Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Wuchak RELEASED TO TV IN 1973 and directed by Paul Wendkos, "Terror on the Beach" stars Dennis Weaver & Estelle Parsons as a couple and their two college-age kids (Susan Dey and Kristoffer Tabori) who take a camping trip to a beach a few hours north of Los Angeles where they're terrorized by a group of hippies (Scott Hylands, Michael Christian, Henry Olek, etc.). Will they make it out?This movie effectively takes advantage of the subdued paranoia traditional folks developed toward hippies after the Manson murders put the kibosh on the 'peace & love' counter-culture movement. Hippies were never viewed the same after the horrific Tate murders of August 8, 1969. The drug-addled Woodstock took place just days later and it was indeed 'three days of peace & music,' but The Altamont Speedway Free Festival in early December (less than four months later) put the kibosh on the hippies' idealism forever. It's a shame too, as they had a hold of something real underneath their drug-obsessed fog (not that all hippies were druggies, not at all, but it seemed to be the norm).Despite being a TV production, "Terror on the Beach" is a serious look at the average nuclear family of 1972 (when the picture was shot) pitted against a small group of hippies on the beaches of Central California. The score is cogently eerie and off-kilter and the hippies are portrayed in a questionable light with a mocking, mischievous manner, but not over-the-top.This is a limited-environment flick, akin to "Prey" (2007) and "Wind Chill" (2007), where the events take place in a fairly one-dimensional setting. The main downside is the stupid reactions of the family in response to the malevolent shenanigans of the hippies. For instance, after the hippies harass the family by yelling out from the dunes at night, they obviously needed to take turns standing guard. But, no, they all just go to sleep. Seriously? If you can roll with this flaw (which can be defended on the grounds of the family' naïveté) it's a worthwhile TV movie similar to the Outlaw biker films that were popular from 1966-1973 and on par or superior to most.THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 13.5 minutes and was shot at Pismo Beach, a 3-hour drive north of Los Angeles. WRITER: Bill Svanoe.GRADE: B-/C+INSIGHTS ***SPOILER ALERT*** (Don't read further until you see the movie).It has been criticized that it was unlikely that the other hippies would just stand around watching the fight between the father and the lead hippie at the end. But I found it believable because they were all still young and were disillusioned with the direction their leader, Jerry, was taking them. Frank, the captured hippie, said they were supposed to be an alternative family, but Jerry basically ruined it with his dubious Manson-ish leadership wherein he was increasingly turning the group into thugs to survive without getting a job. Plus, with the possible exception of David, I think they all felt bad about how they were treating an innocent and loving family. This can be observed in Frank after DeeDee (Dey) selflessly tends to his forehead wound.

kapelusznik18 ****SPOILERS*** Unusual film depicting the free and peace loving hippies of the 1960's and early 1970's as a bunch of ruthless criminals who terrorize this family, the Glynns, who are out to have a good time on the beach fishing and getting a sun tan. It's Pop the head of the family Neil Glynn, Dennis Weaver, the peace loving adult who at first tries to make peace with the hippie marauders without much success. The hippies who drive around the beach like a bunch of Hells Angels in dune-buggies who think of Neil as a weakling and unmercifully take advantage of him at every opportunity. Neil's son Steve, Kristoffer Tabori, feels unlike his pop that you have to meet fire with fire to deal with these wild hippies who seemed to be overdosing on both beer and weed making them far worse then they are.It takes a while for Neil to realize that trying to be nice to thee hippies isn't what's going to work or keep them from possibly massacring him and his family. It's then that he reluctantly decides to take the gloves off and meet them man to man or, in the case of the weaker sect members of of the hippie gang, man to woman. This leads to the final showdown on the beach with what looked like a martial arts and boxing expert Neil rubbing the head or top dog hippie Jerry's, Scott Hylands, nose in the dirt and having his fellow hippies, men & women, too scared, in seeing what their up against, to come to Jerry's aid.Obviously influenced by the Charles "Sweet Charlie" Manson and his hippie clan's massacre of some half dozen people five years earlier the movie's depiction of hippies or the hippie movement seemed a bid odd since it come out at Manson's trial that he and his gang warn't hippies at all. They including "Sweet Charlie" Manson were a bunch of ex-cons and burned doubt druggies who's only love was for starting up a race war between blacks, whom they framed in their murder spree, and whites! Hardly something that any peace loving hippie would do.

bob_meg I wouldn't say this is even remotely in the league of really great '70s TV movies like "Duel," "Bad Ronald," "Dying Room Only," "Savages," "The Girl Most Likely To...." et al, BUT, that said, it's still a bit more original than the usual made for TV pablum.There are a lot of movies that features gangs of unruly punks waging war on middle-class values but most of them have somewhat of a plot that buoys the movie along. This one doesn't...the hoods harass, annoy, and generally terrorize the family for absolutely no reason all the way through. I think it adds to the tension.When this was released, I guess I was about 10, and at that time, I found it pretty disturbing. Years later, it's a bit dumb, but the weird blow-up doll on the beach, and the animal noises emanating from speakers hidden deep within the family's RV had a perverse touch of sadism that was creative and a bit chilling.Unfortunately, the evil-hippie gimmick, replete with dune buggies, completely diffuses any tension that's been stored...I think I even found it retarded back then.This one's strictly a curiosity, for those who remember when TV movies had some originality and substance.

patlange-4 I can't believe I waste my time watching this garbage! I did because Leonard Maltin gave it an "AA" rating, and for TV movies this is usually a reliable indicator of some quality entertainment.The acting was OK, but whoever wrote it should be forever denied access to any medium of communication. The plot is ludicrous, the motivations of the "bad guys" totally absent, and the various family interactions silly and shallow. For example, Dad preaches that violent reaction to aggression is BAD, but he turns out to be an "admirable" person NOT because of his "ignore the idiots" philosophy, but because he's pretty good with his fists...The ONLY message I was able to glean from this pap was that the nuclear family is Good and alternate living arrangements are Bad. Oh, and Bad people happen to Good people.