Shag (film)

The film is a lighthearted story of four white teenage girlfriends who escape their middle-class parents for a few days in 1963 for an adventure in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where the big spring festival promises a dance contest, beer blasts, and many cute boys.

Carson McBride (Phoebe Cates) is engaged to the boring son of a business man; Melaina Buller (Bridget Fonda) is a preacher's daughter, but rather promiscuous; Luanne Clatterbuck (Page Hannah) is an uptight, prim, and proper senator's daughter; and Caroline Carmichael (Annabeth Gish), formerly called "Pudge", is self-conscious about her weight. They stay at Luanne's parents vacation home.

At a local club, Melaina hooks up with a man and leaves with him in his car, and then gets attacked and covered in shaving cream by two local girls, whom she earlier overheard talking about a beauty contest; she had told them she'd enter and beat them. Carson and Pudge hang out with Buzz and Chip, while Luanne is trying to escape a boy who wanted to dance with her.

At the car-hop, Buzz begins to flirt with Carson, not caring that she's engaged and she finds herself drawn to him. Pudge asks Chip to let her teach him the shag, and he grudgingly relents. Once the boys take Carson and Pudge home, Carson calls Harley and tells him she's actually in Myrtle Beach, but doesn't tell him she went out with another man.

Pudge is confronted by Chip in the morning while still in her nightgown and rollers, but she is pleased he has come by to see her and she begins their dance lessons. Buzz wakes Carson up by dangling a fly fishing lure in her face and asks her to go fishing with him. Once she tells him nothing will ever happen between them, he agrees and says they should just be friends. Melaina begins practicing her dance routine for the beauty pageant and Luanne walks in on her and shames her into giving a speech from Gone with the Wind instead.

Carson and Buzz are fishing and they begin to get closer as the day wears on, while Chip and Pudge ask each other questions relating to sex and relationships. Buzz tells Carson that he doesn't believe she will marry Harley and forces her to confront her beliefs and rules she's set for herself. The girls later come together to see Melaina enter the contest but instead of using her dance routine and wearing a bikini, she has let Luanne influence her into being a more modest contestant, and she loses to Suette, who wins doing a dance routine in a bikini. Harley arrives during the contest and Carson hides from him, while Luanne seeks him out. Melaina gets the idea to have Luanne use her daddy's name as a Senator to invite Jimmy Valentine to the house for a small party, which turns into a rowdy affair.

Melaina spends the evening dancing with and impressing Jimmy, while Carson spends more time with Buzz, Luanne and Harley get close, and Pudge and Chip get to know each other more. Carson and Buzz go to Luanne's father's yacht and even though he admits he doesn't believe in marriage, they end up sleeping together. Luanne and Harley also realize they have feelings for each other and are more suited than Harley and Carson were. Chip makes a mistake in saying his feelings for Pudge are friendship and she rejects him.

Melaina tries to get Jimmy to pay attention to her once the sun has come up, but he's still drunk and his manager has come to the house to take him away. Melaina realizes the agent is the real celebrity maker and decides to set her sights on him instead. Luanne and Harley wake and are told by the maid that her father and mother are coming to town to judge the shag contest and she sends Chip to pick them up and take them to the pavilion while they repair the damage done to the home. Pudge takes Melaina to the pavilion to meet up with Jimmy's agent and there she sees Chip and realizes that he really does care about her.

Luanne and Harley, along with Buzz and Carson, who snuck back from the yacht, follow Pudge and Melaina to the pavilion in time to see Pudge and Chip enter the contest. Once they all see Luanne's parents, she says she will lie to them about the weekend and Carson berates her for not telling the truth. Luanne says she'll tell them the truth if Carson tells Harley the truth. Carson tells Harley she can't marry him because she's in love with Buzz, and Luanne spills the beans about the two having sex in the yacht. Harley attempts to hit Buzz, who ducks his blow and hits a mirror instead, and Luanne comforts him. Chip and Pudge win the contest and agree to stay in touch while Chip attends Annapolis; Melaina impresses the agent who agrees to take her on as a client; Luanne ends up with Harley; and Carson realizes she does not need to be married to be happy.

• Phoebe Cates as Carson McBride
• Bridget Fonda as Melaina Buller
• Annabeth Gish as Caroline "Pudge" Carmichael
• Page Hannah as Luanne Clatterbuck
• Robert Rusler as Buzz Ravenel
• Scott Coffey as Chip Guillyard
• Tyrone Power, Jr. as Harley Ralston
• Jeff Yagher as Jimmy Valentine
• Carrie Hamilton as Nadine
• Leilani Sarelle as Suette

The film grossed approximately $6.9 million at the U.S. box office. It was not a big hit when initially released and commercially was considered a flop. Despite the film's box office failure, the film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports that, out of 17 critics in total, 65% gave the film a positive review.[2]

Roger Ebert, who gave the film 3 stars, praised the actors of the film, calling them "best of the younger generation in Hollywood, and they treat their material with the humor and delicacy it deserves."[3] TV Guide also enjoyed the actors, who called them "uniformly attractive and energetic, and deliver performances that range from likable to delicious."[4]

The original soundtrack album was released by Sire/Warner Bros Records on August 2, 1989. It was available on vinyl, cassette and CD.

1. "The Shag" – Tommy Page
2. "I'm in Love Again" – Randy Newman
3. "Our Day Will Come" – k.d. lang and The Reclines
4. "Ready to Go Steady" – The Charmettes
5. "Shaggin' on the Grand Strand" – Hank Ballard
6. "Oh What a Night" – The Moonlighters
7. "Saved – La Vern Baker"
8. "I'm Leaving It All Up to You" – La Vern Baker, Ben E. King
9. "Surrender" – Louise Goffin
10. "Diddley Daddy" – Chris Isaak

The initial VHS home video version was released on June 3, 1997. However, legal copyright infringements led to a second VHS release on January 13, 1998, that features different songs, or no music at all in some scenes compared to the original theatrical release. The 1997 home video version has a box cover almost identical to the theatrical poster; the modified copyright-compliant version has different cover artwork.

Shag was released on Region 1 DVD on May 22, 2001. The Blu-ray of the movie was released on June 27, 2017 by Olive Films.

• Shag at IMDb
• Shag at Box Office Mojo
• Shag at AllMovie
• Official movie trailer