Beach Babes Rock On!

Rating: 1/10 (5 January 2005)

Inspired by the work of Troy Donahue, Petersen's movie not only pays eponymous homage to the late American actor but rightly sets itself in the cinematic environment Donahue made his own: the beach.
Although there's an unexpected shortage of actual beach blankets, and the music isn't quite as catchy as the transistor-driven harmonies I remember, everything else is pretty much there: semi-clad bodies, bronzed skin, waves, surf, sunshine and sand. Oh, and even: sandals.
What's especially gratifying is the production quality, echoing as it does the primitive processing of Troy's own movies, where so many beach-side shots were obviously studio back-clothed. Less satisfying is the absence of any celebration of Sandra Dee, but that oversight is more than compensated for by the script's utter absence of interest -- again, a truly authentic touch.
As before, the older generation clashes with the younger, there are fights aplenty between bad dudes and good dudes, and Petersen even takes time out from the one-set staging to actually go into town, albeit his recreation of Malibu isn't quite the way I'd've done it.
But all is redeemed by the performances, every one of which is epically awful and thus in keeping with the standards set in the Donahue movies.
And yes! Brad Pitt IS Troy!!!!