Zuma Beach | |
---|---|
Genre | Comedy Drama |
Written by | John Carpenter William A. Schwartz (teleplay) |
Story by | John Herman Shaner & Al Ramrus |
Directed by | Lee H. Katzin |
Starring | Suzanne Somers Steven Keats Mark Wheeler Kimberly Beck |
Music by | Dick Halligan |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producers | Daniel H. Blatt Edgar J. Scherick |
Producers | Bruce Cohn Curtis Brian Grazer |
Cinematography | Héctor R. Figueroa |
Editors | Bobbie Shapiro Robert L. Swanson |
Running time | 98 minutes |
Production companies | Bruce Cohn Curtis Films, Ltd. Edgar J. Scherick Associates Warner Bros. Television |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | September 27, 1978 |
Zuma Beach is a 1978 TV movie written by John Carpenter and William Schwartz, directed by Lee H. Katzin and starring Suzanne Somers. [1] [2]
A fading rock singer goes to the beach to get away from it all and winds up getting involved in the lives of the teenage beachgoers.
Suzanne Somers' fame was rising due to the success of the sitcom Three's Company , and she wanted to star in movies. Although a lightweight TV movie, Zuma Beach provided Somers with her first starring movie role. [3] [4]
John Carpenter wrote the script for a producer "who just said he wanted a beach movie." He sold it to Warner Bros., and it became a TV movie to star Suzanne Somers. Carpenter said he "was going to direct it, for about 10 seconds, but one of my mentors, Richard Kobritz...helped me see I didn’t want to do it. It was vastly rewritten, so I really shouldn’t have taken credit for it, but I was a little asshole in those days." [5]
Tim Hutton had one of his first roles in the film. [6]
The Los Angeles Times praised the naturalness of Somers' performance. [7]
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