Pretty but restless, disturbed girl on Fire Island wields power and influence over two teenage boys and one plain-Jane, resulting in tragedy. Barbara Hershey, with her sharp-edged impatience and schizophrenic demeanor, is both luminous and foreboding, though the real star of the show turns out to be Gerald Hirschfeld and his striking cinematography. The script, based on Evan Hunter's novel, isn't pretentious but neither does it make any lasting conclusions (it's just a throwaway). The kids are shallow and vapid, even Catherine Burns as the Voice of Reason, and nothing in the dialogue seems to propel their intentions; it's all a director's conceit. Still, the ambiance and the well-considered build-up to the inevitable finale are captured vividly, and I could not take my eyes off Hershey: feral at times, sexual, and wild on the beach. **1/2 from ****
Review of Last Summer
