A group of young adults go for a vacation to Californian shores, along with a pack of booze and a doze of young love in their boat. They end up in Catalina Island, where the atmosphere fulfilled by sex, alcohol and rock'n'roll brings hatred and jealousy between friends and lovers.

Summer Children (shot in 1964) was originally seen only in few American theatres. With the help of Vilmos Zsigmond, the Director of Photography, Summer Children can be seen now digitally restored and remastered.

There's a great crew behind the film. Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter, Black Dahlia) handles the cinematography and Laszlo Kovacs (Psych-Out, New York, New York, Ghost Busters) is the man behind the lighting. It is no surprise, that cinematography and lighting are really a top-notch: the stylish use of shadows, lights and angles can be seen especially in latter part of film, when the scenes take place at night.

Slowly starting Summer Children becomes intense after first half an hour. The jealousy drops shadows to light-weight summer trip, changing the loving atmosphere almost explosive. Influences of film noir combined with moderately erotic feel and untypical nudity (considering the year of production) make the film refreshingly brave of its kind. All this and performances from sixties rock band The Deacons give a special feel to the story, because this film was made few years before The Summer of Love and the hippie movement with sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Relatively unknown actors and actresses are downright believable – you can forgive some minor over-acting, because after all, this is a 45 year old movie. Director James Bruner have succeed in making the characters worth caring. Part of that is because there is no black and white treatment of "good vs bad". Every man has their own faults.

Summer Children may not be a true classic, but it is highly recommended piece of cinema's history. A history that almost disappeared.