Bruce Brown's surf films

This month on Turner Classic Movies they are showing Bruce Brown's classic surf films every Sunday night. Last night I watched (and taped) The Endless Summer (1966) and Slippery When Wet (1958). I had seen Endless Summer, which shows some tikis towards the end of the movie, before but I had never seen Slippery When Wet. It had a great soundtrack by the Bud Shank quartet and it was filled with cornball humor and great surfing in Oahu.

The schedule and info is here:
http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com/NowPlaying/Monthly/0,3598,61|64|-,00.html

That link didn't work so try this and click on the "Bruce Brown" link:
http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com

I also watched the Endless Summer last night (for the first time). I loved the Tiki sequence! The movie shows pristine and largely undeveloped beaches in Tahiti, South Africa, New Zealand and other far away locales I'd love to visit. Growing up around the explosive development in South Florida however makes me think that these places can no longer be as pristine as they are portrayed in the movie. :(

On the 18th. the movie Surfing Hollow Days will be shown, which features some Florida surfing in 1961. So you'll be able to see how pristine South Florida used to be.

I watched those last night, especially appreciated that cornball humor and the cars.

I was cracking up when they showed the surfer's pad in Hawaii. It was just a shack with cans of pork and beans everywhere, in the cupboard, in the fridge, and in the oven ("some of the guys prefer them served warm, some cold"). In the interview before the movie Bruce Brown said they bought an old Dodge woodie for $35 in Hawaii and used it to get around.

Then they showed the guys' sleeping accomodations. One was sleeping on what looked like a mattress without a cover, only the spring part. Another is shown assembling a bed of several components, among them a baby crib mattress and a suitcase. Yet another slept on an actual mattress (lucky boy)that he found in an alley.

"Slippery When Wet" is mostly about surfing, but the parts that focused on these young Southern California surfers in 1958, driving their old beat up Woodies, etc. were really sweet and nostalgic.

Aloha surfless tiki ites,
Have you never seen Endless Summer before? It's the hugest classic surf film. I donated a "surf tiki carved plank board" a few months ago to the Int. Surf Museum (in H.b.) for their big fund raiser, The Endless Summer Reunion concert they had. It was a hot item in the silent auction(i geuss being that it was not mass manufatured).The Blue Hawaiians even played and the original band for the original movie played(i'm dead casue I forgot their name and the rest of the bands). Bruce brown was there ( i mentioned Corky Carroll was a friend of mine and he told me to tell him to go get F'ked!! He's like late 60's!! Very cool dude!rides motocross daily) Anyway, rent the Endless summer #2. You'll see the pristine areas all filled up with condos.And, wingnut is out of control!! Tiki bong, can you fill in my blanks!!??? Tikibong used to be a pro surfer! Some of the So. Cal woodie club will be at the Gathering of the Tribes for your enjoyment.
p.s. RIP Chick !!!!!!!!!!

Only tie-in I can make about Endless Summer is that the 16 year old star of the movie - Robert August - lives about 300 feet from me in H.B.

He's a super nice guy who now moves his boards out of Huntington Surf & Sport. No longer has the little shop by the museum.

Kiliki and I watched those. The cliff jumping scene was the locale for a much later beach blanket type movie, which escapes me now.

Those movies created a whole genre. Or, at least documented it's roots.

Their antics remind me of the skateboarding of my youth and the X-Gamers of today.

Those surfers were a wild bunch! There is a book I saw a couple of years ago that had black and white photos of the surfers in So Cal in the 30s and 40s. I forget the name of the book but it was amazing. Some of the guys had long hair and beards, beachcomber shorts, and sandals back in the 30s!

There was a surfer named Murph the Surf that is on one of the old Bruce Brown movies who ended up being convicted for murder!

Actually Murph the Surf was a jewel thief and was convicted of such. I believe it was he that stole the Crown Jewels.

Surfers still are a wild bunch bucco! Not the inland posers that talk the talk but can't surf the walk, but those dedicated, dawn-patrolling, call-in-to-work-sick-when-the-waves-are-mac'ing, locals-only, dedicated few (few that is relative to the general population!).

To a 'Tribe Called Tiki' - Aloha Oukou!

[ Edited by: Tiki_Bong on 2002-08-06 18:27 ]

Right, Murph stole the Star of India jewels, but later he was convicted of murder, according to the TCM web page on Bruce Brown's film "Surfing Hollow Days":"Murphy, who is seen here performing diving stunts with his partner at a local hotel swimming pool, later became infamous as 'Murph the Surf.' He's the jewel thief who stole the priceless 'Star of India' from the Brooklyn Museum. He was eventually caught and served time in jail, only to be incarcerated a second time for murder. Robert Conrad portrayed him in a 1975 movie entitled Live a Little, Steal a Lot, aka You Can't Steal Love."

Bruce Brown was the most commercially successful of all the independnt Surf filmmakers, but the best was John Severson, the founder of "Surfer" magazine.

In the '60s, the image of the Surfer was more vital in L.A. than Sandy Koufax or Bob Dylan. No one out here had a crew-cut, and people who were socially conscious often were found at baseball games, unlike other areas of the country where the twain never met. The Surfer was tht central figure which bridged the gap between and Jock and Folk culture.

In the '80s, Surf really ended as a Pop culture and truly became a Jock sport. The '70s were kind of like that, but 1971's "Five Summer Stories" was a definitive film in Los Angeles for all circles of sophistication. "The Endless Summer" is indeed the biggest selling Surf film of all time, but "The Endless Summer II" is not one to see, unless you want to puke.

Besides "The Endless Summer" (which is the best Surf film ever), the best indy Surf film to find (pretty easy, actually) is "Strictly Hot" by Dale Davis. The Dragons did an unreleased soundtrack that crosses Surf instrumental with percussive Jazz, in what must be the most exotic Surf music ever (no offense to the Enchanters, wherever they are... "Tum Tiki" is a masterpiece). That said, all of the Bruce Brown films are very good. He even did motorcycle film ("On Any Sunday") after "The Endless Summer" (which was released in 1965, NOT 1966). It was shot in '64.

"On Any Sunday" is a cool film, if you like motorcycle culture. Me, I find it boring as shit, but I respect what Brown was trying to do. Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth followed a similar path after many of the Greasers went off to Vietnam. Roth even got experimental with Trikes, but he was rejected by Bikers and Greases for seperate, but obvious reasons.

"On Any Sunday" does sport a realy cool Psychedelic Surf soundtrack that blew my mind when I first heard the record. A nice little hidden secret. Maybe not?