White Water Summer (1987)

The story of a shy boy who gets convinced by his parents to spend a few summer days in the mountains. So, he joins a group, and the vacation begins. Unfortunately, things turn out to be a little tough for our small friend.

Director:

Jeff Bleckner

Writers:

Manya Starr, Ernest Kinoy

Stars:

Kevin Bacon, Sean Astin, Jonathan Ward

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Kevin Bacon	...	Vic
Sean Astin	...	Alan
Jonathan Ward	...	Mitch
K.C. Martel	...	George
Matt Adler	...	Chris
Caroline McWilliams	...	Virginia Block
Charles Siebert	...	Jerry Block
Joseph Passerrelli	...	Storekeeper (as Joseph Passerelli)

Storyline

An experienced guide (Vic) accompanies a city boy (Alan) and his three friends on their first wilderness experience. Hoping to teach the four boys lessons not only about the wilderness, but about themselves, Vic pushes them to the limit. Soon after alienating the boys, Vic finds himself in desperate need of help and must rely on his students in order to survive.

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Plot Keywords:

new york city | wilderness | friend | nature | guide | 

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Taglines:

The strong don't give up. The tough don't give in. And the cool don't give a damn.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

A majority of the film was shot in 1985, but to capitalize on a narration of the story, the scenes involving Sean Astin narrating the film were shot in 1987.

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Goofs

When Alan stays with Vic after Vic's leg is broken, Vic also has a nasty cut on his left cheek, with blood appearing to coagulate. Shortly afterwards, before Alan takes Vic down the river, there is no sign the cut ever existed.

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Quotes

Vic: You can't leave me!

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Crazy Credits

At the very end of the credits, instead of a Columbia Pictures logo, there's a text that reads: "THIS IS THE END," with the word "THIS" underlined.

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Connections

Referenced in Best of the Worst: Deadly Prey, Hard Ticket to Hawaii, and Miami Connection (2013)

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Soundtracks

On The Western Skyline
Written by Bruce Hornsby and John Hornsby
Performed by Bruce Hornsby & The Range (as Bruce Hornsby and The Range)
Courtesy of The RCA Records Label of BMG Music

User Reviews

Watch the White Water dripping from the air conditioner!

This movie had potential, but unfortunately director's apathy, a mediocre script, and rushjob editing doomed this weak afterschool drama about boys coming of age in a campers' nightmare. Was it suppose to be funny? Who do we root for...Kevin Bacon as a drifting, needy, sex-deprived Vic, or a bunch of awkward Cub Scout rejects who all took the wrong turn at Albuquerque.

Kevin Bacon has produced finer results (Friday the 13th, Footloose, JFK), but every time I see "Hollowman" I'm always reminded of his twisted Vic character in White Water Summer. WWS did a stint on HBO a few years back, and that's where most people probably saw it. But it's usually eroding under a dripping air conditioner at your local flee market rent-a-flix. Did it ever show at a theatre?

The film: Vic wants to make men of boys, and yearns to school them the hard way...by assuming he is a higher order, and thinking he knows everything there is about wildlife, camping and adventure. There will be no knives, no radio, no weed and no softcore magazines on this journey. What is Vic's primary objective on this trip? It's clearly obvious that his only ambition is to traumatize the young, feeble minds of four teenage boys...and you can thank the parents for forking over their hard-earned dollars for the abuse.

What's so insane about WWS is that you can ALSO get the impression that Vic wants to make a positive impact on these kids' minds and souls. Sean Astin portrays Alan, a quiet, somewhat timid teenager who could've been picking his nose at any middle school in America. He's quite easy to relate to, and you can see clearly why he hates Vic. To Alan Vic is nothing more than your typical 30 year-old lowlife with no direction or purpose. Which is true.

If you want to know more about this oddball flick then just read the other comments by other users who cared more about this movie than I did. Oh yea, one more thing - the soundtrack isn't as great as some of you WWS fanatics make it out to be. Just your typical mid/late 80's "American Anthem-like" softrock. Nothing special or unique in there.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 July 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rites of Summer

Filming Locations:

Cromberg, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$122,934, 12 July 1987

Gross USA:

$300,859

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$300,859

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Polar Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1