Zuma Beach
Genre	Comedy Drama
Written by	John Carpenter William A. Schwartz (teleplay)
Story by	John Herman Shaner & Al Ramrus
Directed by	Lee H. Katzin
Starring	Suzanne Somers Steven Keats Mark Wheeler Kimberly Beck
Music by	Dick Halligan
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Daniel H. Blatt Edgar J. Scherick
Producers	Bruce Cohn Curtis Brian Grazer
Cinematography	Héctor R. Figueroa
Editors	Bobbie Shapiro Robert L. Swanson
Running time	98 minutes
Production companies	Bruce Cohn Curtis Films, Ltd. Edgar J. Scherick Associates Warner Bros. Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 27, 1978 (1978-09-27)

Zuma Beach is a 1978 TV movie written by John Carpenter and William Schwartz, directed by Lee H. Katzin and starring Suzanne Somers.^[1][2]

Plot

A fading rock singer goes to the beach to get away from it all and winds up getting involved in the lives of the teenage beachgoers.

Cast

• Suzanne Somers as Bonnie Katt
• Steven Keats as Jerry McCabe
• Mark Wheeler as David Hunter
• Kimberly Beck as Cathy
• Perry Lang as Billy
• Michael Biehn as J.D.
• Biff Warren as Norman
• Les Lannom as Stan
• Rosanna Arquette as Beverly
• Gary Imhoff as Frank
• Leonard Stone as Johnson
• Steve Franken as Rick
• Richard Molinare as Frank
• Tanya Roberts as Denise
• P.J. Soles as Nancy
• Timothy Hutton as Art
• Janus Blythe as Jennifer

History

Suzanne Somers' fame was rising due to the success of the sitcom Three's Company, and she wanted to star in movies. Although a lightweight TV movie, Zuma Beach provided Somers with her first starring movie role.^[3][4]

John Carpenter wrote the script for a producer "who just said he wanted a beach movie." He sold it to Warner Bros., and it became a TV movie to star Suzanne Somers. Carpenter said he "was going to direct it, for about 10 seconds, but one of my mentors, Richard Kobritz...helped me see I didn’t want to do it. It was vastly rewritten, so I really shouldn’t have taken credit for it, but I was a little asshole in those days."^[5]

Tim Hutton had one of his first roles in the film.^[6]

Reception

The Los Angeles Times praised the naturalness of Somers' performance.^[7]