Boys of Summer (1985)
Lyrics :: Screen Captures
Download as .mpg (29 megs) :: Download as .wmv (11 megs)
"Plot" Summary: An award-winning video which made such an impression in the relatively early days of MTV that to this day, it's the one that most often springs to mind when you ask someone to visualize Don Henley. It shows "retro" fifties-looking family scenes with a deliberate feeling of unreality due to the "set-like" look of the rooms. Behind these scenes, footage of an adult couple frolicking on the beach (reminiscent of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr's famous beach scene in From Here to Eternity) are projected as if on a wall or through a window.
The retro family consists of a little boy (perhaps 10) banging on a drum almost robotically (representative of Henley's youth, perhaps? Aside from the beach scene, this is the most repeated image), a mother with a towel on her head watching the boy, a sister painting her nails, a father in the "office" looking miserable. We also occasionally see male beach volleyball players (mostly their chests; their faces are indisctinct). I guess these young men represent the more literal "boys of summer." In keeping with the retro feel, the entire video is done in black and white. It does a terrific job of translating into visuals the nostalgic / wistful / regretful feel that the song evokes. As indicated by my opening statement, it's a very memorable video.