LIFEGUARD

USA | 1976 | DCP | 96 min.
Director: Daniel Petrie
Cast: Sam Elliott, Anne Archer, Kathleen Quinlan
At 32, Southern California lifeguard Rick (Elliott), is not exactly what you’d call ambitious. Facing pressure from friends and family to “get serious” and make a career change, Rick finds himself torn between his super casual beach-centric lifestyle and the call of adulthood. Complicating matters on either side are Wendy (Quinlan), a 17-year-old with a serious crush, and Cathy (Archer), an old high school flame, now divorced and entertaining dreams of settling down with man-child Rick. Director Petrie’s low-key charmer is, above all, a definitive showcase for Sam Elliott, who, in 1976, arrived at the apex of his leading-man SoCal charisma. (BR)