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The Endless SummerRating:
Release Date: 14 August, 2002 Retail Price: $14.99 OUR Price: $11.24 You SAVE: $3.75! Cast: |
The Endless Summer Reviews
Endless Summer
This, the first of the Brown surfing films, is a hyper-kinetic, aquamarine time capsule accompanied by a score reminiscent of Jan and Dean, all of which help project the excitement of a still new and growing phenomenon. Catch this adrenaline rush of a movie.
Vicarious Thrills
The Endless Summer is a legendary surfing film I always wanted to see but didn't get around to seeing until recently. With my background, it may seem kind of odd. I grew up in San Diego, was an avid bodysurfer and a sometimey board surfer and had ample opportunity to see this film when I was a young teen. I don't recall how long this was featured at the Fine Arts Theater in Pacific Beach, but it seems like it was showing there forever. Most of my school friends saw it, but somehow for me I always had something else to do.
Last night, I watched for the first time. I actually expected something different, like a lot more surfing and a lot more huge surf. What I saw is actually kind of a cutesy, sometimes cheesy, very mid-sixties travelogue with surfing as its focus. That's not to say that The Endless Summer is not enjoyable. It does have its moments, but many of those revolve around the filmed interludes in Hawaii and at the Wedge rather than the globe-trotting surfing adventures of Mike and Bob.
My favorite scenes were in Ghana, where the locals took an active interest in what Mike and Bob were doing, in South Africa where the gorgeous scenery coupled with the seemingly limitless and uncrowded beaches make the viewer fantasize about a surf vacation there, and the scenery and surf of New Zealand. What drops a star from a film that is supposed to be about two guys chasing waves and the summer season worldwide is where they didn't go. No Indonesia or mainland Asia, and no South America. Why not?
Above all, this film is a paean to youth, freedom, and wanderlust. I am amazed that some of the people who picked Mike and Bob up while they were hitch-hiking to their next destination decided to just join them for awhile and ultimately drive them to where they were going. At today's gas prices, the prospect makes one shudder.
If you are one with the ocean in your blood, then you will find a world of vicarious thrills when you see The Endless Summer. It may even inspire you to launch a personal quest to surf the best beaches in the world. Things have changed a lot since this was filmed and you may find that once deserted beaches are now teeming with surfers. At any rate, it has surely inspired me to go hit the waves again on my next trip to California.
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