Customer Reviews

Shag

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I love love love this movie, but you have to make sure you get the VHS version (where the VHS cover is the cast riding in the car.) Lucky for me, this is the one I own. By mistake, I purchased the "wrong" version for a friend and we sat down to watch it together. The music in the DVD version is TERRIBLE compared to the original (don't even get me started on the c.d. soundtrack.) Whoever made the blunder of re-doing this for DVD re-release needs to be fired!

I guess I was lucky enough to get my hands on a VHS copy of this movie with the original music, which did not include any Chris Isaak or K.D. Lang songs. If this is a period movie (and it should be), then period music should be used in all the versions. It sounds like they couldn't get legal clearance to use all of the original music for the movie, so they replaced songs like "Another Saturday Night" by Sam Cooke with a song by K.D. Lang, who was probably still in diapers in 1963. That's where the movie took a dive for me in a big way on the DVD version and it only got worse as the movie went on. Other songs were swapped out and music was added in scenes, like at the Carnival and the "Wild Night" scene, where the original version had no music.

Maybe if enough fans of this movie complain, MGM will blow the dust off their checkbook and pay the original artists (or their estates) to get the rights to use their music. Some bonus features would be nice too. The least they could do was to allow 60 Minute Man to finish playing in the credits, like it did on VHS. If you are lucky enough to own an original VHS copy, you'll notice MGM did not run the full credits like you would normally see in a movie, which would include the music credits.

What a brilliant movie, with the exception of the end where the girls sing together on the porchsteps of the sentator's summer home in Myrtle Beach. That little Dirty Dancing ripoff was really, really lame. But the rest of the movie was great! Robert Rustler, who didn't act in a billion other movies like I thought he would, gave the performance of his lifetime. Tyrone Power Jr looks like his daddy. You already know Phoebe Cates, Bridget Fonda, and Annabeth Gish. Great eye candy for a really, really fun movie. It's a beach movie without the stupidity.

I've probably watched this movie 50 times. Nothing like watching a summer vacation in Myrtle Beach to put you in a good mood. Hanging out at the Grand Strand...shaggin' and drinking bevos (oddly enough, a bevo was a non-alcoholic beverage in prohibition days...a fact that has nothing to do with this review)...that's the life!

Shag has great music, fun dialogue, famous speeches, some hot shaggin', Elvis impersonators, and great party scenes that make the movie flow really fast while a smile is on your face the entire time.

For the DVD, I didn't think the sound quality was very good. I have 50's movies that had better sound. I own Annette Funicello's Pajama Party on DVD. It has MUCH better sound. So that was disappointing, especially considering there's music throughout the entire movie. But even though the sound is a little disappointing and there's no special features in this movie (aside from a trailer), this movie is still one you should own.

After about 50 views, I finally picked up on something that I thought I'd share, since I feel a warm sense of accomplishment.

In the car ride, Melaina was giving Caroline (Pudge) her fortune. Caroline picked yellow. No idea why, since she wore a blue dress at the end of the movie. Anyway, she picked Yellow, and the fortune was: You will marry Bullwinkle and raise 5 kids (or however many kids; that's unimportant). Fast forward to the party scene...underneath the table that had booze sprinking off the tablecloth. Chip (her love interest in the movie) does a Bullwinkle impression! He blows Pudge away with it! From that point, it becomes a standing joke. HER FORTUNE WAS PROBABLY CORRECT! Isn't that something? Watch it again. Dance with it. Tie nylons to a bedpost and shag with yourself. It deserves the 5 stars I gave it for fun, nostalgia, music, and girls. It's the most fun!

Don't get caught with your rooster showing. Buy the movie!

When I was in high school, my friends and I rented this movie over and over again from the local video store. It's got an amazing ensemble cast (including Darryl Hannah's younger sister, Paige, along with the better know Brigdet Fonda, Phoebe Cates and Annabeth Gish).

I was really excited when I ran across a copy of Shag for sale. Unfortunately, when I popped it in the VCR, expecting to relive my high school experience, I discovered that this version was *different* than the one I used to watch. Different soundtrack. Terrible sound quality. Quite the drag.

Hopefully some day they'll come out with a decent transfer someday, maybe even port it to DVD (I'm not holding my breath...). This movie is definitely worth seeing, but this version of it is not eveny worth the shipping cost.

The music on the DVD is all wrong! You've got to get the VHS version for the true "SHAG" experience.

Like many here, I found the transfer of this movie to VHS to be awful (grainy,bad color). Thus, the DVD is a relief--crisp picture, letterbox format, just like in a theater! The music on the soundtrack is the same that I've always remembered (Stagger Lee, Alley Oop, It Will Stand, etc.), so those who say it had different music, please e-mail me and tell me what it was. The music now is so perfect for the film, I can't imagine anything else! Thew film itself is a delight, a great "summer film." If you have girlfriends, definitely gather them up to watch it on a summer night. The performances are great (esp. by Phoebe Cates and Annabeth Gish), and my first great crush was Scott Coffey as the sweet Chip. (BTW--My God, is Robert Rustler (Buzz) tan in this film, freakishly so. When Buzz goes off to Yale, he'll either have to pale out or buy some sun lamps to stay that red!) This film is a must see for anyone who enjoyed "Mystic Pizza," "Dirty Dancing" or "Footloose." Watch it soon! ("It's the most fun!")

I was so glad when I got this DVD to find out that it has the movie's original music instead of the substituted music that is on the MGM VHS video. I saw this movie in the theater and had a copy that I taped off of HBO that I watched for years, so it was blatantly obvious to me that they had changed the music in the MGM video. I accidently taped over my HBO version years ago, so I'm glad to have the DVD now so that I can see the movie with the music I remember.

Ok, I've posted here quite a few times about this movie. The reason the music was changed from the original was that the copyright laws evidently were infringed upon. Evidenty, they didn't get the licenses to use the music. After about 6 months after the first video version was released, Video stores were actually told to remove it from the shelves. Block Buster did that in Spartanburg, SC (where i'm from). Luckily I had a copy I made from HBO at the time. About 6 mo later, a new version came out with the changed music, (and box). If you notice there are spots in the new video where music once was and now none exist. WEIRD. Anyway, I recommend going to smaller video stores and dubbing your own copy of the original if you can find it. I truely enjoyed being an extra in the movie and found Paige Hannah and Carrie Hamilton to be FANTASTIC. The movie is FUN. If you're looking for a great story, complicated plot etc...this isn't the movie for you. If you are looking for some good oneliners, enjoyable cast, good music, and just plane fun.. rent it..watch it with friends. As a side note, it seems as though this movie has received a cult following from the college girl sect.. Thanks girls :) Questions or comments can be made to my email address.. joshsc@hotmail.com

Josh

"This was our last weekend together, and we didn't feel like going to Ft. Sumter and touring goddamn colonial homes! We wanted to go to the beach! And meet boys! And go to wild parties! And dance!" One of the most overlooked but greatest girl-movies all time, *Shag* is a meticulously crafted period piece that takes a look back at the summer of '63 - a hallowed summer cinematically, supposedly representing an innocent America untouched by the coming traumas of the Sixties. It is the story of four girls who have just graduated from high school who hightail it to Myrtle Beach - the forbidden zone of boys and booze. As they whoop it up, each of them has their eyes opened to a reality that is not part of the world their parents laid out for them. "Y'all, I'm *wild*," Cates' character tells her friends towards the end of the movie, "I guess I always have been - I just didn't know it," and Cates' youthful beauty and innocence make it completely believable. Page Hannah (Daryl's sister) seems to not take herself as seriously as her more famous sister does - and her hilarious portrayal of the tight-assed Luanne morphs from rigid propriety to semi-unbridled lust. Pudge finally meets a boy who loves her for everything she is, and Gish has a field day with the character. But it is Fonda's portrayal of the bad-girl preacher's daughter who steals the show. Described by one reviewer as "*Dirty Dancing* meets *Mystic Pizza* meets *American Graffiti*," as a coming-of-age film, *Shag* is nothing less than enchanting.

Ah, Shag! This is one of my favorite movies for so many reasons. The movie is definitely lightweight, but also very memorable. The perfect casting had one thing to do with that. Everyone in this movie, down to the late Carrie Hamilton, is made-to-order. The "Southern" details of this movie are also dead-on. As a North Carolinian who's spent a heck of a lot of time in Myrtle Beach (though in the '90s, not in the '60s) the accents, expressions, music, and clothes are all correct for the time and place. The story is simple, but most great movies have simple plots when you get right down to it. What makes Shag shine is great acting, fantastic period details, and quotable dialogue. Watch this movie with another Southerner or anybody else who could appreciate the humor and the fun of this great movie. Whether it's your first time or your 100th time watching it, Shag is absolutely the "most fun"!
By the way, though this is not the original motion picture soundtrack, it's still pretty darn good. For those of you who didn't see the early VHS version of the movie, let me explain: some of the songs were in the original version of the movie and are still in this version; others were added later. The original movie soundtrack, which I still have, contains new versions of old songs, plus a couple of original ones. I don't know why it was changed, but I'd sure like to have a copy of the DVD with the original soundtrack, which includes songs by K.D Lang and Randy Newman, to name a few.