There’s a thread about books about summer that I found interesting: apparently, there aren’t a lot of books about summer, but I was able to suggest a few. In the process of thinking about books about summer, I thought of several movies about summer quite easily. I thought it might be fun to start a thread about summer movies.
It’s hard to define summer movies, but I would say the focus should be on summer activities, and it should be set in the outdoors where the weather and the land of summer have a noticeable effect on the characters and plot. It’s probably easier to just list movies that are summer movies and then debate them, however, if your story is set largely indoors, or is mostly about a serial killer, it really won’t matter if it’s set in a beach town in summer. If the characters and events could easily be transported to another season and nothing much would be lost, it’s probably not a summer movie.
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Jaws – can’t go wrong with this story of giant shark snacking on vacationers at a summer beach tourist town.
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Cap’n Ron – pleasant little folderol set in the Caribbean with Kurt Russell doing a great job as a reprobate sea captain. The only movie with Martin Short in a major role that I have ever been able to like – that’s just how good it is.
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Bikini Summer – I’m including this movie as a warning – it is one of the very few movies with Bikini and/or summer in the title that actually has a summer feel to it. Most movies with those titles are sexploitation and/or Skinamax films that peddle sex and/or nudity, and can’t wait to get the cameras into a hotel room with two naked people having sex in it, which is more of a year-round thing (and from the filmmakers’ viewpoint, much cheaper to shoot). Bikini Summer, and to a much lesser extent its sequel, Bikini Summer 2, has lots of shots of attractive young people swimming, sunbathing, throwing volleyball, etc. at the beach. Bikini Summer is about young people putting on a bikini contest to save the beach from EVUL developers. It’s definitely mild R sexploitation but it DOES deliver on the summer. Bikini Roundup, Bikini Chain Gang, Summer Temptations, even Bikini A-Go-Go, are just about nudity and/or sex, with little or no summer in them.
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Lake Place and Lake Placid 2. Set on a lake, lots and lots of outdoor setting, kind of a lakebound “Jaws” featuring giant alligators. Mindless fun, featuring northern summer (set in New England).
Other recommendations?