Shag

Shag (1989)
Directed By: Zelda Barron

Written By: Justin Bozung
Mondo Film & Video Guide Co-Founder
IMDb.com Link

I dont’ mind admitting that I enjoy the occasional chick flix every now again.  I am not referring to your typical Hollywood, Sandra Bollocks or Jennifer Anus-Ton movie.  I’m talking about that little seen, flying under the gay-dar chick flix, that a guy likes but doesn’t wanna admit to. Movies like Nancy Savoca’s Dogfight, or Allison Anders, Grace Of My Heart. Those are great fuckin movies!   Usually for guys, there’s that  “ya, it was alright” response to said film or, “that didn’t suck that bad” chatter, when it comes to the Man Of The House being forced by his girlfriend or wife out to the multiplex or video store on a friday night.

Regardless if it’s a horror movie, or a exploitation flix, or a late night softcore pay cable smoothie snack.  Movies can impact you, man or women, cat or dog.  My dog goes crazy, when Disney’s “Cat From Outer Space” comes on television, the same way she goes crazy for Roger Corman’s “Dinosaur Island”  Hey, my dog loves Tits!  What can I say?  Years ago, when I was in my late teens, I was home alone, on a Saturday night.  The house was empty and I was watching late night television, during the summer,  AND I WAS TRIPPING MY BALL SAC OFF!!!!!! In-A-Gadda-Da-Pay-Cable-Movie Channels Baby!   Tripping alone, even… Flying high in acid induced skies!

There wasn’t much to do, I was coming down from the several LSD peaks and valleys one will travel, when suddenly on late night HBO, this film called ” Shag ” came over the boob tube.  In my psychedelic haze of brain freeze, I couldn’t find the remote control, so I just sat there, the arms of LSD holding me down brutally to my parents sofa, I couldn’t even FIGHT to get up, so I  decided to embrace the flix, that CLEARLY looked like Meg Ryan or Diane Keaton was gonna come vomiting and shitting their acting “skills” out of my television screen with.  I’ve always been disappointed that some of the great actresses of the 70′s never got exposed or offered to be part of any of these romantic comedies or chick flix’s as we’ll label them moving forward..  Why wasn”t Dyanne Thorne (Ilsa, She Wolf Of The SS) offered a romantic comedy with Jack Lemmon, or Alan Alda.  Can you imagine “Sleepless in Seattle” made in the 70′s with Warren Oates and Rene Bond. I’d watch that!

Blah..Blah..Blah…Shag (1989) is the story of four female best friends in the early 60′s that spend one last “hurrah” together in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, before they part their separate ways for college, marriage, and the “unknown”.  Featuring a pretty well known cast at the time (Bridget Fonda, Phoebe Cates, Anabelle Gish), the friends set out for a weekend of relaxing, fun, and spending time together.  What happens instead, is a wild weekend, of boys, crazy parties, cruising the strip, and dancing contests (Shagging).  It really can’t get any more gay, especially for this guy who’d rather be watching a Russ Meyer flick, with bouncing acid fueled 3D titties in his face, while the electric kool-aid in his mind melts away..

Sitting through the entire ninety minutes of Shag was something!  You fall in love with the girls, and you get sucked into their world, faster than you can say you’re John Ritter and Pam Dawber in ” Stay Tuned.“  You wish you where there in South Carolina in 1963 with the four them, having this amazing, fun, unforgettable time. It reminds you of some of the best times you’ve had with your real friends, and you don’t wanna lose that or those memories. Shag begins to seep into your blood stream cutting the strychnine by half, as you become part of it, and you don’t wanna leave their world behind, in fact, you never want this feeling or movie to end!  God, I took too much acid.. Holy Smokes!

The film is surprisingly nostalgic, fun, and sentimental.  I was a kid of the 80′s, so I have NO clue exactly what living life in the 60′s was all about, but sitting down to watch “Shag” makes you think that you lived a part of the past that was clearly a beautiful and a much simpler time.  It’s a feel good movie, and while a chick flix, it does make you feel all warm and snuggely inside. Wondering why there is no wiener in your bun, but thankful that their isn’t….

80′s actor’s, Robert Rusler and Scott Coffey make a turn here, and their performances are great. Robert Rusler ( Nightmare On Elm Street 2, Sometimes They Come Back) plays the ultimate Paul Newman hustler type here, as “Buzz”, who obsessively try’s to seduce Phoebe Cates into the sack, whom is engaged to get married after this weekend is over!   You can kinda see who hooks up with who, who marries who, and who bolts off with who to Hollywood with a agent and an Elvis look-a-like,  Mr. Jimmy Valentine!  Scott Coffey, as “Chip”, is your typical boy next door, that falls for the fat, but not quite fat enough girl that you’d turn down some hot hardcore doggy style action with her after a few beers.   Doggy Style in 1963…  CAN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU DIG IT, BROTHERS! Cyrus, would’ve for sure!

As the film comes to a close, and the acid fades while the clock strikes 6am, I gotta admit I was left a little teary eyed, and sad that I was leaving this world behind. It could’ve been the acid, but more than likely, it was a combination of sentiment, nostalgia, the acid, and the fact that Shag is a great movie actually.   Directed by Zelda Barron, it features some increasingly great music as well. Stuff from the 60′s that you know, but can’t tell your buddy right away, who’s song it was.   As the credits began to roll to the knock-off Phil Spector’d wall of sound blasts. I was left drained, and wishing I had recorded this movie onto VHS.   The best thing about HBO back then…They would re-show the movie a least two more times this month!  Next time, I’d like to watch this not under the influence of any heavy psychedelics..

Justin Bozung is the co-founder of The Mondo Film & Video Guide.  You can email him directly at justinb@mondo-video.com

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