Tuesday, January 29, 2008

"Five Summer Stories" still impresses audiences

It was nicknamed "The Last Surfing Movie."

Laguna Beach filmmakers Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman called it that because they already had their sites set on Hollywood and this new film format called IMAX.

But 35 years later, "Five Summer Stories" still impresses. It's a landmark surfing film and one of the few essentials of the genre. It documented a time when surfing was changing, the country was changing and filmmaking was changing.

"Partly because it had so many stories to it, we were able to touch on so many themes," says MacGillivray, now an award-winning documentarian. "But I definitely wanted it to make a difference. I wanted to make a statement."

The film captured the sport's evolution from longboards to shortboards. It also showed how the migration of surfers and people in general was affecting the North Shore of Oahu. As far as local problems, the simple before and after shot of the famous "Killer Dana" break dissolving into modern Dana Point Harbor spoke volumes. It also questioned the credibility of contests in surfing, putting a spotlight on Huntington Beach's U.S. Championships. The contest was canceled for two years because of the impact.

"The number of kids making a living from surfing is a thousand times what it was then," he says. "But still the essence of surfing is that unbelievably powerful connection you feel as you sit on your board and the waves undulate beneath you. I don't know if you can have that feeling in any other sport."

Approximately half of the audience who came to see the movie in the 1970s had never touched a surfboard. It broke house records at nine different theaters where it played, including the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. It remains the second most screened surf movie behind only the Bruce Brown classic "The Endless Summer."

Among its innovations was being the first surf movie shown in stereo. It was also the first to pay a surfer Pipeline legend Gerry Lopez received 11 1/2 percent of the profits for his featured appearance. The soundtrack was largely split between the Beach Boys and Laguna band Honk. It was important for having famous surf artist Rick Griffin design the poster and for pioneering surf filmmaker Bud Browne's water photography at Pipeline. Not content with what he presented to audiences in 1972, MacGillivray updated the film every year until 1979 as well.

We didn't know how big it would become. The audience kept gaining in size," MacGillivray says and hints at its future. "Someday we'll get a print out of the vault, spend a week or two resurrecting it and show it the way we showed it way back then."

(Orange County Register)

i sat and saw that movie at the sydney opera house when i was 14 years old and saw gerry lopez getting tubes like noone had ever been tubed before...i'll NEVER forget it..sitting in the film theatre watching 8-10t bombs coming thru and gerry just 'cakewalking it'..a very big impression on me and my surfing and i still think that i stand in the tube like lopez because of that film..!!

Gazzer skrev:
www.surfvideo.com/product_info.php?products_id=542

Thanks Gazzer! I'm getting it this summer when I head back home. Then I'm gonna come back, invite SURFSVERIGE over to my crib and we can all sit back eat chips and dip, drink beverages, and watch the movie. After that we'll all pitch in to rent a Bus and Ratty, Johan and I will cover the windows up and blindfold everyone and pack in the boards and go for a great surf session at midnight. Be ready!

RATMAN skrev:
i sat and saw that movie at the sydney opera house when i was 14 years old and saw gerry lopez getting tubes like noone had ever been tubed before...i'll NEVER forget it..sitting in the film theatre watching 8-10t bombs coming thru and gerry just 'cakewalking it'..a very big impression on me and my surfing and i still think that i stand in the tube like lopez because of that film..!!

Great story you old fart! I never saw it but it will be great to see how it was when I was little. Relive the styles and whatnot.

Grymmefilm som jag sett hur många gånger som helst. Utgick från att varenda kid sett den åtminstone en handfull ggr. Det finns mycket i dessa filmer att hylla men jag tycker det är lite extra ball med kritiken av och diskussionerna om proffs och tävlingssurfing. Idag kan man knappt hitta på en ny variant "action sport" utan att Red Bull med ordnar VM och alla blir egotrippade sponsorkids...

Var det bättre förr?

Jesper B

Nanuq skrev:
RATMAN skrev:
i sat and saw that movie at the sydney opera house when i was 14 years old and saw gerry lopez getting tubes like noone had ever been tubed before...i'll NEVER forget it..sitting in the film theatre watching 8-10t bombs coming thru and gerry just 'cakewalking it'..a very big impression on me and my surfing and i still think that i stand in the tube like lopez because of that film..!!

Great story you old fart! I never saw it but it will be great to see how it was when I was little. Relive the styles and whatnot.

in 14 minutes youve copy/pasted in 3 long articles from som O.C based mag/site. Now THATS what we in sweden call "bra jobbat"!

bill holden r.i.p
five summer storys - good
chris ward - jailbreak

RATMAN skrev:
i sat and saw that movie at the sydney opera house when i was 14 years old and saw gerry lopez getting tubes like noone had ever been tubed before...i'll NEVER forget it..sitting in the film theatre watching 8-10t bombs coming thru and gerry just 'cakewalking it'..a very big impression on me and my surfing and i still think that i stand in the tube like lopez because of that film..!!

was it really the sydney opera house or was it D.Y rsl?

haha..how the fuck did you know that i lived in dee why for yeaaaaars and years???
No it WAS the opera house and it was packed with surfers and everyone was actually screaming out hooting every time gerry dropped in and stood in those insane pits he got..which he refers to as .'a cakewalk'

RATMAN skrev:
haha..how the fuck did you know that i lived in dee why for yeaaaaars and years???
No it WAS the opera house and it was packed with surfers and everyone was actually screaming out hooting every time gerry dropped in and stood in those insane pits he got..which he refers to as .'a cakewalk'

i recognise a D.Y rsl local when i see one hahahahaha.

Helvete...

jag har den på WHS som ja köpte från usa för nåra år sedan....men den vart spräckt på vägen hem eller nått så jag har aldrig kunnat titta på den...nån som är bra reparatör av videoband?

snälla

fotnot till detta: soundtracket är jävligt najs, återpseglar precis min typ av surfing, filmen har ja inte fått se än, så den vet ja inge om

Kman skrev:
Nanuq skrev:
RATMAN skrev:
i sat and saw that movie at the sydney opera house when i was 14 years old and saw gerry lopez getting tubes like noone had ever been tubed before...i'll NEVER forget it..sitting in the film theatre watching 8-10t bombs coming thru and gerry just 'cakewalking it'..a very big impression on me and my surfing and i still think that i stand in the tube like lopez because of that film..!!

Great story you old fart! I never saw it but it will be great to see how it was when I was little. Relive the styles and whatnot.

in 14 minutes youve copy/pasted in 3 long articles from som O.C based mag/site. Now THATS what we in sweden call "bra jobbat"!

bill holden r.i.p
five summer storys - good
chris ward - jailbreak

Just passing information man.

Jajjamensan:)