The Beach Boys: An American Family 

This movie re-creates the life stories of the members of the rock group "The Beach Boys". The film focuses primarily on the Wilson brothers and their parents, but also includes stories ... See full summary »

Stars:

Frederick Weller, Matt Letscher, Nick Stabile

Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Frederick Weller	...	Brian Wilson 2 episodes, 2000
Matt Letscher	...	Mike Love 2 episodes, 2000
Nick Stabile	...	Dennis Wilson 2 episodes, 2000
Ned Vaughn	...	Al Jardine 2 episodes, 2000
Ryan Northcott	...	Carl Wilson 2 episodes, 2000
Amy Van Horne	...	Marilyn Rovell 2 episodes, 2000
Jad Mager	...	Nik Venet 2 episodes, 2000
Wendy Phillips		2 episodes, 2000
Kurt Fuller	...	Mike Love's Dad 2 episodes, 2000
Alley Mills	...	Audree Wilson 2 episodes, 2000
Kevin Dunn	...	Murry Wilson 2 episodes, 2000
Raegan Kotz	...	Deborah Jameson 2 episodes, 2000
Vanessa Dorman	...	Amy Love 2 episodes, 2000
Eric Matheny	...	Chuck Britz 2 episodes, 2000
Clay Wilcox	...	Tommy Schaeffer 2 episodes, 2000
Anthony Rapp	...	Samuel Pierce 2 episodes, 2000
Claire Rankin	...	Diane Rovell 2 episodes, 2000
David Spielberg	...	Irving Rovell 2 episodes, 2000
Annie Abbott	...	May Rovell 2 episodes, 2000
James Intveld	...	Hal Blaine 2 episodes, 2000
Harris Laskawy	...	Voyle Gilmore 2 episodes, 2000
Denise Faye	...	Nik's Secretary 2 episodes, 2000
Lara Del Arte	...	Groupie 2 episodes, 2000

Storyline

This movie re-creates the life stories of the members of the rock group "The Beach Boys". The film focuses primarily on the Wilson brothers and their parents, but also includes stories about the rest of members of the band. A two-part television movie special.

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Plot Keywords:

surf music | drinking | tv mini series | physical abuse | nervous breakdown | 

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Taglines:

As a band they rose to stardom. As a family they fell from grace.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Music

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 February 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Beach Boys: An American Family

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

240 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During scenes in which Brian Wilson (Frederick Weller) is demoing "I Get Around" and "In My Room," the real Brian Wilson contributes the vocal, recorded specifically for this film. However, an uncredited Jeffrey Foskett, a member of Wilson's touring band, provides the high notes during the "In My Room" demo.

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Goofs

During a scene in the second half of the miniseries, Mike Love's mustache starts to fall off when he's in bed and talking with his wife.

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Quotes

Mike Love: You know what this is? Acid literation.
[Rips up song lyrics]
Mike Love: I'm not singing this psychadelic crap!

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Alternate Versions

A shorter version later aired on ABC. The character representing Van Dyke Parks was renamed.

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Soundtracks

SURFER GIRL
Written by Brian Wilson
Performed by The Beach Boys

User Reviews

excellent portrayal of the beach boys...

Being an avid Brian Wilson enthusiast, I bought an emmy judge's copy of this movie from someone on Ebay, and it was a real treat, to say the least.

Of course, you may think that because I'm somewhat partial to the founding member of the beach boys, I'd like this movie whether it was a dog or not. Not true; I happen to be more into film than I am into music.

The most notable aspect of The Beach Boys: An American Family is it's quality being made for TV. I originally saw this in 2000, and I didn't expect much, but I remember being impressed even back then. The performances are top notch. The guy who played Mike Love is a dead ringer for the real life guy and SPEAKS with the exact same inflections and -isms as the REAL Mike Love from the 60s. Fred Weller did an extraordinary job playing Brian; he got the character nailed right down to the funny way the Real Brian Wilson speaks and sings out of the corner of his mouth. In terms of performances, however, Kevin Dunn (who played the Boys' abusive father, murry) stands out as easily the best. It would have been easy to make Murry over-the-top, but Kevin makes sure that the audience sees the conflict in Murry's character and that, deep down, he really does love his sons. The movie is quite long, and even so some parts did feel a little clipped, but the only person who'd notice the difference between the pace of the movie and how things occurred in real life are the beach boys/ Brian Wilson fans who already know the story by heart. This is, after all, a movie, and some events are dramatized and others downplayed to make it more "hollywood", which sounds quite evil but actually works quite nicely on-screen.

All in all, I have but two complaints. The first is the singing, and I know that I'm perhaps asking for too much, but it would've been nice to hear some actual music recreation rather than lip synching (although how could you recreate something so magical, accurately?) This problem gets exceptionally bad during certain scenes where Fred Weller "sings" and it's obviously 56-year-old Brian Wilson doing the vocals. Secondly, the movie simply ends too soon. It ceases during the mid 70s when Brian was sort of doing better, but soon after the end of the movie's timeline, he slips back even worse and almost dies. He's rescued again, however, in a highly dramatic effort by his doctor, Gene Landy, and lives to tour again. Dennis drowns, and Carl eventually succumbs to cancer. But then again, the movie is 2 hours long already. At any rate, it's a great movie to watch. Perhaps one day they'll make a sequel that highlights the latest events in the Beach Boys' tumultuous career. God only knows if that'll ever happen, but then, Wouldn't it be nice?