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Spring Break (1983)

I’m hardly going to be the one to excoriate the makers of 1980s sex-fueled quasi-comedies for their work. Sure,these films were about as easily forgotten as the heaps of bad slasher flick sequels and wanna-bes that ALSO populated the cinemas over(mostly)the summers of that era. I mean,to be sure,I probably watched quite a few of these films,albeit on cable or on video,and I know I got exactly what I wanted out of them:cheap laughs and some eyefuls of fine looking,supple young female bodies.

But I suppose my biggest gripe with this particular film is that it seemed like the makers of this film really weren’t concerned AT ALL with anything BUT the sex scenes,wet T-shirt contests and the beach shots of anonymous hot bodies. The actual comedy that it purportedly tries to convey is so much an afterthought that the gags and punchlines seem forced and embarrassing to the actors involved in them.

The story here(As if it needs much explaining)is where a young stepson(David Knell) of a local politician(Dobald Symington),who,along with another clean-cut rich buddy friend(Perry Land)go out,beyond the wishes of the politician step-dad,and head for Fort Lauderdale,Florida. Once there they share a hotel space with two near-Neanderthal college dudes(PAul Land and Steve Bassett,a little TOO convincing at it)who decide to show their outsider roomies a good time. NAturally,the two clean lads will find love instead of instant sex(though they’ll find THAT too;remember,this IS the ’80s)in the arms of hot-yet-sympathetic lasses played by Corinne Wahl and JAyne Modean. Veterna actor Richard Schull is there as a private detective dispatched by the politico to track his stepson,but is truly there as a punchable,doofy comic foil.

Director Sean S. Cunningham,probably more famous for directing the first and ninth in the Friday the 13th series(among other films),helms this pic and looks pretty unfamiliar with comedy in this effort. I came away more obsessed with the hot bods,like Wahl,Modean,one day up-and-coming starlet Nikki(then Bobbi)Fritz and Rhonda Flynn,than I was with most of the people in this flick. Worth a look for the light,sun-kissed sex content and not much more,which,when you consider the movie poster,the title and the plot summary is probably all that it intends to be