Zuma Beach (1978)

**_A day at the beach in SoCal in the late ’70s_**

Suzanne Somers was 30 years-old playing a fading rock singer who goes to a beach in Malibu to find inspiration amidst the youths, mostly high school kids. It’s a fun drama that addresses some heavy things amidst the frolics rather than a goofy beach party flick, like those from the ’60s. Speaking of which, 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.

So, this is more along the lines of the 1959 version of “Gidget,” just mixed with the ’70’s vibe of Sam Elliott’s “Lifeguard” from 1976. It’s basically a TV version of “California Dreaming,” which debuted seven months later. While it’s the least of these due to being a television production, it has its points of interest. For one, viewing it makes you feel like you’ve spent the afternoon at a beach in SoCal.

Whilst Suzanne never looked better, she never tripped my trigger. I prefer voluptuous blonde Kimberly Beck, who plays Cathy. Other familiar faces in their youth include Mark Wheeler, Michael Biehn, Rosanna Arquette, Tanya Roberts and PJ Soles. Janus Blythe is listed in the credits as Jennifer, but the role is so peripheral that I missed her. You might remember her as the feral Ruby in “The Hills Have Eyes” and Lynette in “Eaten Alive.”

It runs about 1h 40m and was shot at Paradise Cove, which is 2.5 miles east of the actual Zuma Beach, on the other side of Point Dume, which you can see in the background. Point Dume happened to be where the iconic climax of “Planet of the Apes” was shot.

GRADE: B-/C+