Product Details

• Actors: Peter Gallagher, Daryl Hannah, Valérie Quennessen, Barbara Rush, Carole Cook
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: March 7, 2000
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305812233
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,688 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

After the breezy successes of Grease and The Blue Lagoon, director Randal Kleiser made what can only be described as one of the greatest guilty-pleasure movies of all time. Summer Lovers is a bubble-brained movie if ever there was one, involving a love triangle between characters who have all the depth of a Calvin Klein commercial; but you don't care because the movie's so irresistibly alluring. Daryl Hannah and Peter Gallagher play a young couple vacationing in Greece when they meet one of the island locals, a gorgeous paleontologist (French actress Valérie Quennessen) who quickly proves that when it comes to love on a Greek island, three is better than two. This innocent flirtation endures a bit of ego-bruising animosity, but suspicion eventually subsides and blossoms into a sensuously delightful ménage à trois, accompanied by a soundtrack full of early-'80s pop by Chicago, Elton John, Blondie, the Pointer Sisters, and others. In addition to suggesting an interesting use of candle wax during foreplay and treating viewers to the vision of Ms. Quennessen cavorting topless whenever the impulse strikes her (and it strikes her frequently), Summer Lovers is like a time capsule from the earliest years of MTV. It's mindless entertainment, but on vacations like this, who wants to be an intellectual? --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars lighthearted and fun, February 12, 2004

By 

Jon Norris (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Summer Lovers (Full Screen Edition) (DVD)

Summer Lovers is a fun little film about a young couple on vacation in the Greek islands. Michael (Peter Gallagher) and Cathy (Daryl Hannah) are on a Summer vacation after college graduation and his father's death, and are apparently headed for engagement and marriage. Michael encounters and is uncontrollably drawn to Lina (Valerie Quennessen), a French Archeologist working at a dig nearby.

What follows is a light but well handled exploration of the complications that ensue when passion and love collide with society's rules and expectations. What could have easily ended up as just another shallow movie sex romp actually does some justice to the theme of adults exploring new relationship territory and the power of overcoming one's barriers. Although lighter and not in the same league as "Same Time Next Year," it is still a good movie and a fun but somewhat thoughtful look at unusual relationships. It does not follow the expected Hollywood pattern, and I like that. (Can't say more without spoiling it.) I disagree that it is bubble-brained and predictable. The story isn't any sillier than the plot of Casablanca or the Wizard of Oz, just not quite the same caliber.

The story is well told, dialog is okay, and the characters are believable. The scenery is gorgeous and well photographed, and the film is much more enjoyable on DVD than it was when I first saw it on cable and on VHS. The details in the scenes and sound track are much better. I caught much more subtlety in the photography on the DVD. I loved the footage of the beautiful whitewashed Greek buildings and the ocean. There are nude beach scenes and some other nudity, but it is relevant to the time, location, and situations of the characters. This is a love story about sexy young people on vacation in the Mediterranean, after all. The sound track is late 70s to early 80s pop (Prince, Tina Turner, Pointer Sisters, etc.), but good songs that drive the story. There are no real extras on the DVD, and I would have enjoyed at least some commentary from the actors or director about the film and its theme, shooting on Santorini, etc. There was apparently a "Making of" documentary done for TV, and that would be a nice addition. Since Valerie Quennessen is dead, something extra about her would be nice. I agree that she is the most interesting in the cast. Her passing is indeed sad. (She also had a small role in Conan The Barbarian, by the way.)

I especially like one line where Hannah remarks that she had a dream where she was a mermaid. This movie was released in 1982 and Splash (with Hannah as a mermaid!) in 1984. Interesting.

This is one of those films I watch every so often to refresh my attitude and have a light but not completely meaningless escape. Hey, not every movie has to be Doctor Zhivago or Schindler's List to be good to watch. Beauty comes in many forms, and should be enjoyed.

56 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too many cuts, February 3, 2005

By 

F. Peek (Wellington, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Summer Lovers (Full Screen Edition) (DVD)

As a life-long nudist, I was very disappointed with the DVD compared with the theatrical release that I saw in the mid 1980s. The theatrical release opened with many shots of the nude beaches, and continued this theme quite simply and unashamedly throughout the whole movie. Many nude beach scenes have been deleted altogether from the DVD and the few remaining scenes are cut drastically, in my view detracting badly from the spirit and freedom of the Greek islands at the time portrayed in the original movie.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Summer Lovers rocks, January 11, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Miami FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Summer Lovers [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I watched this movie 50 times while pent up in a Coast Guard Station in the North Sea duing the winter time. People from all over the island would come over and watch the daily viewing, which actually became sum what of a ritual. A few years later I traveled to Greece to visit the different places I saw in the movie and remembered so fondly. I was not at all disapointed. Greece is a beautiful country full of pleasent people full of great ruins of past cultures. I thank the director of this movie for making such a well thought out love triad done in the upmost of plesentries. I highly recommend the movie, the country, and of couse the threesomes.