The Endless Summer
The greatest surf movie ever made. "On any day of the year it is summer somewhere in the world..." Go with Robert August and Mike Hynson as they follow the summer season to Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii and California in search of the perfect wave. Still the ultimate surf film of all time!
The definitive surf movie, this 1966 documentary by Bruce Brown is beautifully shot and thrilling to see in its portrait of youthful freedom on the world's shores. Brown followed two surfers around the globe in their quest for the perfect wave, finding it eventually on a remote beach far from home. The narration by "Big Kahuna Brown" cuts through the reverence a bit, being cheeky in tone. --Tom Keogh
The Endless Summer Accessories
 The Endless Summer II
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Big Wednesday
Billabong Odyssey
Thicker Than Water
Riding Giants (Special Edition)
Jack Johnson - September Sessions
North Shore
Singlefin: Yellow
On Any Sunday - Re-Mastered-Director's Special Edition 2 Disc Set
The Endless Summer Reviews
There is nothing offensive about this movie socially, but the left wing PC'ers of the world would not let these guys describe the world so accurately. Makes me want to walk out on my job, grab my son and surfboard and travel the world surfing. It is not only a fantastic surfing movie; it is a fantastic look at the world in 1968. They couldn't say what they say in this movie today. As far as I am concerned, this is the all time best manly movie about surfing around the world. It would NOT be PC.
Around the world. Thanks.
Where. For people who live in a hot summer climate, I live in Texas, this is a classic escape flick.
On my computer I found modern day pictures of the fellows. JM
Yes, each had changed from their appearance in the early years of the 1960's, but much fun to view the DVD. It is a perennial favorite.
Two fellows who are well liked, and a great narratorsearching for the perfect wave for their surfing.
ENDLESS SUMMER was such a film for me. just bumming around, was inherently intriguing to me. For years I had labored under the impression that the two guys at the heart of this documentary were the hardcore, near-beatnik beachbums who would spend their entire lives on this kind of quest. It debuted in 1966 when I was in junior high school, and, like the BEACH PARTY movies and the motorcycle flicks of the era, it was a film I wanted desperately to see, but one I was just a few years too young for. Within a few years, surf culture probably started seeming relatively wholesome compared to the more illicit activities that were starting to gain a foothold in the culture. Worth a look-see, but this viewer was somewhat disappointed to find out after all these years that "The Endless Summer" was really more like "a protracted spring break." Maybe somebody will do the Miki Dora story sometime.
are bound to give contemporary viewers a chuckle or two. Or so it seemed 'til I finally saw the movie. And, yes, some of the non-PC commentary about native tribesmen and customs in the various locales IS grating, even if it's more or less understandable given the era. "Youth culture" was a very ill-defined term at the time, but anything that seemed to smack of freedom from familial and societal restraints, i.e.
Still, the cinematographywhile perhaps a bit primitive by today's standardsis good enough to suggest something of the thrill of the sport, and there are plenty of scenes that give the viewer a feel for the Zeitgeist. Turn out they were a couple of average Joes (or given their surfer dude status, maybe I should say "average Chads") who probably jumped at the chance to make this doc and travel around the world for one GLOBAL summer (but hardly an "endless one") before heading to business school or wherever their real life career paths would lead them. Unfortunately, my mom and dad didn't always agree. Now that could get into some Neal Cassidy-type territory.
But it's still pretty much a conventional documentary, with a "youthful orientation" that hasn't aged all that well. But even as a young teen, I was vaguely aware that there was sort of a Beatnik underside to the surfing scene. Gripes about $30.00 a night hotel rooms and $1.00 cups of coffee (andEGAD $1.00 per gallon GAS.). Sure the Gidgets of the world would grow up, and Frankie and Annette would settle down in the suburbs.
But there were also those guys you'd hear about, like the two dudes in this movie, who were doing wild things like traveling the world searching for the perfect wave in "an endless summer." There was something Romantically "Kerouac-ian" about people like that. I suspect everybody has certain movies that became almost mythic for them, even though they never quite got around to seeing them.
If you get both Endless Summer 1 and 2, be sure to watch 1 first and its a little of a letdown if you want 2 first (because the videography is so much better, and narration alot more humorous in 2)
It also started US Surfing Imperialism; so now, no matter where in the world you go to catch waves, someone has already been there. I have owned this movie in every format since it came out. Good thing I wasn't a senior in high school. I can watch it today with the same pleasure that I did when it was first released 40 years ago.
No surfing for 4 years. This is only one of three surfing movies I have ever paid to see in a movie theater. It directly resulted in my being sent away to military school in Texas. It is a timeless classic. I can honestly say that this movie changed my life.
(It would be interesting to see how badly California college enrollment dropped in the fall of 1966). I started surfing, and that was the beginning of the end.
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