Summer City (1977)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Whoever wrote the last review simply doesn't get the film.While there's a happy-go-lucky veneer to everything, like the surfing, the sex and "larrikin" behaviour (wild young lads basically), that's mostly on the surface. The scenery is actually far from cheery... in fact, it is used on some occasions in ways that could have been straight out of "Twin Peaks" (especially the shots of the sun rising over the sea), if it wasn't for the climate. The menacing Bush (no pun intended) is a common feature in Aussie films, perhaps too much so.As for "slurred slang", this is how Australians speak. Sorry! There is only one part where I couldn't make it out, which is a rude remark Boo makes to a girl in a greasy burger joint. If Americans really need subtitles to work out Australian dialogue, I suggest they go and study the language at night class.Mel Gibson is indeed wrongly touted as the star of the film on the packaging, but he is by no means a "very minor role", in fact he is one of the group of four young men on whom the action is centred, and who witnesses (and keeps quiet about) certain things which are integral to the plot.Also the last reviewer is wrong about it being set in the seventies - it was made then, but from the title sequence, and the music which gets played it's clearly meant to be the sixties! So, I reckon the film has its flaws, but it's an interesting piece - if only to see Mel in his "introducing" role.

Firstly, this is an old film so don't expect state of the art production, sound values etc as some reviewers have expected. This film is a warm ride through the past annals of Aussie film history. Mel Gibson's first true role, Steve Bisley in an emergent role...even Abigail, bless her sexy cotton socks makes an appearance. This film was the start of Producer, Phil Avalon's long career in indie film making and he's still doing it today! A sort of surf story wrapped around the road trip of four good friends, this one started a trend which has finally arrived at the point where surf movies are now big screen box office hits. So sure, the acting's not the best, production, direction and audio are poor for our 21st Century ears...but watch it and smile for a lot of talent was squeezed out of this little gem. And, I'd love to hear Chris Fraser's 'behind the scenes' story one day!!

By sheer chance I found a movie titled "Sex, Blood and Rock&Roll" in a low price range of DVD's. It happened to be "Summer City" for sale under a new name. Curious I bought it. What a surprise ! Never saw a worse film than this one. The picture was exhausting to watch as over-exposed parts alternate with ... less over-exposed parts. The sound was incredibly bad, sometimes painfully sharp, mostly dull. The story : let's say, there was a story, and a good screenwriter or director probably would have been able to make something of it. Not this one. The only thing that seemed okay was Mel Gibson. What a mercy for each movie adept, he outlived this one. Conclusion, there is hope for any good actor, even after a bad start, just carry on.

It's been 23 years since I have commented on this film. I was the director and it was my first film. As far as I was concerned it was never finished. Despite the ludicrously low budget it could have been so much better than it turned out. All the leading actors fell into a serious argument with the producer and refused to continue working on the project. I never expected to see it on the screen. The producer and editor padded out the film with meaningless bits of irrelevant stock footage to make the required length of 87mins to qualify for a feature film. As you can imagine I was disappointed and embarrassed. Some parts of the movie actually work very well. There was a lot of spontaneous adlib especially between Mel and Steve. The first time we saw Mel in closeup in a viewing theater someone said "He's going to be a star". I thought so too. One day I'll tell the whole story. It's more complex and funny than the film itself.