Summer Dreams:
The Story of the Beach Boys

Bruce Greenwood as Dennis Wilson: as a teenager (left) and in his late 20s (right).

(1990 made-for-tv movie; originally aired 4/29/90 on ABC)

Bruce Greenwood is top billed as Dennis Wilson, the handsome but wildly excessive drummer for the famed Beach Boys in this dramatized docu-drama based on an unauthorized biography. Focusing primarily on the cocky but doomed Dennis and secondly on the more talented but insecure Brian, the story covers over 20 years of their lives, starting with their abused teen-aged beginnings and continuing through to Dennis' drowning death at 39 from drugs and alcohol. Attractive but self-destructive, Dennis was a womanizer with little control over his own choices, and he ended up alone and broke, hooked on drugs and alienated from three ex-wives and both his brothers.

Although the movie probably tries to cover too much too quickly and the oppressive nature of the story prevented it from being well received, it remains an early career milestone for Greenwood, who gives a riveting and perceptive performance with stunning use of his voice to connote drug use and debauchery. Indeed, the film altered the focus of his career significantly by changing perceptions of him within the industry.

This was a favorite project for the musically inclined Greenwood, who taught himself drumming for the role and even plays the piano and sings an original song in a wonderfully effective scene where he woos his second wife. The film was directed by Michael Switzer from a script by Charles Rosin based on the book "Heroes & Villains: the Story of the Beach Boys" by Steven Gaines. Greg Kean co-stars as his troubled brother, Brian, with Arlen Dean Snyder as their abusive father, Murray.

This title has long been expensively available on video but has recently become harder to find.

Len Hill/Leonard Hill Films/ACI in association with Criss Cross Productions, Inc.

---

Sound Files from Summer Dreams

		You are so Beautiful, pt. 1	47 secs
		You are so Beautiful, pt. 2	59 secs
		Picking up wife #1	43 secs
		Picking up wife #2	51 secs
		Tempting Brian	48 secs
		Dennis examines his life	1 min 38 secs
		Dennis' final moments	33 secs