Three attractive affluent kids--Sandy (Barbara Hershey), Peter (Richard Thomas) and Dan (Bruce Davison) meet on Fire Island one summer. They all start hanging out with Peter and Dan clearly attracted to Sandy. Then plumb unattractive Rhoda (Catherine Burns) joins the group. Feelings erupt, complication escalate and it all leads to a VERY disturbing ending.It's a coming of age film but a realistic one showing just how vicious teenagers can be. It's well made with superb acting by all four (Burns was nominated for an Academy Award) but I can't say it was a good film. The characters were unpleasant (Sandy is clearly a sociopath) and there are long dull stretches which go nowhere and add nothing to the plot. More than once I wondered where this film was going. However the harrowing final sequence more than made up for it. Be warned--the last part is extreme--the film got an X rating for that alone. So the acting and ultimate message make it worth seeing but it's sometimes pretty slow-going.

Last Summer is a shockingly bold film for its time period (late 1960s) and very well acted, featuring actors who went on to virtual stardom at a time when they were just starting out: Barbara Hershey, Richard Thomas and Bruce Davison. Portraying restless teenagers at Fire Island for the summer, they meet and begin hanging out together, eventually encountering Rhoda (Catherine Burns), a teenager who doesn't quite fit their mold but wants to make friends. And this is where the story really gets moving. As the plot advances, it seems the behavior of the original three becomes increasingly edgy and even cruel. Meanwhile, Rhoda, with her sincerity and vulnerability, senses she is out of place but desperately hangs in to be part of the group, even though she sets herself up for embarrassment, conflict and possibly even danger. Unfortunately, copies of Last Summer are pretty much impossible to find and it is almost never shown on television. I saw it when it was originally released, but the only time I saw it on cable TV was in 2013; to my great disappointment, the print wasn't in letterbox and had been edited for content, reducing both the film's impact and significance.

WARNING: Before you watch "Last Summer", you really need to be warned that the movie is quite adult and has a very traumatic rape scene. Many will find this too troubling--and perhaps it could bring back your own traumatic past experiences as you watch. I am not saying not to watch it--just be aware.As far as the movie goes, it's well made but quite difficult to watch--not just because of the rape but because the characters are quite often jerks--very unlikable jerks. It is set at a beach community on Long Island. Three young people (Barbara Hershey, Richard Thomas and Bruce Davison) meet and soon become friends. However, it soon becomes apparent that there is a lot of sexual tension in these new friendships and a ménage à trois of sorts is in the making. From a voyeuristic point of view, the film is rather stimulating....but any sexual excitement on the part of the viewer may quickly disappear as you begin to see that these people (when together) become jerks. It's as if alone they are normal but together their inhibitions and sense of morality diminishes. Later, when they meet a nerdy and less attractive fourth member of their little group (Catherine Burns), this becomes all the more apparent and the three original members exploit this very vulnerable new member.The acting is competent and the story is decent because it is unique and explores very dark aspects of supposedly 'typical' teens. And, fortunately, while the film has very explicit content, the director manages to hide most of what occurs through creative filming and it is not necessarily exploitational--just very, very dark. Frankly, I did not particularly enjoy the movie--it was a very tough viewing. But, it was well made and hence my overall score of 5.

None of the characters in this movie are very likable. The two guys in it seem spoiled and rather wimpy. Barbara Hershey is young and beautiful and claimed to have this high IQ where there was no evidence of this. The 3 main characters seemed naive at an incredible level that unless they had brain damage it was to hard to believe. Other than smoking some grass there was no talk of anything that happened in the 60's. (Viet Nam, The Draft, Student protests, Music)It seems today that even bad movies in recent years cover teen issues, sexuality, and peer pressure much better than this film did. It falls flat with no build up to an anti-climatic ending which ends in a very mean spirited manner for not much of a reason.