''The Endless Summer'' is a 1966 American surf

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed, produced, edited and narrated by Bruce Brown. The film follows surfers Mike Hynson and

Robert August Robert August (born 1945) is an American surfer and surfboard shaper. Raised in Seal Beach, California, he attended Huntington Beach High School where he was ASB President his senior year. He is most famous as one of the subjects of Bruce Brow ...

on a

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...

trip around the world. Despite the balmy

mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

of their native California, cold ocean currents * * make local beaches inhospitable during the winter, without later, modern wetsuits. They travel to the coasts of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

(

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in a quest for new surf spots while introducing locals to the sport along the way. The narrative presentation eases from the stiff, formal documentary of the 1950s and early 1960s to a more casual, fun-loving and personal style filled with sly humor, honed from six years of live narration. The film's surf rock soundtrack was provided by

The Sandals The Sandals, also known as The Sandells, were an early, influential surf rock band formed in 1962. They are most famous for scoring the surfing documentary ''The Endless Summer''. History The Sandals began in 1962, when Danny Brawner, a drumm ...

, and the theme song was written by Gaston Georis and John Blakeley of the Sandals; ''Theme From "The Endless Summer"'' has since become one of the best known film themes in the surf movie genre. In 1994, it was followed by the

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

The Endless Summer II ''The Endless Summer II'' is a 1994 film directed by Bruce Brown and is a sequel to his 1966 film ''The Endless Summer''. In ''The Endless Summer II'', surfers Pat O'Connell and Robert "Wingnut" Weaver retrace the steps of Mike Hynson and Ro ...

''. In 2000, Dana Brown, compiled ''The Endless Summer Revisited'', later directing '' Step into Liquid'', in 2003, documenting

tow-in surfing Tow-in surfing is a surfing technique which uses artificial assistance to allow the surfer to catch faster moving waves than was traditionally possible when paddling by hand. Tow-in surfing was invented by surfers who wanted to catch big waves a ...

Background

8 mm

Bruce Brown started surfing in the early 1950s. He took still photographs to show his mother what the draw of the sport was. While serving in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

years later, he used an 8 mm movie camera to photograph surfers from California. Once Brown got back to the states, he edited his footage into an hour-long film. Surfer

Dale Velzy Dale Velzy (September 23, 1927 – May 26, 2005) was an American surfboard shaper, credited with being the world's first commercial shaper. He opened the first professional surf shop in Manhattan Beach, California in 1950, personally hand fashio ...

showed it at his

San Clemente San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement") is a city in Orange County, California. Located in the Orange Coast region of the South Coast of California, San Clemente's population was 64,293 in at the 2020 census. Situated roughly midway between ...

shop, charging 25 cents for admission.

16 mm

Bob Bagley chose the equipment at the camera store, including a 16 mm camera, and Velzy peeled off the money from his wad of cash to outfit Brown's $5,000 production ''Slippery When Wet'' (1958), Brown's first "real" surf film. In the winter of 1958, Brown went back to Hawaii to film the North Shore's big surf. Just as Allen had done, to learn promotion, Brown went to the library for a book about how to make movies, and on the plane ride over, the novice filmmaker read the book. Brown said, "I never had formal training in filmmaking and that probably worked to my advantage". In 1959, Dick Metz's * * * * * * * * * * * * * * meeting with John Whitmore, on a Cape Town beach, and introduction to Cape St. Francis, during his family-liquor-license-sale-to-Disneyland-funded three-year global surf trip (1958—1961) led to his inspiring Bruce Brown to film there, By 1962, he had spent five years making one surf film per year, exhibiting at high school gyms and coffee houses, as a live production, narrating the silent film, from the stage, and playing tape recorded music. and a letter, to Whitmore, about Brown. He would shoot during the fall and winter months, edit during the spring and show the finished product during the summer. Prior to ''The Endless Summer'', Brown made ''unnamed 25¢ silent 8mm film footage'', ''Slippery When Wet'' (1958), ''Surf Crazy'' (1959), ''Barefoot Adventure'' (1960), ''Surfing Hollow Days'' (1961), and ''Waterlogged'' (1962). Each year, Allen and Brown made two tours, of the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

, and

Hawaiʻi Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, exhibiting a film.

"We would take the films to the venues in a van, and we had rewinds and viewers in the back of the van and I would actually edit the stuff while we were traveling. I would adjust it according to the reactions of the audience from the previous night."—Bruce Brown

Title

The film's title comes from the idea expressed at both the beginning and end of the film that, if one had enough time and money, it would be possible to follow the summer up and down the world (northern to southern hemisphere and back), making it endless.

Development

Brown remembered, "I felt if I could take two years to make a film, maybe I could make something special". To do this, he would need a bigger budget than he had on previous films. To raise the $50,000 budget for ''The Endless Summer'', Brown took the best footage from his four previous films and made ''Waterlogged''. With the money raised from ''Waterlogged'', Brown filmed ''The Endless Summer'', his sixth surf film. Brown's original concept was for Cape St. Francis to be the main destination, but through the suggestion of a

travel agent A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinati ...

, during the planning stages of the film, that a

round-the-world ticket A round-the-world ticket (also known as round-the-world fare or RTW ticket) is a product that enables travellers to fly around the world for a relatively low price. RTW tickets in the past were generally offered through marketing agreements be ...

, would cost $50 cheaper than just a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to Cape Town, South Africa round-trip flight. after which Bruce came up with the idea of following the summer season by traveling up and down the world.

Production

''The Endless Summer'' was filmed in: * Southern Hemisphere:

( Cape St. Francis),

(

Manu Bay Raglan is a small beachside town located 48 km west of Hamilton, New Zealand on New Zealand State Highway 23, State Highway 23. It is known for its surfing, and volcanic black sand beaches. History The Ngāti Māhanga iwi occupied the ...

), and

. *

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

( Salt Creek Beach,

Steamer Lane Steamer Lane is a famous surfing location in Santa Cruz, California. It is just off a point on the side of cliffs in the West Cliff residential area near downtown Santa Cruz, providing easy access and a good vantage point for viewing. The Sant ...

, Malibu),

( Labadi), and

. Mike Hynson and Robert August had to pay $1,400 for their own around-the-world tickets, and Brown required a commitment of three months. Production lasted four months. The opening shot of Mike Hynson and Robert August as silhouettes walking to the beach with burnt orange sky evokes the movie poster.

Cast

Mike Hynson This is a list of people associated with surfing or surf culture. A *Reno Abellira (1950– ) (Haw) Smirnoff World Pro/Am winner in 1974 * Megan Abubo (1978– ) (Haw) * Eddie Aikau (1946–1978) (Haw) Award-winning surfer and lifeguard *Lis ...

Corky Carroll Corky Carroll (born September 29, 1947) is a professional American surfer and is considered a pioneer in the sport by becoming the first real professional surfer as well as being the first to make paid endorsements. Life and career Carroll sta ...

* * * * * * * * * *

Nat Young Robert Harold "Nat" Young (born 14 November 1947) is an Australian surfer and author. Surfing career Born in Sydney, New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New Sout ...

Butch Van Artsdalen Charles M. Van Artsdalen (January 31, 1941 – July 18, 1979) was a surfer. He moved to La Jolla, California, from his birthplace of Norfolk, Virginia, at age 14. Van Artsdalen is best known as a pioneer of surfing 25-foot waves at such North ...

Mickey Dora Miklos Sandor Dora III (August 11, 1934 – January 3, 2002), known professionally as Miki Dora was a noted surfer of the 1950s and 1960s in Malibu, California. Dora received numerous nicknames and aliases during his life, including "Mickey Dor ...

* Phil Edwards * Wayne Miyata * Chuck Gardner * Chip Fitzwater * Dave Thynell * Greg Noll * Lord James Blears * Roy Crump * Steven R. Davis * Terence Bullen :(South African guide)

Poster

In 1964, fellow surfer John Van Hamersveld was a student at the Art Center College of Design and the art director of ''Surfing Illustrated Magazine'' and ''Surfer'' magazine. To produce the image that would become iconic, he organized a photo session with the producer and the two stars at Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point. Using photo techniques for the central image and hand-lettering the title Van Hamersveld created a “national phenomenon” image that has endured as a classic. He was paid $150 for the art. The poster is featured in the National Museum of American History section of the Smithsonian Institute. In the description the museum noted, “The poster’s premise was Browns but Van Hamersveld took Bob Bagley’s image of the movie’s stars Mike Hynson and Robert August and Brown and transformed it into a 1960s neon masterpiece.”Article about John Van Hamersveld
/ref>Entry about JVH in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
/ref>

Distribution

Bruce Brown, at first, narrated the silent film live, from the stage, and accompanied it with tape recorded music, at school auditoriums, and similar venues, with R. Paul Allen collecting tickets, travelling by camper. He later took the completed film to several Hollywood studio distributors but was rejected because they did not think it would have mainstream appeal. In January 1964, Bruce Brown and R. Paul Allen took ''The Endless Summer'' to

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

and four-walled the Sunset Theater for two weeks, amidst a projectionist strike, with a bomb threat * * on the first showing, where moviegoers lined up in snowy weather in the middle of winter, selling out multiple screenings, and locally outgrossing ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons f ...

''. Distributors were still not convinced and Brown rented a theater in New York City where his film ran successfully for 48 weeks. After the success of the run at New York's Kips Bay Theater, Don Rugoff of Cinema V distribution said he did not want the film or poster changed and wanted them distributed as is, thus Brown selected him over other distributors who wished to alter the poster. When distributed by Cinema V, ''The Endless Summer'' grossed $5 million domesticallyTom Lisanti, ''Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies: The First Wave, 1959-1969'', McFarland 2005, p270 and over $20 million worldwide.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an aggregate score of 100% based on 23 critic reviews.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

said of Brown's work, "the beautiful photography he brought home almost makes you wonder if Hollywood hasn't been trying too hard". ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine wrote, "Brown leaves analysis of the surf-cult mystique to seagoing sociologists, but demonstrates quite spiritedly that some of the brave souls mistaken for beachniks are, in fact, converts to a difficult, dangerous and dazzling sport". In his review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Robert Alden Edwin Hyde "Robert" Alden (January 14, 1836 – May 6, 1911) was an American Congregational church, Congregational Minister (Christianity), minister. He was one of the many real people upon whom Laura Ingalls Wilder based a character in the ''L ...

wrote, "the subject matter itself—the challenge and the joy of a sport that is part swimming, part skiing, part sky-diving and part Russian roulette—is buoyant fun".

Legacy

When ''The Endless Summer'' premiered on June 15, 1966, it encouraged many surfers to travel abroad, giving birth to the "surf-and-travel" culture, with prizes for finding "uncrowded surf", meeting new people and riding the "perfect wave". It also introduced the sport, which had become popular outside of

and the

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

n Islands in places like

and Australia, to a broader audience. The then-unknown break off Cape St. Francis in South Africa, characterized as having the “perfect wave”, became one of the world's most famous surfing sites thanks to ''The Endless Summer''. In 2002, ''The Endless Summer'' was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Gallery

The Endless Summer (publicity photo - ES-01).jpg, The Endless Summer (publicity photo - ES-08).jpg, The Endless Summer (publicity photo - ES-15).jpg, The Endless Summer (publicity photo - ES-17).jpg, The Endless Summer (publicity photo - ES-20).jpg, The Endless Summer (publicity photo - ES-22).jpg, The Endless Summer (publicity photo - ES-28).jpg, The Endless Summer (publicity photo - ES-29).jpg, The Endless Summer (publicity photo - ES-31).jpg,

Sequels

In 1994, Brown released a sequel, ''

'', 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'Connell rides a

shortboard A surfboard is a narrow plank used in surfing. Surfboards are relatively light, but are strong enough to support an individual standing on them while riding an ocean wave. They were invented in ancient Hawaii, where they were known as ''papa he' ...

, which was developed in the time between the two movies, and there are scenes of

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

and

bodyboarding Bodyboarding is a water sport in which the surfer rides a bodyboard on the crest, face, and curl of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore. Bodyboarding is also referred to as ''Boogieboarding'' due to the invention of the "Boogie ...

. The 1994 film illustrates how far surfing had spread since 1964, with footage of surf sessions in France, South Africa,

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

, and even

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. The 1994 sequel follows a similar structure to the original, with another round the world surfing adventure reflecting on cultural differences since the first film was shot. The South Africa material includes a return visit to Cape St. Francis, where the “perfect wave” had deteriorated somewhat, due to onshore construction projects.“Fake Diamonds”
''

Surfer Magazine ''Surfer'' was an American monthly periodical focused on surfing and surf culture, founded in 1962 by noted surfer, writer, photographer, artist and humorist John Severson (1933–2017). The magazine folded in 2020. ''Surfer'' began as a quarte ...

'' (July 22, 2010). In 2000, Dana Brown, Bruce's son, released ''The Endless Summer Revisited'', which consisted of unused footage from the first two films, as well as original cast interviews.

References

External links

''The Endless Summer'' official website
* * *
The Endless Summer
at

Encyclopedia.com Encyclopedia.com (also known as HighBeam Encyclopedia) is an online encyclopedia. It aggregates information from other published dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference works including pictures and videos. History The website was launched by ...

* * * ''Dusters California'' skateboards. (May 29, 2014
A chat with Endless Summer director, Bruce Brown
via:

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Endless Summer, The 1966 films 1960s sports films 1960s English-language films Films directed by Bruce Brown United States National Film Registry films Documentary films about surfing Films shot in Indonesia Films shot in Senegal Films set on beaches American surfing films American sports documentary films Films shot in New Zealand Raglan, New Zealand Surfing in New Zealand Beach party films 1960s American films