Blu-Ray Review - Summer Lovers (1982)

The Film:

Released in 1982 (December 1982 in Australian cinemas, same month as Blade Runner, Conan the Barbarian and First Blood) Summer Lovers was director Randal Kleiser's follow up film to his 1980 smash hit the Blue Lagoon and the story sees Michael (Peter Gallagher) and Cathy (Daryl Hannah) travel to Santorini in the Greek Islands for some fun in the sun but while there they meet a French Archaeologist Lina (Valerie Quennessen) and three become friends in an unexpected way.

I like to think of this film as a sentimental favorite of mine in that while I know it has flaws (the dialogue doesn't sound that great) I just love the vibe of it and the sincerity Kleiser gives the piece plus Hannah and Gallagher have a nice chemistry between them that is very appealing to watch.

But as good as they are Quennessen is the real show stealer here (well her and the Greek Islands themselves which look gorgeous but I would probably avoid going there now) and she is wonderful here and what she does so well is with little to no dialogue (she also did this in Conan the Barbarian) she creates a real and lively presence that has you glued to the screen every time she's on, it's so so sad that she's no longer with us (she died in a motorcycle accident in 1989.)

But going back to the vibe that Kleiser creates for this film what I also really love about it is that it reminds me so much of that era of filmmaking in the early 1980s I mean this was the time of the Star Wars Trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Mad Max 1 and 2, First Blood and Blade Runner which I mentioned above among many many others and it was like anything was possible filmmaking wise.

Whereas now everything is almost exclusively producer and/or studio driven, has to be PG-13 as well as sugary sweet and soft because it isn't then you don't get that magical Billion dollar gross and people get grumpy, one day it's going to come crashing down and what will follow will be a very sad time for all movie goers and film fans.

The Video:

At long last Summer Lovers is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and the film looks great with its rich levels of grain which makes it feel like a film print at times which it should do plus the scenery of the Islands looks fantastic with the blue oceans and the white Villas and the many naked bodies (try doing that today, hoo boy you'd never get away with it.)

The Audio:

Presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 sound, the film sounds very clear with the songs and the dialogue scenes being evenly mixed (sometimes with 5.1 or 7.1 mixes there can be an imbalance between the dialogue and the rest of the sound which constantly requires you to adjust the volume) and as a result I didn't really have any complaints about this mix, it sounds pretty good and I'm happy that its evenly balance.

The Extras:

Twilight Time have assembled a very cool array of Bonus Features for this release and let's dig into them shall we:

Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Randal Kleiser: Kleiser talks throughout the entire film about the process of making this movie in both what he wanted to create in terms of the feel and tone of the film as well as shooting the film on the Greek Islands.

Another story he tells is why the film's release originally wasn't very big and that was due to Orion Pictures acquiring Filmways which was to make the film before release and had planned a big ad campaign for it before Orion took over Filmways plus there is a very touching story about being in contact with Valerie's son and the effect seeing the film had on him, this was a good track.

Isolated Music and Effects Track: Worth listening to primarily for the Music in the film but I could've done without the Effects work being in this track as it distracted me from the songs at times but still I'm glad I got to hear this track as the songs sound great.

The Making of Summer Lovers: This is a vintage piece from 1982 and Kleiser as well as the 3 main actors are interviewed and seeing Valerie interviewed here in particular was great (I'm sorry but she was enchanting to watch) and interestingly one of the guys that worked on this piece was her real life husband Francois Manceaux who also appears in the film very briefly.

Basil Poledouris - His Life and Music: This is a 48 minute special focused on Basil and his work (it only goes up to Starship Troopers from 1997) Poledouris sadly died in 2006 at the age of 61 and I really loved his work on the original Robocop film, The Hunt for Red October and Conan the Barbarian where he really went all out with the orchestra and the choir (The Riders of Doom is a great piece from that soundtrack and may he Rest in Peace.)

Screen Tests: 15 Minutes worth of test footage is presented here though the sound is very difficult to hear throughout but what's presented here is great as one of the young actors auditioning for Peter Gallagher's role is Mr. Patrick Swayze and he actually does a pretty good job here and his chemistry with Valerie Quennessen is really charming (the way she looks at him with her eyes says it all really.)

That said it is a little poignant to watch given that both actors are no longer with us but it is also really great to have not only this footage here of both of them but the body of work they left behind, it really makes you feel that these people are never really gone in a technical sense because we're watching them on our TV screens doing the work or being interviewed and that they are still with us in our hearts and memories as long as we remember them.

Theatrical Trailers: 2 Trailers are presented here for the film one is a standard preview for the film while the other is labeled as a Red Band preview for the film, both are okay but I miss the one used by Roadshow Home Video which used Slow Hand by the Pointer Sisters to promote the films VHS release in 1983 though to be fair it also used parts of the Red Band preview presented here so all's fair really.

(Speaking of Slow Hand and I'll wrap this review up here, Kleiser originally wanted to use that song in the film but when he heard I'm So Excited he decided to use that song instead.)

Overall:

I am really impressed with this disc release of Summer Lovers, a very nice Audio/Visual Presentation and a great selection of Bonus Features both old and new.

The disc is currently available through Twilight Time themselves and is limited to 3000 copies so if you're a fan get your copy now, you won't regret it.