A Crash Course in Surfing via the Movies
Chase the waves with these essential summer picks
If summertime has got you in the mood for surfing — either real or vicarious — but you’re not sure where to start, check out our primer on surfing movies old and new, documentary and fiction, for a crash course in the best of surfing on film.
The Endless Summer (1966)
The grandaddy of all surfing movies, this iconic documentary follows two pro surfers in search of the “endless summer,” the idea that if they keep traveling all over the world in pursuit of great waves, they can live in an endless summer. Filmmaker and narrator Bruce Brown, a pro surfer himself, helpfully explains the terminology and the mechanics of surfing, making this a great place to start if you’re a surfing newbie. Some parts of the film age better than others — Brown’s choice to not record any sound and instead narrate the entire film in voice-over seems strange and dated now, as are the politically incorrect portrayals of women and of the “primitive” African natives they encounter. But the location surfing footage is truly impressive, and they take some time out to film the wildlife in Africa as well, giving the film an exploratory quality that’s really endearing.
Step Into Liquid (2003)
Step Into Liquid was made by Bruce Brown’s son Dana and therefore is something of a spiritual successor to The Endless Summer. It follows a more standard documentary format, with surfing footage narrated by Brown interspersed with interviews with pro and amateur surfers from all over the world. It focuses on the surfing lifestyle, which Brown helpfully explains is about “life, where style is just an option.” Surfers explain their passion for surfing and how it has transformed their lives, and how it differs from other sports, which have a goal and an endpoint in mind, whereas surfing is purely for pleasure. It also sheds light on the social aspects of surfing and how surfers tend to form cliques within their subculture.
Blue Crush (2002)
I have a soft spot for Blue Crush, which is basically the Breaking Away of surfing movies. Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) is a Hawaii local hoping to compete in the Pipeline competition. But she gets distracted by a romance with a hunky NFL quarterback (Matt Davis) who’s in town for the Pro Bowl. This features early and very good performances from Bosworth, Davis, and Michelle Rodriguez, as well as several female pro surfers featured in Step Into Liquid playing themselves and serving up some excellent surfing scenes. Underdog sports movies like this one don’t have to be great to be charming, and Blue Crush is doing more work than it needs to. Part of the film’s ring of truth comes from the fact that it’s based on a Susan Orlean article in Outside magazine called “Life’s Swell,” a long-form piece about pro-surfing hopefuls growing up in Maui.
Drift (2013)
Drift is based on the true story of the Kelly brothers, two Australian surfers in the 1970s who founded their own surf shop and surfwear company. The plot of the film meanders a bit — the brothers, Andy (Myles Pollard) and Jimmy (Xavier Samuel), are so good at making and selling surf gear that the film has to spend Act Two drumming up side plot conflicts just to give them something to do — but the cinematography is breathtaking, both in the surfing scenes and when the brothers are just wandering around their small town or working in their shop, with warm rich lighting and beautifully saturated colors. The film’s decision to focus on the business angle of surfing is an interesting one, since according to Dana Brown in Step Into Liquid, the true spirit of surfing resists commodification. Or in the words of Jimmy Kelly, “they can’t buy what we have, especially if we’re not selling.” Which raises the question of what exactly they are selling — perhaps the spirit of surfing isn’t for sale, but something is. By recognizing a need and finding a way to meet it, are they helping their fellow surfers or exploiting a trend?
Surfer, Dude (2008)
This goofy but charming pre-McConnaissance comedy has similar themes to Drift and other fiction surfing films, the idea that surfing is a way of life that has to be experienced to be understood and that can’t be packaged for resale; and while it’s far from subtle about its message, it also has a (very broad) sense of humor. Pro surfer Steve Addington (McConaughey) is out of money and is being pressured to do motion capture for a VR surfing video game and also participate in a Real World-style reality show to get solvent again. While he holds off the vultures, he starts to go a little crazy from lack of surf (which we learned from The Endless Summer is a real issue, with surfers always telling their compatriots “you should have been here yesterday!” when there are no waves). While not particularly profound, Surfer Dude has a dopey charm that’s hard to deny, aided by endearing performances from Woody Harrelson, Scott Glenn, and Willie Nelson as a stoner goat farmer (!).
Ride (2014)
This family dramedy starring and directed by Helen Hunt continues the theme of surfing as a lifestyle diametrically opposed to the fast paced hustle and bustle of cities in general and New York, where Hunt’s character Jackie works as an editor for the New Yorker, in particular. She follows her college dropout son to Los Angeles to convince him to come back, only to tackle the challenge of surfing herself, first out of spite and then because she catches the “surfing bug.” Surfing transforms her and teaches her about facing her own grief and letting her child grow up and become an adult, while also giving her new challenges to tackle and overcome. Again, the message isn’t particularly subtle, but the performances by Hunt, David Zayas, and Luke Wilson all sparkle, and the scenes of Hunt learning to surf do a great job of capturing the drama and intensity of trying to wrangle with the ocean for the first time.
Ready to tackle a big wave now? What other surfing movies do you consider essential summer viewing?
