Summer Lovers (1982) Filmways/Drama RT: 98 minutes Rated R (lots of nudity including full frontal, strong sexual content, language) Director: Randal Kleiser Screenplay: Randal Kleiser Music: Basil Poledouris Cinematography: Timothy Galfas Release date: July 16, 1982 (US) Cast: Peter Gallagher, Daryl Hannah, Valerie Quennessen, Barbara Rush, Carole Cook, Hans van Tongeren, Lydia Lenosi, Vladimiros Kiriakos, Rika Dialina, Andreas Filippidis, Peter Pye, Janis Benjamin. Box Office: $4.9M (US)
Rating: ***
When Summer Lovers aired on HBO in summer ’83, I watched it every time it was on. Why wouldn’t I? I was 15 and my hormones were on overdrive. It has a ton of nudity and a premise right out of a sex fantasy albeit a softcore one. A young American man vacationing with his girlfriend in the Greek Islands gets sexually involved with a mysterious French woman. As luck would have it, the girlfriend is okay with it. It turns into a three-way love affair. Only in the pre-AIDS early 80s, right?
Written and directed by Randal Kleiser (The Blue Lagoon), Summer Lovers is as soft-headed as it is softcore. Not a single minute of it is even remotely believable. It takes place in an alternate universe populated by impossibly attractive people who hang out at nude beaches by day and party all night. Consequences don’t exist in this world, only gratification. To be fair, it’s not as sleazy as it sounds. If you can get past the moral implications of the characters’ arrangement, it’s actually pretty entertaining.
Looking to add spice to their stagnant relationship, Michael (Gallagher, Sex, Lies and Videotape) and Cathy (Hannah, Splash) decide to spend their summer vacation in Santorini. It’s the first time either one of them has felt completely free. Michael’s had his whole life planned out for him; Cathy is a good girl who’s never done anything rebellious. They’re hoping to relight the fire, but try as they might it just doesn’t happen.
One day while exploring some caves with Cathy, Michael spots Lina (Quennessen, Conan the Barbarian), an archeologist who conveniently lives near them. Intrigued, he follows her a few times before working up the nerve to speak to her. Naturally, they have sex on the beach. Cathy is initially (and understandably) angry about Michael’s indiscretion. Although he gives her leave to do the same, she finds she can’t sleep with some random guy. She decides to confront Lina and they become friends. It turns out she’s just what their relationship needs. They invite her to move in with them. That Michael’s a lucky guy; sleeping with two hot babes and nobody complaining about it. He gets to have his cake and eat it too.
Try not to overthink Summer Lovers. It’s best if you look at it as harmless sexy summertime entertainment with gorgeous scenery. That last part is especially true. The main characters visit ancient ruins, sunny beaches and lively nightclubs. All of it looks GREAT! It could be argued that Summer Lovers is a Greek travelogue disguised as a softcore sex fantasy.
What’s there to say about the acting? Kleiser’s screenplay requires little else from his actors other than to look great in the buff and recite some truly inane dialogue. Sample line: “People are like gas. Gas expands to fit the space and so do people.” How philosophically profound, how utterly ludicrous! It’s probably best not to give it much thought. Nobody in the movie appears to be operating on brain power either. A movie like Summer Lovers has only one thing on its mind and there’s plenty of it frequently on display.
Okay, so Summer Lovers is mindless and superficial. To be fair, there’s only so much you can do with a premise this far-fetched. The biggest dramatic conflict is over the division of household chores. The only time things get bleak is when Lina takes off because she’s afraid to love. This issue is resolved by Kleiser resorting to one of the most cliched climaxes known to filmmakers, a mad race to the airport to stop her from leaving. The funniest part of Summer Lovers is that nobody objects too stringently to the trio’s unorthodox arrangement. Cathy’s overbearing mother (Rush, It Came from Outer Space) barely raises an eyebrow when she comes to visit. Again, it has to be an alternate universe.
Summer Lovers is pure trash, softcore junk designed to appeal to horny teen boys too young to see a real porno movie. Its IQ is in the mid-double digits. It expects us to believe that fat, unattractive people don’t exist let alone visit nude beaches. If you’ve ever been to one, you know that’s BS. Despite all this, I like it. It’s never boring. It’s an enjoyably bad movie, a guilty pleasure. It takes me back to those late summer nights of my 15th year when watching a dirty movie without waking the parentals was a small victory. It’s still fun if you look at it as nothing more than mindless fluff.
