Summer Girl (1983)

When seductive young Cinni comes to babysit for a troubled couple, she's after more than extra spending money. Starting with the kids and working around to the husband, evil Cinni plots to ... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Michael Lewis (as Robert Lewis)

Writers:

AJ Carothers (teleplay), Caroline Crane (novel)

Stars:

Barry Bostwick, Kim Darby, Martha Scott

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Barry Bostwick	...	Gavin Shelburne
Kim Darby	...	Mary Shelburne
Martha Scott	...	Martina Shelburne
Murray Hamilton	...	Jack Reardon
Millie Slavin	...	Esther Reardon
Diane Franklin	...	Cinni
Hunt Block	...	Peter Mitchell
David Faustino	...	Jason Shelburne
Laura Jacoby	...	Fern Shelburne
Linda Ryan	...	Mrs. Ricks
Benjamin C. Jaus	...	Captain
David Kraul	...	The Sheriff
James Lansbury	...	1st Officer (as Jim Lansbury)
Randy Spangler	...	2nd Officer
Lee Gaber	...	Bus Driver

Storyline

When seductive young Cinni comes to babysit for a troubled couple, she's after more than extra spending money. Starting with the kids and working around to the husband, evil Cinni plots to take over a young mother's life-ruthlessly dealing with anyone who gets in her way.

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Plot Keywords:

child kidnapping | kidnapping | adultery | adulterous husband | license plate | 

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Genres:

Drama

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User Reviews

Fun early 80's made-for-TV movie

This is kind of an interesting TV movie. It was made a little after the "golden age" of American made-for-TV movies, the 1970's when TV movies were still made for a general American prime-time audience, but before the later "Lifetime" era when these kind of movies were aimed exclusively at bored housewives and generally became pretty worthless. This movie does indeed resemble the later theatrical film "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle", but I actually liked it a lot better.

Long-time TV actor Barry Bostwick and Kim Darby, star of of the one the most famous 70's TV horror movies of all time "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark", are a well-off married couple spending the summer at a beach house with their two children (the boy, David Faustino, would later play "Bud Bundy" on the TV series "Married with Children"). Darby's character is pregnant so they hire a teenage babysitter to help out at the beach house and take care of the children. Although she looks rather plain at the interview, the babysitter turns out to be Dianne Franklin, who men of a certain age will definitely remember for her sexy appearances in "The Last American Virgin" and "Amityville 2: the Possession", although she also had more wholesome, comedic roles in movies like "Terrorvision" and "Better Off Dead", and she had played the lead in the made-for-TV slasher movie "Deadly Lessons". Anyway, Franklin's sexy sitter "Cindy" models a number of butt-hugging swimsuits and extreme 80's short-shorts. The drunken next door neighbor, an elderly-looking Murray Hamilton (the mayor in "Jaws"), remarks on her "hot little body", and even the Bostwick character's mother who comes to visit mentions her "cute little bottom". It's not too surprisingly therefore that she is able to seduce a young, hunky Bostwick away from his comparatively frumpy wife. But in typical melodramatic TV movie fashion she also wins away the loyalty of the children and plots to take the wife's place in the family. Oh yeah, and she also casually murders a couple people.

This movie was made a good ten years before "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle", but after the similar early 80's TV movie "The Babysitter" with William Shatner, Patty Duke, and Stephanie Zimbalist. It's probably the best of the three though thanks to very solid performances by Darby and Franklin. None of these films are particularly believable and they're all pretty cheesy, but this one especially is a lot of fun.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 April 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Summer Girl

Filming Locations:

Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bruce Lansbury Productions, Finnegan Associates, Roberta Haynes Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1