How I Spent My Summer Vacation

How I Spent My Summer Vacation is an all but incomprehensible made-for-TV crime melodrama, rescued by the engaging performances of its stars. Robert Wagner plays a handsome ex-GI determined to wreak vengeance on millionaire Peter Lawford, who caused Wagner to suffer public humiliation. Getting himself invited for a cruise on Lawford's yacht, Wagner dallies with the millionaire's bikini-clad daughter Jill St. John before returning to the matters at hand. It turns out that Lawford has been involved with an international political conspiracy, all evidence of which is destroyed by coconspirator Walter Pidgeon, to whom Wagner has been relating his story in flashback. The story ends with the destruction of Lawford's yacht, followed by a closeup of Robert Wagner winking at the audience. We can understand this last gesture, for Wagner and the filmmakers have certainly put one over the unlucky viewers who wasted two hours watching How I Spent My Summer Vacation. For the record, the film was released theatrically in Europe as Deadly Roulette. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide