September 12, 2004
Endless Summer
Critic: Steph Lewis
On a scale of 0 to Awesome, I rate this: Good!
Released: June 15, 1966
Director: Bruce Brown
MPAA RATING: Not Rated (my guess is PG for minor scantily clad women)
Bruce Brown's narration is hilarious. His style of humor reminded me so much of my brothers that it was uncanny. This documentary follows the concept of an "endless summer," or continuing to move around the world staying only in areas that are having a summer. No winters! Coming from Minnesota, that sounds like a pretty slick deal to me.
Surfers Mike Hunson and Robert August, two hard-bodied guys who are full of the easy-going aloha spirit, travel the globe to live out their endless summer and seek out awesome waves. We watch these two awesome surfers hit beaches in California, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawaii. They find what they deem to be the perfect wave (15+ minutes on one ride), are some of the first people to surf some smooth waves in Northern Africa, and hook up with some crazy characters as they hitchhike their way around to seek out super surf spots.
The footage of the surfing is sweet, and the narration is informative and hilarious. I found it fascinating that on the outset Hunson & August are seeking their endless summer and perfect waves...but you start to wonder if they are really searching for more than that. They find a kind of peace with nature and with the waves. They realize a greater respect for the ocean and the life surrounding it. They develop fast friendships with people and the faith that they'll be able to catch a ride with someone if they just wait long enough. It made me look at myself and wonder why I'm so timid to have faith in people and build relationships wherever God takes me. Their love for other human beings is incredible. These guys are not the typical surfer stereotype of "stupid dudes," but appear to be intelligent, fun-loving, easy-going, respectable guys.
I totally dug the soundtrack. It was this chilled out jazz by the Sandals. It was memorable, unique, and totally added to the go-with-the-flow attitude of the movie.
Posted by stephlewis at September 12, 2004 09:50 PMTo me, one of the most significant things about this movie is that it was made in the mid-sixties. Two guys doing something like this today wouldn't be that big of a deal because, in general, the world is so much easier to travel today than it was forty years ago. But these guys were pioneers. The Lewis and Clarke of surfing, essentially. So they went surfing in places where people didn't know surfing existed, and you see the whole village of natives come out and stand on the beach and freak out that there are the strange white men riding the ocean on big boards. That's awesome.
Posted by: Josh at September 12, 2004 10:46 PMNice site! if you like Endless Summer, you should check out Endless Summer 2. but of course even some bad movies are still cool in a bad movie kind of way like Blue Crush.
Posted by: Joyce at September 29, 2004 10:40 PMI watched it this weekend and laughed hard at the commentary. One of my favorites was when they showed a little kid surfing. At first Bruce Brown referse to the floatation device a father put around his son as some kind of weird growth, but corrects himself by pointing out that if the boy fell in he'd float..... face down..... dear old dad. Great irony.
Posted by: eddie at October 18, 2004 03:46 PM