Sam Elliott’s Aloha Shirt in Lifeguard

Sam Elliott in Lifeguard (1976) Vitals Sam Elliott as Rick Carlson, charismatic 32-year-old beach lifeguard Southern California, Summer 1975 Film: Lifeguard Release Date: July 23, 1976 Director: Daniel Petrie Wardrobe Credit: Margo Baxley WARNING! Spoilers ahead! Background Before his magnificent mustache and gravely voice made him a mainstay of Westerns, Sam Elliott’s breakthrough performance was in the romantic drama Lifeguard, released fifty years ago today on July 23, 1976. In the half-century since its release, Lifeguard continues to polarize audiences as some praise it as a thoughtful character stufy of American masculinity in crisis while others disregard it as a vapid endorsement of statutory rape. While my own response falls somewhere in between, I do agree with even the film’s detractors that Sam Elliott’s undeniable charisma can’t help but to shine through even the more problematic elements of Ron Koslow’s screenplay. As the filmmakers cycled through potential leads like…