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Product Details
John Milius charts a decade of social change as three surfing buddies use the sport as a personal touchstone for their lives while growing up in the turbulent 1960s. Irresponsible hot-dogging legend Matt (Jan-Michael Vincent), serious and stable Jack (William Katt), and mad misfit Leroy, a.k.a. "Masochist" (Gary Busey), are teenage surf bums in 1963, living at the beach in a perpetual summer under the sway of surfboard-maker Bear (Sam Melville), guru, mentor, and keeper of the lore. But the times they are a changin' and boys grow up in the shadow of Vietnam while adulthood pushes them into hard decisions. John Milius mixes the nostalgia of American Graffiti with the reverence of a John Ford cavalry drama. Surfing becomes a kind of spiritual quest spoken of in awed mythic tones and photographed with the epic grandeur of a rite of passage. Milius's heavy-handed direction and reverent attitude slows the films and will turn off some viewers, but Milius fans will appreciate his macho stylings and philosophical musings, and surfing fans will love the spectacular surfing footage, including the dazzling stylings of world champion Gerry Lopez (who Milius later cast in Conan the Barbarian). Lee Purcell costars as Matt's supportive wife, with Patti D'Arbanville, Barbara Hale, and Robert Englund in supporting roles. Look for Ford stock player Hank Worden in a small role and Milius himself in a cameo selling marijuana in Tijuana. --Sean Axmaker
Product Reviews
 (4 stars) - the stuff of legends...
I watched this the other night for the first time. It is a classic and a legendary film. A coming of age story for 3 friends who are legends on the beach as the best surfers around. Their exploits in the water and out of the water make them legends but this is a coming of age story and as they get older what they leave behind in their carefree days is what makes growing up so hard. William Katt, Jan Michael Vincent and Gary Busey are great and Sam Melville as Bear is excellent. The bond of friendship between Katt, Vincent and Busy drives the film as they navigate their lives between surfing, Vietnam and getting drafted, jobs, pregnancy, family and death. What they always had was the waves. Surfing was their bond. The surfing scenes are incredibly shot. The story moves slow at times and the drama is not always riveting but ultimately like a long lazy summer day this film pulls you in and left me exhilarated.
 (5 stars) - big wednesday
I got this for my husband for chirstmas. I sat down and watched it with him and enjoyed the movie very much.
 (2 stars) - "The Endless Bummer"
Nostalgia aside, you gotta admit: it was a '70s ultra-cheese fest, starring future burn-outs Jan-Michael Vincent and Gary Busey, and William Katt, who would go on to star in one of the most lame TV shows of all time "The Greatest American Zero".
(5 stars) - A "bombed" masterpiece
When I first saw this film on release in 1978, many of the critics had panned it with several observing that it was only interesting when in the water, given surfing is its main excitement and the movie subsequently bombed. Looked at again 30 years later (I have in fact seen it several times in between given the cult status it enjoys in UK fringe cinemas), the film's time horizon of mid 1960s to early 1970s following a surfing mad group growing up is nowhere as bad as those critics may have indicated.
Named after the fact that most big surfing swells over the years have occurred on Wednesday, the film by using the surfing culture provides an excellent snapshot of a group of Californian teenagers maturing across the late 1960s and facing up to their changing responsibilities, with its keen observations along the way on the tension with the later hippy movement and the indirect impact of the Vietnam War and its draft on people's lives.
None of the three lead actors (two actual surfers and Gary Busey as the "Masochist" in gonzo mode) were going to be Oscar contenders based on this outing but what makes the performances succeed is the quality of the ensemble playing. The director co-written script given John Milius's other writing credits is a bit clunky in parts (especially the lead personal relationships and the father figure of "Bear"), but since Milius was a surfer from a very young age, he admits in the recent interview included in this Anniversary DVD that it is a very personal movie and an amalgam of many different characters he knew from those days.
Sure the film's surfing scenes still look fantastic 30 years on, especially in widescreen format. The accompanying short Milius interview and his Director commentary (which because of its conversational style works well in conveying his enthusiasm for the subject as well as including lots of personal observations and stories) also makes you realise the difficulties and dangers that were faced in the location shooting of such footage.
Yes, one suspects as has already been seen over the last 30 years that this little gem while bombing on initial release will outlast many other over hyped movies of the same period. This is not just just because of its surfing community following but because it is a lot closer to depicting how it actually was for many in those times.
(5 stars) - A Day Like No Other
The story of three surfing buddies from the 1960's into the 1970's, it is also John Milius most personal movie, written with a surfer buddy about those days. Sam Melville's "Bear" character is pretty much Milius. For boomers a delight. Look closely for Milius' cameo as a pot dealer in Tiuajana!
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