BBC Northern Ireland - BBC Radio Foyle - Surfing

Title: The Endless Summer, A Film By Bruce Brown

Reviewer: Mark

The Facts

The Endless Summer - A Film By Bruce Brown The silhouette of a rack of single fin short 60’s Malibu boards on a flimsy roof-rack, a wee car and a bright sun. This is not what we now call retro surfing. This was the real thing, first time round. The original surfari. These boys are off into the horizon.

Surfing movies and dvds can be an in-house, exclusive thing. They can appeal only to the informed, or the anoraks of the sport. In truth, only a few of the thousands of surf forays on film have etched a place in the popular conscience. Big Wednesday did it for sure. Maybe Point Break too. But ask our parents generation about surf, and they’ll almost certainly mention The Endless Summer. People reckon that all these fancy global surf quests you read about in the mags are the new thing – a big swell goes off in Hawaii or Hossegor and tanned pro-surfers are flown in from all over the planet to chase big waves, usually in the name of a surf multinational. Well, that sort of thing isn’t new at all. The same global-quest-principle was arguably first practised by two young American surfers in the 60’s. In 1964 Robert August and Mike Hynson realised that when summer was over in their part of the world, that it was only just starting elsewhere. And so they chased the sun and the summer seasons around the world from summer to summer, away from the Californian crowds and to different places that had waves. Hence the “Endless Summer”.

Mark reckons

The 60’s acoustic vocals and guitar are the first thing you realise you recognise about this film. (The guy can hardly play his two chord guitar either, but its cool). The format is simple too; they leave Malibu and Santa Cruz in the States, then hit Senegal West Africa, then Ghana, then South Africa, then back to California, South Africa again, then Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and finally the mighty Pipeline in Hawaii.

And what a commentary. Its so dippy its brilliant .. “some like to bodysurf … whooooo !!.. some surfers prefer the hairy thrill of a big wave … you can go right or left, but you cant do both at once …” and on and on it goes; “the only way to avoid a wipeout is to take this wide stinkbug stance …”. Overseas it just gets worse. On the Dakar locals: “Being good Africans they threw a few rocks”…dear me …..

The name checking of the surfers featured in the American and Hawaii footage is a surf history in its own right. Guys like George Greenough, Micky “Da Cat” Dora and Gene Harrison all pop up in front of goofy 60’s la-la-la music. And they charge hard.

The 60’s Africa footage is a step back in time. Local chiefs commandeer the white boy’s boards. White South Africans form a 100 strong VW Beetle convoy to tail these intrepid yanks-on-tour. Indeed the walk into and ‘discovery’ of St Catherines in South Africa is worth the price of admission alone. That, and the final footage of Waimea.

Tight board shorts, no leashes and not a short board in sight - they hadn’t been invented yet. It’s the wee things about his film – the surfing seal, the ‘endless’ commentary by Brown himself, the goofy plane crash, staged jungle scares and our deadly duo arriving in Senegal with shirts, ties and perfect waxed hair. Priceless. It has to be done. You’ll not meet a surfer who doesn’t have a soft spot for this film. Like Born Free, only with waves. It really is a paradigm.

Who’s This One For?

Everyone. Absolutely everyone. It’s up there with the Ennio Morricone westerns for me. Every surfer worth half their salt has to see this film at least once. Regardless of the cheesy overdubs, edits and grainy footage – and they are there aplenty - this film is the baseline for all surfing movies. What August and Hynson achieved was massive. They simply went off into the horizon, in a time, and to places that were hitherto unsurfed. This was before global surf culture took hold. Before many of the people living in the places filmed had even seen a surfboard. They were true pioneers, parachuting into new worlds, and their achievement is a reminder to us all that surfing is about personal frontiers and pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone.

Ironically for the current generation where plastics fantastics now form the mainstream, these guys on their trusty mals will appear familiar. The whole thing is a lesson in nose riding, stance, wave exits and easy surfing on meandering longboards.

And Who Not?

It really does have universal, albeit cheesy appeal. Narrow minded shortboarders might not get it, or have a lot of patience for this sorta old stuff. But they don’t get a whole lot do they?