...gives this film only one out of four stars, yet does go on to say it has as much to say as The Deer Hunter.
Too true and also this film is more entertaining, engaging and moving than the Derr Hunter. Shame Cimino got all the plaudits for that film and this film bombed. Just think it how much better cinema would have been if it was the other way around, we might have been spared Heavens Gate.
His full quote was "It isn't clear whether the intent is to extol or deride the mystical camaraderie of surfing, but for those who can stand rumbustious beach behaviour this curious movie may have at least as much to say as The Deer Hunter."
The star rating system in Halliwell's Film Guide is not the same as it may be for other critics. A star (or stars) are only given for films he felt had some merit, and most films he reviewed don't get a star. Not getting a star doesn't necessarily mean he thought it was a bad film, he just thought that it wasn't particularly memorable. Therefore getting even one star is something of an achievement. A film with one star means that he felt it may not have been satisfying as a whole but that it might be a flawed giant of a film or have some decent ideas in it (he also gave The Deer Hunter one star). Two stars means a good level of competence and a generally entertaining film, three stars means a very high standard, and four stars is considered outstanding (a rarity for Halliwell).
I never put too much importance on things like Halliwell's Film Guide when it comes to determining a film's value because it's all about personal taste. When he was still alive and writing his guides, Leslie Halliwell could be extremely dismissive and patronising about film. Partly it's because you can't fit a full film review for every film into one of his guides as it doesn't have the space that newspaper critics do, therfore his reviews appear to be quite flippant. But Halliwell was infamous for disliking most modern cinema (i.e. the 1970s onwards) which is silly if you want to be taken seriously as a critic, and while a lot of films deserve scorn, I think there are some that he simply did not understand or were not to his personal taste. Like all critics and their reviews, they are just one persons opinion.