*****SPOILERS***** I thought Last Summer would be like a bad TV movie and was watching it for the camp factor alone, but somewhere it turns into a real, offbeat story about teenage characters experimenting with their boundaries during their summer vacation.
Sometimes the movie was like a morality play. And I think that must be one of it's main themes: society left to do what feels good and natural (i.e. the '60s) will become corrupt, violent, and self-destruct.
Sandy (Barbara Hershey), Peter (Richard Thomas), Dan (Bruce Davison), and Rhonda (Catherine Burns) are the main characters who play around the beach while their parents ignore them and act as irresponsible as their children. Dan and Peter--watch for homo-erotic undertones between the two that I thought was quite brave for the times--lust after Sandy, but she only flirts and teases with them. Sandy is sadistic, killing their rescued seagull--and moving on to her next victim, the geeky, naive Rhonda.
Barbara Hershey, the dark beauty, plays her part well as the manipulative, evil Sandy--who leads Thomas and Davison to rape Rhonda (and possibly kill her? The ending is too cryptic.). Her figure is startling as well as Catherine Burns', but Rhonda is suppose to be a little pudgy--you never see actresses weigh that much now. You can imagine if they made this movie today they would cast Reese Witherspoon as Rhonda! And she would do something like gain 10 pounds to make the character more real. It is also fun to see Richard Thomas getting away from his "John Boy" stereotype.
Sometimes the movie was like a morality play. And I think that must be one of it's main themes: society left to do what feels good and natural (i.e. the '60s) will become corrupt, violent, and self-destruct.
Sandy (Barbara Hershey), Peter (Richard Thomas), Dan (Bruce Davison), and Rhonda (Catherine Burns) are the main characters who play around the beach while their parents ignore them and act as irresponsible as their children. Dan and Peter--watch for homo-erotic undertones between the two that I thought was quite brave for the times--lust after Sandy, but she only flirts and teases with them. Sandy is sadistic, killing their rescued seagull--and moving on to her next victim, the geeky, naive Rhonda.
Barbara Hershey, the dark beauty, plays her part well as the manipulative, evil Sandy--who leads Thomas and Davison to rape Rhonda (and possibly kill her? The ending is too cryptic.). Her figure is startling as well as Catherine Burns', but Rhonda is suppose to be a little pudgy--you never see actresses weigh that much now. You can imagine if they made this movie today they would cast Reese Witherspoon as Rhonda! And she would do something like gain 10 pounds to make the character more real. It is also fun to see Richard Thomas getting away from his "John Boy" stereotype.