Sandwiched between the TV and film productions of Scum, Ray Winstone again plays a borstal boy. He even has John Judd, Sands from Scum, playing his swimming coach. But that's where the comparisons end - Ray plays Steve, a young man who on his release, moves down to Torquay on the English Riviera with the intention to find work and to avoid getting locked up again.
Angie and Carole are two northern girls who leave their factory to work in a grand hotel, and Jimmy is another Londoner who leaves his butcher's job for a summer working on the beach.
Steve finds work and lodging in a pub, and complimented by his coach on his strong swimming performance, he puts his energies into practicing to compete a local swimming tournament. Before long, he meets his nemesis, the three yobbish Glaswegians who appear at regular intervals to torment him; by chance, one will also be competing in the swimming tournament. Steve, keen to avoid doing anything rash that may land him back in borstal, has to breathe in deep and instead hope that the tournament will help him settle scores. Steve, Tony, Angie and Carole all end up meeting at Babbacombe beach, and as can happen in a small beach town, run into each other a lot more frequently.
The story is quite predicable, but the appeal of That Summer! Lies within it's nostalgic appeal - it looks exactly as the Torquay I remember from my early childhood, and the acting leads, who, just as their characters do, give off quite the energy of a group of young adults working together over the summer, and you'd imagine they had quite a blast off set as well. The soundtrack is also spot on, making it a must see for fans of late 70s British new wave - a popular soundtrack album was also released.
The appeal of Last Summer may be limited, but this is a charming little time capsule, though as far as I'm aware (at the time of writing) there has been no DVD release, as is often the case with limited-interest films with potentially expensive soundtrack rights (see also SubUrbia (1996), The Wild Life (1984) and Purple Haze (1982). There was a VHS release, and may occasionally pop up on YouTube, which is where I saw it.
Angie and Carole are two northern girls who leave their factory to work in a grand hotel, and Jimmy is another Londoner who leaves his butcher's job for a summer working on the beach.
Steve finds work and lodging in a pub, and complimented by his coach on his strong swimming performance, he puts his energies into practicing to compete a local swimming tournament. Before long, he meets his nemesis, the three yobbish Glaswegians who appear at regular intervals to torment him; by chance, one will also be competing in the swimming tournament. Steve, keen to avoid doing anything rash that may land him back in borstal, has to breathe in deep and instead hope that the tournament will help him settle scores. Steve, Tony, Angie and Carole all end up meeting at Babbacombe beach, and as can happen in a small beach town, run into each other a lot more frequently.
The story is quite predicable, but the appeal of That Summer! Lies within it's nostalgic appeal - it looks exactly as the Torquay I remember from my early childhood, and the acting leads, who, just as their characters do, give off quite the energy of a group of young adults working together over the summer, and you'd imagine they had quite a blast off set as well. The soundtrack is also spot on, making it a must see for fans of late 70s British new wave - a popular soundtrack album was also released.
The appeal of Last Summer may be limited, but this is a charming little time capsule, though as far as I'm aware (at the time of writing) there has been no DVD release, as is often the case with limited-interest films with potentially expensive soundtrack rights (see also SubUrbia (1996), The Wild Life (1984) and Purple Haze (1982). There was a VHS release, and may occasionally pop up on YouTube, which is where I saw it.