Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Excellent adaptation.

Absolutely Brilliant!

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The star of the film was John Jarratt, who freaked a lot of people out a few years ago as Mick Taylor, the psychopathic killer in "Wolf Creek", as well as playing the Sergeant in "Australia". "Summer City" was one of the films made in the 1970s as Australia tried to get back to rebuilding a film industry that collapsed before World War II as the cinema chains found it cheaper to import films than to pay for local films to be made. Up until the late 1960s Australian Governments had no real interest in films, more important things had to be done. We did not get television until 1956 and if Melbourne had not held the Olympics in that year it probably would have been later.

Whoever wrote the last review simply doesn't get the film.While there's a happy-go-lucky veneer to everything, like the surfing, the sex and "larrikin" behaviour (wild young lads basically), that's mostly on the surface. The scenery is actually far from cheery... in fact, it is used on some occasions in ways that could have been straight out of "Twin Peaks" (especially the shots of the sun rising over the sea), if it wasn't for the climate. The menacing Bush (no pun intended) is a common feature in Aussie films, perhaps too much so.As for "slurred slang", this is how Australians speak. Sorry! There is only one part where I couldn't make it out, which is a rude remark Boo makes to a girl in a greasy burger joint. If Americans really need subtitles to work out Australian dialogue, I suggest they go and study the language at night class.Mel Gibson is indeed wrongly touted as the star of the film on the packaging, but he is by no means a "very minor role", in fact he is one of the group of four young men on whom the action is centred, and who witnesses (and keeps quiet about) certain things which are integral to the plot.Also the last reviewer is wrong about it being set in the seventies - it was made then, but from the title sequence, and the music which gets played it's clearly meant to be the sixties! So, I reckon the film has its flaws, but it's an interesting piece - if only to see Mel in his "introducing" role.

This movie was definitely not as great as Braveheart :). But it is interesting to watch for the low-quality. For example, one part of the movie you can not even see the characters it is so dark, and the talking is mumbled; The plot line didn't even really start till about half way through the movie; and the climate did not happen till three minutes to the end, no jokes. But it was funny in the low-quality way, and there were funny moments in the movie.If you watch movies for good character development, special effects or plots; I advise you not to see this movie, unless you are open minded.For all you Mel Gibson fans, like me, you should really see this movie. They might not have it at your local video store, but make sure that you check under all the movie titles it goes by.-Melk

Viewers won't miss much of the 'Summer City' ('Reign of Fear' for us Yanks) plot if they fastforward to the last forty minutes of this movie, as much of the movie is just filled with scenes that look like minute preparation for a string of Mentos commercials. The ample cheery scenery and happy 70s romp music seem very contradictory to the thriller mood. Add to the mix a indiscernable audio (not that the dialogue matters much, anyways) and slurred slang, it is a pretty boring movie. Four friends--I'm not sure if they're supposed to be teenagers (none of them look younger than 25, but there's some scenes where they look like they're at a school dance)-- take a road trip to kick back, hit the pubs, and go surfing. Tension builds among the group between Sandy, a quiet young man who is angered by the obnoxious, womanizing Boo who seduces a teenaged girl while on their trip in one of his usual one night stands. Meanwhile, the girl's psychotic dad is also looking for Boo out of revenge for what he did to his daughter. Boo is in for a major wake up call. This is essentially the only substance of the film, a very simple story with no major drama or action, and even a let down ending. Despite Mel Gibson being heralded as the star of the movie, his named marqueed in large letters, he is pretty inconsequential to the movie, and has a very minor role.What could've been more like a version of "Deliverance," turned out to be a very boring movie that suffers from many faults as far as story and production values.