sedate than my years at the beach. The movie does a good job of demonstrating the appeal of the beach. It was always about getting out of our small southern home-towns and meeting some new faces, having some fun and hopefully finding true love, at least for a few days. The music and the dancing became integral to the process. Today that music is still loved my many southerners who came of age at the Carolina beach towns from the 50s through the 80s.

I recently toured Myrtle Beach for the first time in about 12 years. It has changed more in that time than it ever did from my first memories of it from the late 50s until I was last there in the early 90s. Shag gives an accurate snapshot of what it was like there in its glory days in the 60s. The music, the dancing, the fun and friendships new and old were what it was all about. Those were days that brought songs like Billy Stewart's definitive version of "Summertime", or the Catalina's "Summertime's Calling Me" into reality. While those tunes aren't on the soundtrack of the movie, "Shag" does of good job of preserving the essence of that lifestyle.

IF you're not from the southeastern US, you can get a fairly accurate picture of what growing up was like for many Baby Boomers from that area. If you are a southerner and love Beach Music, the movie is about the best we have available at picturing that happy time.

Why do all the incredible movie have no awards whatsoever? I swear the crappy movie Capote got more Oscars and awards than Star Wars (exaggeration). This movie contains all of the basic necessities that made Godfather, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones great. It gave an experience. It gave a feeling so emotional that an audience could sit back, eat popcorn, and look at their watch 2 minutes later and realize two hours had already gone by. All of the characters had versatile, inspiring personalities.Pudge was innocent but outgoing. Carson, strict on her parents' and societies' rules but nonetheless up for a risk when it came by her way. Luanne, strict at rules but more apt for adventure than Carson. Finally, Melaina, an obvious go flirting, drinking, sucking up to people, but to the boys' dismay: no bedding.

This 80s movie had no computer graphics, no detailed special effects, .

It had only the necessities: acting, experience, camera angles, and emotional, rather than physical love.

This movie isn't going to win best picture anytime soon, but short of "Dirty Dancing" this might be the best fun summer romance there is. It's one of those stories that lets you spend time with several female archetypes: The Bad Girl, The "Fat" Girl ready to come into her own, The Goody-Two-Shoes/Nerd and The Dutiful Pretty Girl. While this may seem cheesy, it's a structure that's been working since Jane Austen gave us Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia Bennett. Women enjoy trying on various identities vicariously, and (to move back into the future) we all have a little bit of Carrie and Samantha in us. Of the actresses in this movie only two have much name recognition - Bridget Fonda's delicious bad girl and Phoebe Cates' debutante about to marry the wrong man. But all the actors suit the tone and contents of the movie, and it ends up feeling realistic, if only because this particular formula - the summer fling on vacation - is something that often happens in real life. This movie is a joy to watch for its Myrtle Beach period location, its sexy but not explicit romance, and, of course, the titular dancing of the shag. Download it with your girlfriends and have a fantastic slumber party.