Shag

Two of my friends informed me I absolutely had to see this movie and they were right. I just moved to the South, and it gave me a whole new understanding of Southern life. The movie is set in South Carolina in the 1960s. Four funny, funny girls take a road trip to Myrtle Beach and spend half the movie making sure their families don't find out. Phoebe Cates steals the show and teaches the audience a valuable lesson: You shouldn't marry if you're in your teens!

Why do all the incredible movie have no awards whatsoever? I swear the crappy movie Capote got more Oscars and awards than Star Wars (exaggeration). This movie contains all of the basic necessities that made Godfather, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones great. It gave an experience. It gave a feeling so emotional that an audience could sit back, eat popcorn, and look at their watch 2 minutes later and realize two hours had already gone by. All of the characters had versatile, inspiring personalities.Pudge was innocent but outgoing. Carson, strict on her parents' and societies' rules but nonetheless up for a risk when it came by her way. Luanne, strict at rules but more apt for adventure than Carson. Finally, Melaina, an obvious go flirting, drinking, sucking up to people, but to the boys' dismay: no bedding.

This 80s movie had no computer graphics, no detailed special effects, .

It had only the necessities: acting, experience, camera angles, and emotional, rather than physical love.

Contrary to British bawdy-speak, the Shag is a dance that is a smooth cross between the Jitterbug and the 50's Bop. One can Shag only to the beat of "old school" rhythm and blues music, referred to in the Carolinas, Virginia and parts of Georgia as "Beach Music". It is not an easy dance to master, although like riding a bicycle once you learn how, you never forget.

I was a regular visitor to Myrtle Beach during the 70s and 80s when Beach Music had progressed from a hometown tradition to a potential new fad with marketing potential. "New" Beach Music bands and songs were becoming popular (with acts like The Band of Oz and the Fantastic Shakers making popular tunes like "Ocean Boulevard", "Myrtle Beach Days" and "Shaggin"; even the old-school Embers wrote a new song, "I Love Beach Music"). I spent much of the summer at Myrtle Beach when this movie, Shag, was being filmed at Atlantic Beach. I even saw Phoebe Cates and Bridgette Fonda at the After Deck (nightclub) one night.

I recently bought the DVD of Shag and found it was better than I remembered. It is full of fun and silliness and in general the story is pretty true to life if not a little more sedate than my years at the beach. The movie does a good job of demonstrating the appeal of the beach. It was always about getting out of our small southern home-towns and meeting some new faces, having some fun and hopefully finding true love, at least for a few days. The music and the dancing became integral to the process. Today that music is still loved my many southerners who came of age at the Carolina beach towns from the 50s through the 80s.

I recently toured Myrtle Beach for the first time in about 12 years. It has changed more in that time than it ever did from my first memories of it from the late 50s until I was last there in the early 90s. Shag gives an accurate snapshot of what it was like there in its glory days in the 60s. The music, the dancing, the fun and friendships new and old were what it was all about. Those were days that brought songs like Billy Stewart's definitive version of "Summertime", or the Catalina's "Summertime's Calling Me" into reality. While those tunes aren't on the soundtrack of the movie, "Shag" does of good job of preserving the essence of that lifestyle.

IF you're not from the southeastern US, you can get a fairly accurate picture of what growing up was like for many Baby Boomers from that area. If you are a southerner and love Beach Music, the movie is about the best we have available at picturing that happy time.

I saw at the bottom of the page, that "if you like this title we also recommend American Graffiti". So true, so true. Of course, it can't be compared to "graffiti", but it's a movie with many laughs and adorable characters.

I saw this movie last night, maybe for the tenth time or something. I had a good time as always. Then of course, I am a very nostalgic person and if your favorite movie is "Matrix" or "Minority report" you might not like it.

The title is a little confusing since there aren't that many dance scenes, but I honestly don't care. I'm just looking for a temporary time machine with the course aimed for 1963. Besides, the dancing moments of the movie are quite enough.

Shag takes off with four friends going away to Myrtle beach for a weekend of total fun. Luanne is the proper one who is almost always upset or embarrassed, and she kind of takes the "leader" role, since they are all going in her car and staying at her fathers (the senator's) house, (where you can't sit on the furniture's, use the phone or drink the senator's bourbon). Pudge is a nice girl who has held everything back all her life, but no more! She is also the one who is responsible for the most "shagging" in the movie. Melaina (Fonda) is the wild one who dreams of a career in Hollywood since she is "neither marrying Harvey nor going to college". Carson (Cates) is the sweet and unexperienced girl who IS marrying Harvey. Also, when the movie begins, she thinks that they are going someplace else. But the girls have other plans and they are determined to take Carson for a weekend that she will never forget. One last fling together. A plot like this CAN'T go wrong.

Anyway, by the end of the movie they are all different people, and they have learned that things are not always as they seem. You have control of your own destiny. Carson meets Buzz (the lines that these two people have are unbeatable), Luanne gives the audience a real "necking-surprise" and Melaina finally meets Jimmy Valentine who she considers to be her key to a life of luxury in Hollywood. ( I laugh every time Jimmy does his "move"). The story which I like the best though, is the love that develops between Pudge and the "navy" boy Chip. They are just so good people and the conversations between them so sweet and innocent. You really feel happy for them. It would be a crime not making them a couple.

This movie has a great ending. The kind which makes you wonder what happens to the people in the film. You actually care about them.

The acting is terrific. Bridget Fonda gets a lot of room and maybe it's because her character is the most interesting one. This was before she became a star. I think Phoebe Cates is one of the most underrated actresses ever. Just think about it, how she effects an audience. When she opens her mouth you can't look away. It's like she is born to make these parts. She isn't acting. She IS her characters. " Yes, I am wild. I guess I've been wild all of my life, without even knowing it". One of many great lines in this movie.

The one thing that always impresses me in these movies is the setting. They actually make it look like in 1963. The cars, the clothes, the colors, the buildings. It's incredible.

If you like these kind of movies, and haven't seen this one, you should be ashamed of yourself! Grade: 8/10

This movie isn't going to win best picture anytime soon, but short of "Dirty Dancing" this might be the best fun summer romance there is. It's one of those stories that lets you spend time with several female archetypes: The Bad Girl, The "Fat" Girl ready to come into her own, The Goody-Two-Shoes/Nerd and The Dutiful Pretty Girl. While this may seem cheesy, it's a structure that's been working since Jane Austen gave us Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia Bennett. Women enjoy trying on various identities vicariously, and (to move back into the future) we all have a little bit of Carrie and Samantha in us. Of the actresses in this movie only two have much name recognition - Bridget Fonda's delicious bad girl and Phoebe Cates' debutante about to marry the wrong man. But all the actors suit the tone and contents of the movie, and it ends up feeling realistic, if only because this particular formula - the summer fling on vacation - is something that often happens in real life. This movie is a joy to watch for its Myrtle Beach period location, its sexy but not explicit romance, and, of course, the titular dancing of the shag. Download it with your girlfriends and have a fantastic slumber party.