I don’t know about you, but I love films set in the summer. The location, the clothes, the atmosphere… I love them. So I decided to write about three “old”summer films that you may haven’t watched. Because you’re too young, because you just missed them, because you didn’t know they’re worth watching.
“WEEKEND AT BERNIE’S”. Two employees at a big insurance corporation, played by Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman, discover some irregularities and report them to the CEO, Bernie Lomax, hoping he will be grateful and promote them. Lomax is actually responsible for the fraud so he invites them to spend a weekend at his beach house in The Hamptons where they will be killed by the mob, Bernie’s partner (in crime). But things won’t go as Bernie planned. This black comedy is funny, unrealistic but with a message, The Hamptons are beautiful, and so is McCarthy! (Director: Ted Kotcheff, 1989)
“DIRTY DANCING”. Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze play a kind of 1960’s version of Romeo and Juliet. She’s a wealthy girl who is vacationing with her family in a resort in (the state of) New York and he’s a penniless dance instructor who fall in love with each other. Contrarily to Shakespeare’s play, the film has a well-known happy ending. The film was a huge success. If you watched “Crazy, Stupid, Love” you may remember the scene when Ryan Gosling (as womanizer Jacob) wins Emma Stone (as Hannah) over by reenacting the lift from “Dirty Dancing”. And if you used to watch “Gossip Girl” you may remember that Jenny watches the film after breaking up with Damian. In 2017 a remake of “Dirty Dancing” was released and it’s probably the most useless and awful remake ever. (Director: Emile Ardolino, 1987)
“STEALING BEAUTY”. Liv Tyler plays Lucy, an American girl who arrives in Italy to spend summer with her late mother’s friends (and other guests) in a country house in Tuscany. The plot already seems interesting, don’t you think? The star-studded cast includes Jeremy Irons, Rachel Weisz, Sinéad Cusack, Joseph Fiennes and Italian actors you may not know about, like Stefania Sandrelli and Carlo Cecchi. The original title of the film is “Io ballo da sola”, which means I dance alone (or by myself), which makes me think of one scene of the film where Lucy sings and dances while listening to “Rock Star” by Hole, a song that I love. (Director: Bernardo Bertolucci, 1996).
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