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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLXFa_rW3NI&feature=share – Possibly the true originator of the surf movie, Bruce Brown in this film showed what a DIY filmmaker out to create his own genre could do. While the narration is hokey, the shots are achingly, stunningly beautiful. They chronicle a world long, long gone, making this a matter of historical record and immensely valuable, even if it’s full of their nutty viewpoints.
The film starts off slow, showing plenty of background on what the beach scene was like in those days. “Only a handful of surfers ride these big waves. Half of them are sportsmen, the rest are nuts.” Two of our surfers go off for a trip around the world, and they start off in Africa. Despite being good boys, they let their views be known on their visit to Senegal, when they note that “being good Africans, they threw rocks” in greeting.” Dubious. Still, it’s interesting to see how our little California boys get around. They engage a village chief, who is not a natural surfer, but somehow someone gets it going. They note the primitive village, the expensive hotel, the difficulty of getting a surfboard into an African taxi, and the jungle. “Most of these people had never seen a white man before.” They go to Ghana, the go to Agip gas station and get ripped off (a gip), “people came to the beach with their lunch and the kids and still had two hands free.” RIOT!!!
They note that the temperature of the water in Nigeria was the same as the air – 91 degrees fahrenheit (32 degrees celsius – they make the same point in Endless Summer 2 when they are in Costa Rico); no way to cool off even in the water if it’s that hot. There’s also plenty of death in the seas – “step on a stone fish, you die in 15 minutes.” And there’s all the corny jokes – like the “Terrence of Africa”, with Lawrence Of Arabia imagery and music. Ha ha. The boys surf down a few sand dunes, which looked like a lot of fun, before finding a new surf spot of their own in the middle of Africa. They went to New Zealand in 1965, when there were 2 million people in the whole country… and 10 million sheep. Bruce shows some amazing waves can let a surfer just go on forever, apparently, Bruce just included a short part of rides that went on and on for 15 minutes!! And in Tahiti they could take waves out as well as back in again. “There are no waves in Tahiti.” Bonus features: Interviews with Bruce Brown and the guys who were in Endless Summer. Talking about how the film made surfing legitimate for 40 minutes, self-congratulatory but with some new good music, as well as many repeated scenes.
Yes, that’s right – the music is just great, and so is the cover graphic of three people posing with their boards! Everything about this film is wonderful, except maybe the languid pace, and some of the corny jokes. But you really get a sense of innocence from surfers who never smoke or drank, and who had short hair and no tattoos, just the months of golden sunshine permanently tattooed onto the bodies. Nice.
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A four-disc Bruce Brown collection exists that contains only one of the films he made after Endless Summer (it’s called Endless Summer 2, where Bruce re-visits the beaches he went to in Endless Summer) as well as six short films made before Endless Summer.
Endless Summer 2 – Nice follow-up to Endless Summer, starts off with surfing wipe-outs, surfing dogs, a Texas wave machine, two Alaska surfers, surfing with grizzlies, and all sorts of other nutty surf-related stuff, along with the usual droll commentary. Catching up with Robert August from the first film, then heading down to a desolate beach in Costa Rica, a nice Costa Rican party, and then a wicket seaplane crash landing! Surfin’ five-year-olds, and all sorts of other nuttiness. Nice musical variety this time around with guitar, sax-y jazz, and other stuff. Return to the beaches of Africa – in the first film there had been an empty beach, now they have 1,000 luxury condos, and altered surf conditions (so long pristine surf spot). We meet Walter the surfing Zulu who can’t swim. They throw in some comic relief with a contrived lion safari story of a stalled car. Nice. There’s a day of incredible rides in Fiji, and some cool Tangerine Dream-ish underwater zones. “In Australia you go to the pub. You just do. There’s one pub for every two Australians.” There’s a river rafting tour, and then some commentary about Indonesia. “Bali is the most densely populated place on earth. Java ditto. Java has more poisonous places than anywhere else.” Uh, well… not true.
It’s good to get back to Bruce Brown’s world, especially for a non-surfer like me. I love opportunities like this that really let you live someone else’s life.
Slippery When Wet – A slow-moving early Bruce Brown documentary that includes 15 minutes of set-up to what surfing is. “In the beginning…” Some nice comic relief from Mooks. going to Hawaii with fantasies in mind. Crab grabs a cigarette but. Some tandem surfing, and a nice wipe-out collection.
Surf Crazy – Huntington Beach has a surf club of its own, its founder is a guy called Lightning!! Highway 101. Sand dune surfing. Great cars. Pretty girl skirts. Breaks lots of surfboards for nutty prank stunts. Lightning shows up many many times. Stupid balsa wood plane with bottle rocket interlude. Modern guitar rock has been added to the end, not sure why.