California Dreaming (1979)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Purely Joyful Movie!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Like a previous commenter, I too saw this movie when HBO was young and willing to play movies that seem antique now but were actually a lot of fun...this is one of those movies...what is now considered a star-studded line-up of actors filled the cast of this film, which features Dennis Christopher as TT, an Eastern youngster sent out West to "grow up"...and boy does that happen...along the way, he runs into an at-first hesitant Glynnis O'Connor, who does look fetching in a bikini... and Seymour Cassell as Duke, a BSer extraordinaire but with a good soul if not bad heart...and along the way, TT learns to adjust to California life and actually does well...there are a few other subplots in the movie, including Ned Wynn as Earl, Alice Playten as a snobby Corrine, John Calvin as Rick the token stud bad boy, and Tanya Roberts as Stephanie, the girl who loves Rick...and since Stacy Nelkin, the "queen of the B movies" is in this one, it makes it even better...not sure if it's available via rental, but I have seen it online for purchase...it will bring back memories of movies gone by...and it's worth having...

Back in the days when HBO was young, I remember seeing the previews of this movie and wanting to watch it. Living in Hawaii most of my life, it was nothing new for me in terms of the "beach scene." While watching it I felt compelled with the story and characters. TT was such an obvious dork, but I pulled for him as he began to blend in with the locals. Glynnis O'Connor was an attraction with that 70s style bikini and the surfers led by Mike were comical and immature. My friends and I frequently used quotes from the film to goof on each other, and today it definitely reminds me of the times back then. Similar to the 80s movie "North Shore" in the theme of an outsider who tries to make it with the locals in a beach environment. I am still looking for either a clean VHS copy or a release to DVD. Last time I saw this was on cable a few years ago, and I should have recorded it. A must see if you want to re-live the times, it's a shame that some of today's youngsters probably won't get it. I give it a generous 8 rating because of what this movie brings to me, a humorous flashback of that era.

As Jennifer Denuccio used to say on Square Pegs, "Gag me out the door." I would definitely vote this movie on IMDB's Worst movie list.Dennis Christopher plays T.T., a guy from Chicago who goes to California peddling his brother's jazz records. He is supposed to be a barney placed in the locals-only surfing community. But he acts more like he is new to civilization (just try to get through his sex scene without squirming). There are also the on-going adventures of the rest of the local population that the viewer must endure. That of Duke (Seymour Cassell), the volleyball expert who tries to get T.T. to act like a normal human being, the obnoxious drunk surfers who cheat on their girlfriends, and the guy who makes a bet with another that he can live in car for sixth months. California Dreaming is just a big old mess. It starts out like a typical seventies romp, complete with bad 70s music (even though this movie came out one year shy of the 80s). And Dennis Christopher comes off as the most irritable loser, it makes the movie hard to watch (keep your finger on the fast forward button). Even if this movie was supposed to be about the surfer culture, the surf scenes are almost total garbage. The people at the surf contest look as though they can't keep from falling asleep. I guess the only cool thing is seeing Tanya Roberts outside of her role as Midge on the sitcom "That's 70s show." And Cassell wasn't bad, he was just in a bad movie.

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.