Surfing: The Endless Summer still beats them all
Written by playerpress.com, Wednesday December 10 2008
In an era when surfing and action sports films are fodder for TV shows hosted by airhead women falling out of their clothing, it is a welcome break to sit back and watch Bruce Brown’s classic The Endless Summer.
The Endless Summer has set the standards for surfing films that has never been surpassed. Equipment has changed and technology has evolved, but Brown’s 1966 documentary about two guys pursuing the thrill of surfing through summer for an entire year is still unbeatable.
Surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August decided that they would follow summer and the waves around the world and Brown followed them. There was no cable or internet, so when these guys go to Africa, New Zealand, Tahiti they were unaware of what to expect. At that point in time, even their final destination of Hawaii was far more of an outpost than it is today.
The surfers and the director did not know if there was a surfing culture in the areas to which they traveled. When they arrived in South Africa they discovered surfers who would pave the way for an influx into US and eventually, as the world became more connected, open the door to international competition. All Hynson and August knew was that it was summer in those locations and all Brown knew was that he wanted to capture their experiences on film.
The film worked because Brown understood surfing and surfers. He allowed Hynson and August to be natural and filmed their surfing in an exciting manner that would be emulated for decades. The film became more than a documentary; it was a slice of life that if you were a surfer you knew, understood and appreciated and if you did not surf you could get a glimpse of a lifestyle that may have been foreign to you.
Having surfed in the Atlantic off of the NY/NJ shore and rode the waves in WA, I could appreciate wanting to have a year of summer surfing. The warm water disappeared too quickly in the northeast and doesn’t always show up in the northwest. Watching Hynson and August crash in huts in Tahiti and deal with a lack of understanding language and being perpetually lost seemed worth it to be able to surf in water where you could look down and see the bottom of the ocean.
If you surf, then watching The Endless Summer is as essential as viewing Citizen Kane is to a film major, or listening to Giant Steps is to a jazz musician. You’ll see how the sport and the filming of surfing originated and how the love brought to it by Brown, Hynson and August laid the path for what has followed.
Changes brought about by time, the political climate and economics make it almost impossible to do what those three did. Especially without the corporate bucks that are poured into sports today. Brown packed his equipment and the surfers packed their boards to ride an endless wave for an endless summer. They benefitted from it the most for having lived the experience, but those of us who have watched and appreciated have reaped rewards as well.
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