The Blue Lagoon

"A story of natural love."

1980 1h 44m EN

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 2,099

AdventureDramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Two small children and a ship's cook survive a shipwreck and find safety on an idyllic tropical island. Soon, however, the cook dies and the young boy and girl are left on their own. Days become years and Emmeline and Richard make a home for themselves surrounded by exotic creatures and nature's beauty. But will they ever see civilization again?

“A story of natural love.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Brooke Shields
Emmeline
Christopher Atkins
Richard
Leo McKern
Paddy Button
William Daniels
Arthur Lestrange
Jeffrey Kleiser
Lookout
Gus Mercurio
Officer
Elva Josephson
Young Emmeline
Glenn Kohan
Young Richard

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Randal Kleiser
Writers: Douglas Day Stewart
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $59M — a 13.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

46 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Blue Lagoon Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Randal Kleiser, shot by Néstor Almendros. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Basil Poledouris. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Robert Gordon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins and Leo McKern carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Randal Kleiser directs. Néstor Almendros behind the camera. Basil Poledouris scores. Robert Gordon cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $59M — a 13.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
346 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "The Blue Lagoon Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Randal Kleiser, shot by Néstor Almendros. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Basil Poledouris. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Robert Gordon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins and Leo McKern carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "A story of natural love.".
10IMDB entry: tt0080453 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 13 themes, including "sexual identity", "shipwreck", "melancholy", "lovers".
12Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Néstor Almendros
Original score: Basil Poledouris
Editing: Robert Gordon
Costume design: Jean-Pierre Dorléac
Sound: Tom Beckert
Runtime: 104 min · 1h 44m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,500,000
Box office: $58,853,106
Return: 1308% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Blue Lagoon (1980)

Awards

Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

The Blue Lagoon Collection

A romance and adventure collection about two young children marooned on a tropical island.

Also by

Randal Kleiser

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

enjoy_jer2019-07-22
★ 5/10
The film starts out with a pretty good plot and storyline, but as the film continues, it just seems to drag on. It needed to move at a quicker pace, or modify the storyline to keep the watchers attention and interest. I’ve seen it all the way through once(1x), after that I always leave the movie 50-75% complete. RATING: 2.5 / 5
Animal_King2026-05-21
★ 1/10
One of the worst things I have ever watched, even worse, is that there are a bunch of people that think this pretentious bit of trash is some great artist masterpiece. And don't come at me like I'm just not getting it. What? Because it tells a love story free from societal norms? Because it might be seen as some sort of weird retelling of Adam and Eve, even having forbidden fruit, and then only entering into the 'real' world after eating them? It's absurd, I felt sick watching this, it felt more like the writer was just getting away with his fetish story. This is 80s equivalent of cuties "Oh two cousins trapped alone on an island, slowly edging each other until they bang, and she gets pregnant, oooh yeahh thats good" I don't care if they make them related because "Oh eve was made from adam, they kind of related" NO they didn't need to be, they could have been friends, they could have known banging leads to kids and through love or some bs and they still decide to do it. Idk maybe it is mandatory they be related and they don't understand sex/consequences of sex. Maybe it is mandatory that he kind of just tries to rape her a few times, but film seems treat it like it's okay becuase she might be into him anyways?? Maybe that is all mandatory but the racism I really wasn't needed, "Oh yes the natives dress like orcs and kill people at alters" what did that add to the story?? They don't even interact with the cousins. They could have totally never been shown and the story would be basically the same. "Oh art is meant to shock and question your understa-" no stfu, this movie isn't a complex masterpiece just because it challenges societal norms in unrealistic scenarios, if that's all you need then pornhub would have won more oscars. The imagery and metaphors are surface level and have little to no pay off. I think the only reason this sold well in theaters was because people back then couldn't see out there sick fantasies on the internet yet.