TOMMY'S 12th ANNUAL PICK-5 GREAT SUMMER MOVIES! - THIS YEAR ALL 5 MOVIES IN ONE POST - "tried & true favorites, old and new"

 

Greetings All - For those that may not be familiar with my yearly tradition, it's not meant to be a definitive list of any sort, it's basically a stack (well these days that's stack and chips) of movies I'll keep in my queue of MOVIES....that's right, we love movies around here. So hopefully one may catch your eye or remind you to revisit it in a good way, have a great rest of your summer! TR

1 10 (1979)

George Webber's (Dudley Moore) childish excursion to Manzanilla, Mexico that makes up the bulk of this classic is one of the great beach resort sequences in all of cinema. It was also a breakout role for Brian Dennehy who plays a bartender if you can believe that. And Bo Derek of course but the real reason to see this gem is Dudley Moore who died way too young and was one of the comedic greats. 3.0 stars/5

2 WHITE WATER SUMMER (1987)

This one entered the list a few years ago and has been a rising star since. Worth seeing for the scenery and cinematography alone, Kevin Bacon leads a group of teens on a survival summer thing and becomes the counselor from hell. Caught in the middle with his summer ruined is Sean Astin who is great in this. Your eyes are not fooling you if he looks older in some scenes - it was actually filmed in 1985 and held up for a couple years. Someone then had the bright idea to film new scenes with Astin doing narration stuff but clearly doesn't match up. Sort of a guilty pleasure movie but oh, so fun.  2.75 stars/5

3 HOT SUMMER NIGHTS (2017)

Neo-noir mixed with coming-of-age? Sounds great from the start and thanks to Elijah Bynum in his directorial debut, it is. Timothy Chalamet plays a slightly aloof teen who makes friends with a total badass (Alex Roe, excellent) for the purposes of selling weed all summer. It's a basically a drugs tale along the lines of Blow as they get in deeper and deeper trouble. Takes place in Cape Cod where another summer favorite of mine, The Way, Way Back does which didn't make the list this year. This is a surprisingly stylish and fun hybrid of two great genres. As Gordon Ramsay would say..."Well done!"   3.25 stars/5

4 DON'T MAKE WAVES (1967)

G-rated by today's standards, back in 1967, MGM put out this Tony Curtis vehicle out as a sexual farce back when they had a rating called M for mature audiences. Sort of what became R. Curtis plays a tourist visiting Malibu beach when he has the misfortune of running into (literally) an Italian artist (femme fatale Claudia Cardinale.) They're the two main leads but the films explores various relationships and pairings between the rest of the cast which includes the infamous Sharon Tate in her breakout role. A great look at Southern California culture circa 1967.   2.75 stars/5

5 MALIBU HIGH (1979)

Featured a couple months ago as the B-movie of the month, what's the summer without a little sleaze. Ok, well a lot of sleaze in what I like to call Crown International's best release ever. Viva la Jill Lansing! 2.75 stars/2.75

HAVE A GREAT REST OF YOUR SUMMER