The best beach moments in movie history
There’s nothing like a big-screen beach scene to make you long for an escape of your own. These five famous films take that inspiration a step further… By ANNABEL BROG
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
Made us want to… book a trip to Thailand
After Roger Moore flew his propeller plane between the twin rocks of Phang Nga Bay to land on Scaramanga’s secret cove, a generation of backpackers booked their tickets to what has subsequently become known as James Bond Island. Then Alex Garland wrote The Beach, and a whole industry was spawned anew.
COCKTAIL
Made us want to… drink from coconuts
Tom Cruise teams up with fellow ‘flair bartender’ Doug (Bryan Brown) to open the ultimate beach bar, Cocktails & Dreams, in Port Antonio, Jamaica. The sand is white, the sea is blue and the vividly colored drinks manage to look simultaneously radioactive and delicious. So irresistible did it appear, that a bar with the same name opened in Queensland, Australia, after the film’s release.
THE BLUE LAGOON
Made us want to… go skinny-dipping
The most alluring element of this 1980 cult film, which launched Brooke Shields’ career, was not its depiction of teenage sexual exploration but the iridescent blue South Pacific Ocean that begged audiences to immerse themselves in its balmy waters. And swimwear? Clearly just an unnecessary construct. Film fact: Shields was only 14 years old at the time of filming, so whenever they weren’t using a body double for the nude scenes, her hair was stuck onto her breasts to avoid revealing too much.
POINT BREAK
Made us want to… try surfing
Kathryn Bigelow’s ultimate buddy-boy beach flick culminates with FBI agent Keanu Reeves confronting armed robber Patrick Swayze on an Australian beach, as the mythical ‘100-year storm’ manifests an epic surf-nirvana wave, into which Swayze is allowed to escape to a perfect death. Dying element aside, we all wanted to feel the rush.
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY
Made us want to… fool around alfresco
It won eight Oscars in 1954, but after watching Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr frolicking in the surf while looking both passionate and comfortable – with no indication that salt and sand are getting anywhere tender – countless generations have tried the same. And learned the hard way that big-screen love often bears no resemblance to the real thing.
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