Standard coming of age flic. As opposed to, say, "Dazed And Confused" the soundtrack is the star here while the characters and story tend to Southernoid cliche, (Annabeth Gish honorably excepted). Give it a generous C plus 'cause it's got some good acting, especially from Gish, Bridget Fonda and Phoebe Cates.

Although it has taken myself thirty two (32) long years to catch this film on the TCM (Turner Classic Movies) channel I really enjoyed the simplicity of the story line and the brilliant films' color that the film producers, Palace Pictures utilized. The soundtrack was a classic and rather than the typical storyline that evolves around young men, this particular jocular Romedy focuses on four (4) young ladies who take an adventurous trip by a convertible car to sunny Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to have some fun before one of the young ladies named Carson (Phoebe Cates) gets married although she has recently felt some second thoughts about her upcoming nuptials.

The other three (3) ladies fool Carson about where they are really going until their convertible drive is well underway and Carson realizes that her friends are taking her on a quasi bachelorette party. Each lady has her heart swept away by a man that they initially object to, but the young men are persistent and each of the four (4) ladies finds their destiny in a relationship they were not expecting.

The acting is exceptional and before you know it you will think that you are at. Myrtle Beach enjoying the sun, fun and music alongside this very wide range of youthful vigor dancing to the Shag.

If any of the original producers read my review I hope you are listening and are open to the idea of a sequel possibly set in the year of 2000 which would be thirty seven (37) years forward from when the original film was set in 1963. We could see if the eight characters are still together with their significant partner(s) and/or they have divorced and moved on with their lives and what does their future in the new millennium of 2000.look like?

I give Shag a highly effective 7 out of 10 IMDB rating for this Romedy film.

A slow moving film about 4 friends: "Carson" (Phoebe Cates), "Pudge" (Annabeth Gish), "Melaina" (Bridget Fonda) and "Luanne" (Page Hannah) who decide to take one last fling in Myrtle Beach, SC before going their separate ways. Although the music was standard for the year it was supposed to represent (1963), for some reason this film failed to capture the right feel for this particular time period. Perhaps it was the crude and vulgar manner in which the young adults carried themselves or the bikinis that some of the ladies wore. But something didn't seem right to me. I could maybe visualize some of this wild and ill-mannered behavior on the West Coast--but not in Dixie during this particular period. Also, the Southern accents were a bit too thick and heavy which made everything seem a bit phony. Even so, Annabeth Gish and Scott Coffey (as "Chip") turned in good performances as did Bridget Fonda to a lesser degree. But other than that the acting was mediocre. All things considered then, it was a decent film worth watching if you're a fan of the early-60's or if you enjoy beach movies.