Sam Elliott has said that his outspoken criticism of Paramount’s marketing for the 1976 drama *Lifeguard* may have damaged his prospects as a leading man. The studio promoted the film as a light, sexually charged beach picture, while Elliott believed it was a more serious story about a lifeguard confronting middle age and his future; he later said his confrontational press-tour remarks had “fucked” his career.

*Lifeguard* starred Elliott as Rick Carlson, a long-serving California beach lifeguard, and was one of his earliest major leading roles. During a six-week promotional tour, he repeatedly challenged interviewers’ expectations of the film and objected to its poster, which depicted him in Speedos with women and the tagline “Every girl’s summer dream”; Elliott felt this public disagreement with the studio led Hollywood to view him as difficult.