California Dreaming

1979

Action / Comedy / Drama / Romance

3
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 56%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 56% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 5.8/10 10 1024 1K

surfing california summer

Plot summary

Young T.T. comes from Chicago to spend the summer in California. He slowly becomes "California-ized," while learning about love and life in the Golden State.

Director

John D. Hancock Photo
John D. Hancock

Top cast

Seymour Cassel Photo
Seymour Cassel as Duke Slusarski
Tom McFadden Photo
Tom McFadden as Dan
Tom Rosqui Photo
Tom Rosqui as George Booke
Stacey Nelkin Photo
Stacey Nelkin as Marsha
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
851.09 MB
1280*714
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 32 min
Seeds 1
1.54 GB
1920*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 32 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by NewsMonster

Sneaks up on you

This movie starts out like some light hearted goof. I thought it was going to be like caddyshack or meatballs or something. Then about half way through, I'm getting into it. It feels like a bunch of people I know, and its almost like hanging out with them. As the movie winds down toward the end of summer, you can feel it like a kid who just wants 20 more minutes before he has to go to bed. The drama starts to creep into the comedy and you never see it coming. Finally, you get blindsided and before you know it, you're moved almost to tears.Someone said it felt more like 75 than 79. I agree. It actually felt older than that, except for the cars. Great movie.
Reviewed by Wuchakk 7 / 10

The Southern California beach scene in the late 70s

A nerdy guy from Chicago (Dennis Christopher) moves to the coast of SoCal where he makes friends with the owner of a local hangout (Seymour Cassel) and gets to stay at his house, but this annoys his college-age daughter (Glynnis O'Connor). In the meantime, the youth tries to fit in with the 'hip' surfers (John Calvin, John Fain and Jimmy Van Patten).Shot in October, 1977, but not released until early 1979, "California Dreaming" is a coming-of-age dramedy that takes Sam Elliott's "Lifeguard" from a few years earlier and adds comedic touches. I wouldn't relate this to those goofy 60's beach flicks because it's more realistic. People forget that the originator of the "beach party film" genre was 1959's "Gidget" (the movie with Sandra Dee, not the TV series with Sally Field), which was a beach drama with moving depth and not zany at all. Sure, this one features a little amusing goofiness, but it's mostly a believable story.Dorothy Tristan has a significant role as Duke's ex-wife, Fay. She was director John Hancock's wife from 1975 until her death in 2023. Speaking of John, he helmed the artistic "Let's Scare Jessica to Death" from the early 70s, so he wasn't exactly a slouch.This obviously influenced one of the greatest coming-of-age flicks, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," released a few years later. It's not as good, but not far off either. It's superior to the overrated "Back to the Beach" (1987).While the movie has a warm, amusing heart underneath it all, there's some top nudity and sexual talk/situations corresponding to the milieu. So stay away if that offends you.It runs 1 hour, 32 minutes, and was shot at Avila Beach, California, which is 195 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Other nearby locations include: Morro Bay to the north and the theater in San Luis Obispo, which is just southeast of Morro Bay; meanwhile studio work was done in Los Angeles.GRADE: B-/B.
Reviewed by campblood13 3 / 10

The ending made my cry

Seymour Cassel gives a great performance, a tour de force. His acting as supposed washed up beach stud Duke Slusarski will always have a place in my heart. The film is centered around a nerd who just came to the beach in hopes of honoring his dead brother's dreams. What he gets is lame surf hijinks. Guys cheating, guys fighting, and guys getting drunk going to watch surf documentaries with the whole town of LA on a Friday night. Duke takes the nerd in and tries to teach him how playing volleyball is like touching a woman. Next time my woman talks back I will pretend I'm spiking the ball. Back to Seymour Cassel. The end of the movie turns into a good drama, since the first half of the film really had no point. Duke plays a wonderful game of volleyball, the best he's played in over ten years. The way the scene is shot is beautiful. You can feel the heart this man has for the game and the love of being on the beach. Those five minutes will go down as one of my favorites of all time. 3/10 Bad to Fair, the rest of the movie was lame.
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