Woodyanders Review of Malibu Beach

Malibu Beach (1978)

An enjoyably lightweight piece of 70's drive-in fluff

[8/10 · 23 October 2008]

Shy, but sweet and enticing Dina (winningly played with infectiously perky charm by the lovely Kim Lankford) starts her new job as a lifeguard at Malibu beach and immediately turns a lot of guys' heads. Cool dude Bobby (likable James Daughton) and his funky buddy Paul (the equally engaging Michael Luther) befriend Dina and her spunky gal pal Sally (the luscious Susan Player-Jarreau). Moreover, Bobby gets involved in a bitter rivalry with sneering brawny greaser Dugan Hicks (essayed with mucho macho muscle by beefy biker flick regular Stephen Oliver). Director Robert J. Rosenthal, who also co-wrote the slight script with Celia Susan Cotelo, lets the loose and rambling narrative amble along at a leisurely pace, but does a solid job of capturing a certain amiably breezy'n'easy mellow tone. In addition, Rosenthal crams this baby with a generous smattering of tasty gratuitous female nudity, plus there's skinny-dipping, pot smoking, groovy disco dancing, hot babes in skimpy bikinis, and a bouncy soundtrack made up of roughly three catchy tunes. Better still, we even have an adorable dog with a pleasing penchant for stealing girls' bikini tops. Popping up in neat supporting roles are the ever-yummy Tara Strohmeier as the foxy Glorianna, Flora Plumb as attractive teacher Mrs. Pickett, Roger Lawrence Pierce as the hopelessly geeky Claude, Rory Stevens as gawky hot dog stand vendor Charlie, Bruce Kimball as laid-back cop Lyle, and Bill Adler as an obnoxious vanner. Jamie Anderson's bright cinematography gives this picture a sparkling polished look. Michael Lloyd's gnarly-grinding score hits the soulful spot. All in all, this admittedly inane and immaterial nonsense makes for a pleasantly silly diversion.