Summer Night Fever (1978)

Finally, summer, finally, school holidays! The two friends Peter and Freddy want to travel to Ibiza to enjoy the sun, the sea, and, of course, plenty of girls. They set off in Freddy’s car, and Peter supposedly has accommodation arranged there. But the problems begin before they even leave, because Freddy’s younger sister Vicky is determined to come along. The two boys, who see Vicky as nothing more than a little nerd with ugly braces and glasses, have no desire to take her. At a rest stop, the two would-be lady-killers meet two attractive women, but they don’t get lucky because braces-wearing Vicky scares the pretty girls away just by being there. The nearly seventeen-year-old is now completely out of favor with the boys, and Peter, with his hormones in overdrive, would be especially glad to get rid of her as soon as possible. While Peter spends the rest of the trip desperately trying his luck with women—determined to reach the magic number of 100 conquests this summer, but not getting even a millimeter closer to his goal—the quiet Freddy racks up one conquest after another, thanks to various circumstances and his intriguing shyness. During their first overnight stop, the three eat at a restaurant. An attractive blonde flirts with Peter until Vicky, who has taken off her braces and cheap-looking glasses—though the boys don’t realize it—clings to him like a little monkey. The woman then turns her attention to Freddy, who thereby gets his first conquest. In Monte Carlo, Vicky meets Jacky, a much older playboy, at the marina and boastfully introduces him to her companions as her lover. The handsome man doesn’t mind the little white lie, since, unlike the two immature boys, he can see past her nerd façade. To spend more time with Vicky, he invites her and her two companions to a beach party. Here Peter thinks he is finally going to get lucky when he meets Helga, Jacky’s shapely wife, who sends unmistakable signals with an erotic dance. Peter is sent away to fetch more champagne. In doing so, he unwittingly interrupts the playboy’s unwanted attempt to get closer to Vicky. Meanwhile, Jacky’s wife has already made a move on Freddy, who gets to take another centimeter off his tailor’s tape measure. The following day, Freddy spots his attractive mathematics teacher sunbathing topless on the beach. She had recently failed him in his final exam. In case he might want revenge someday, he quickly takes a few photos of her. When she notices, she first takes the photos from him, but then gives them back and arranges to meet him at a nightclub that evening. At sunrise, the two go to the beach and swim naked. The jealous beach-chair attendant had also had his eye on the mathematics teacher, so he hides both their clothes. Freddy decides to break into a nearby house to find replacement clothes and gets caught up in an affair involving the lady of the house, which is abruptly interrupted by her husband’s return. While the woman tries to placate her suspicious husband with sex, Freddy lies naked beneath the marital bed with her lover. Once they reach Spain, the three travelers from Germany buy a melon from a street vendor and eat it in the shade. Their car is stolen, but after a long walk they meet the pretty Inez in the next town. She owns a red sports car and immediately catches Peter’s interest. This does not please Vicky at all, since she has fallen in love with Peter during their time together. Disappointed in Peter, who is simply too stupid to recognize the real Vicky, she runs off when they arrive in Ibiza and heads to Ibiza’s party beach (Platja de ses Salines), where she is immediately propositioned outright, which does not suit her. In Ibiza, Peter’s supposed place to stay turns out to be a mirage, making Freddy so angry that, at Peter’s request, he gives him a black eye. Inez, who had foreseen the deception based on Peter’s description, offers them her place to stay, which turns out to be a luxurious villa. It belongs to a wealthy dentist from Madrid, for whom the self-assured Inez works as an assistant. Battered Peter gets nowhere, while the next day Freddy takes off another four centimeters, until Peter points out to him that the measurement is per woman. The next morning, at breakfast at the Mary y Sol in the port of Eivissa, Inez and her (impotent) dentist pass by and invite the two of them to a pool party. When the boys decline, saying they would rather look for Vicky, the dentist replies that if Vicky is on Ibiza, she’ll be at the party. Vicky is indeed at the party and resists Peter’s attempt to take her away so she can finally become “sensible.” When Vicky asks why, the penny finally drops for Peter too, and he admits to her—and to himself—that he loves her.