Movies - Endless Summer

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	Movies - Endless Summer

Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surfing movies, creating and defining the genre for many years after its release in 1966. The film is a documentary about American surfers who travel overseas to the southern hemisphere in order to pursue their hobby during the California off season. Its title comes from the last line in the film, which expresses the idea that if one had enough time and money it would be possible to follow the summer around the world, making it endless.

When the movie was first shown, it encouraged many surfers to go abroad, giving birth to the "surf-and-travel" culture, which prizes finding "uncrowded surf", meeting new people, and finding the perfect wave. It also introduced the sport, which had become popular outside of Hawaii and the Polynesian Islands in places like California and Australia, to a broader audience. In addition, it set the style for later surf-and-travel movies, including Momentum, (These Are) Better Days, and Thicker Than Water.

The film has virtually no storyline. Director Bruce Brown follows two surfers, Mike Hynson and Robert August, on a surf trip around the world. Despite the balmy climate of their native California, cold ocean currents make local beaches inhospitable during the winter. They travel to the coasts of Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawaii in a quest for new surf spots and introduce locals to the sport. Other important surfers of the time, such as Miki Dora, also appear. The narrative presentation eases from the stiff and formal documentary of the 1950s and early 1960s to a more casual and fun loving personal style filled with sly humor.

In 1994, Brown released a sequel, The Endless Summer 2, in which surfers Pat O'Connell and Robert "Wingnut" Weaver retrace the steps of Hynson and August. It shows the growth and evolution of the surfing scene since the first film, which presented only classic longboard surfing. O'Conell rides a shortboard, which was developed in the time between the two movies, and there are scenes of windsurfing and bodyboarding. The film illustrates how far surfing had spread, with footage of surf sessions in France, South Africa, Costa Rica, Bali, Java, and even Alaska.

There is a restaurant in Santa Barbara, California, named after this film.

In 2003, Dana Brown, Bruce's son, made what is seen as the "third movie", Step Into Liquid. It follows the evolution of surfing over the last 10-15 years from shortboarding to tow-in surfing.

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Movies - Endless Summer

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