Film Review - Summer Lovers (1982)

Summer Lovers is about an American couple, Michael (Peter Gallagher) and Cathy (Daryl Hannah) heading on a holiday to the Greek islands in order to enjoy themselves, have some fun in the sun and in the case of Cathy, enjoy some time to herself and have a sense of freedom, but one day while exploring some caverns Michael comes across an archaeologist named Lina (Valerie Quennessen) who changes his life forever.

Summer Lovers is an okay film directed by Randal Kleiser who also made Grease and the Blue Lagoon and here he shows off the Greek scenery to full effect and you can't say you blame him for doing so as the islands look terrific, Gallagher and Hannah also do a good job with their roles too even if their dialogue is a little flat at times.

But this movie belongs to one person and one person alone and that is Quennessen, quite frankly she is absolutely wonderful in this movie with those beautiful eyes that say so much and her natural easy going charm that would make just about any man fall in love with her right there and then, she steals the show as far as I'm concerned and that sadly is the good part.

Now comes the bad part, a few years after making the film, Quennessen was killed in a car crash in France which is such a sad waste as she was very talented and charismatic, in all honesty part of me keeps wishing that she was able to do the remake of Breathless with Richard Gere before she died as she would've stood toe to toe with Gere and made that film a big hit, don't get me wrong Valerie Kaprisky wasn't that bad in that film but Gere blew her off the screen, that wouldn't have happened with Quennessen had she had the chance to do that role.

All in all, watch this movie for the scenery and Quennessen's performance, though it may also have you thinking what might have been had she lived to do other movies and leave more of a mark than the brief flicker that remains, it was said in the movie Blade Runner that the light that burns twice burns half as long well this was one light that burned so very very brightly and it was also one that deserved to burn far longer than it ultimately did, may she rest in peace, 3 out of 5.