''The Search for Animal Chin'' is a 1987 skateboarding film featuring the

Bones Brigade Powell Peralta is an American skateboard company founded by George Powell and Stacy Peralta in 1978. The company rose to prominence in the 1980s as skateboarding began maturing as a sport. The company featured the Bones Brigade, a team featurin ...

. It is one of the first skateboarding films to have a plot, rather than simply a collection of skateboarding stunts and music videos.

Plot summary

The Bones Brigade embark on a quest to find the first skateboarder, the mythological Won Ton "Animal" Chin who had gone missing. Their journey takes them to different locations including

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 ...

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 ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

where they meet friends and skate different spots along the way. It culminates in the discovery of the secret Chin Ramp, a back-to-back double

half pipe A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, skating, and scooter riding. Overview The structure resembles a cross-section of a swimming pool, essentially two concave ram ...

featuring a spine and a tunnel. They never find the actual Animal Chin, but come to realize that in their search they discover the true meaning of their journey, the pure fun of skateboarding.

Cast

: *

Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documen ...

- Himself *

Steve Caballero Steve Caballero (born November 8, 1964) is an American professional skateboarder. He is known for the difficult tricks and air variations he invented for vertical skating and for setting the long-standing record for the highest air achieved on a ...

- Himself *

Mike McGill Mike McGill (born 1964) is an American skateboarder who is best known for inventing the trick entitled the " McTwist", an inverted 540 degree mute grab aerial. Professional skateboarding McTwist A McTwist is a transitional trick that was inv ...

- Himself *

Lance Mountain Robert Lance Mountain (born June 13, 1964) is a professional skateboarder and artist who was one of the prominent skateboarders throughout the 1980s, primarily due to his involvement with the Bones Brigade. As of August 2017, Mountain continues ...

- Himself *

Tommy Guerrero Tommy Guerrero (born September 9, 1966) is an Indigenous American musician, composer, and professional skateboarder. Early life Guerrero was born in San Francisco, California. He is of Ohlone-native, Chilean, and Filipino descent from his fa ...

- Himself * C. R. Stecyk III - Emerson "Won Ton Animal" Chin - Himself (credited as Emerson Chin) The film also includes: *

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Scene:

Jim Thiebaud Jim Thiebaud is an American skateboarder. Biography Thiebaud grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and during the 1980s was part of the San Francisco skate scene. Thiebaud not only participated in skateboarding during the early 1980s, but he a ...

, Jesse Martinez, Bryce Kanights, Doug Smith *

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

Scene: Chris Borst, Bobby Reeves, Charlie Dubois, Ray Underhill,

Adrian Demain Adrian Demain (born December 26, 1966) is a professional musician and former professional skateboarder based in the San Diego, California area. Demain rode for Powell Peralta as part of the Bones Brigade in the mid-late 1980s. Demain was featured b ...

, Donny Griffin, Kevin Lambert *Rad Party Scene:

Mike Vallely Mike Vallely ( ), also known as Mike V, is an American professional skateboarder and musician. Since November 2013, he has been the lead vocalist of hardcore punk band Black Flag. Vallely is the second-longest-serving member of the band, althou ...

, Rodney Mullen,

Per Welinder Per Nils Welinder (born April 17, 1962) is a Swedish entrepreneur and former professional skateboarder. During the 1980s he achieved international fame as a freestyle skater and was a leading member of the Powell-Peralta skate team known as the " ...

Natas Kaupas Natas Kaupas (born March 23, 1969) is an American former professional skateboarder. He grew up in South Santa Monica, California, in the area known as Dogtown, and is of Lithuanian descent. He is often referred to as one of the first true profe ...

, Arron Murray, Kevin Harris, Johnny Rad Also, in non-skating roles are

Skip Engblom Skip Engblom (born January 4, 1948) is an American entrepreneur and one of the co-founders of the Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Productions Surf Shop in Santa Monica, California. He also helped to create the Zephyr Surf Team and the Zephyr Competi ...

as a bouncer and

Gerrit Graham Gerrit Graham (born November 27, 1949) is an American stage, television, and film actor as well as a scriptwriter and songwriter. He is best known for his appearances in multiple films by Brian De Palma as well as appearances in two '' Star Trek' ...

as Alan Winters, the head of Slash Skates.

Legacy

The iconic ramp featured in the movie was rebuilt at Woodward West Skatepark in Tehachapi, California for the 30th anniversary of the film. The original Bones Brigade reunited and skated the ramp design that no one has skated in 30 years - the original was torn down after filming.

References

External links

* Skateboarding videos 1987 films 1980s action films 1980s English-language films Chinatown, San Francisco in fiction {{skateboarding-stub

Plot summary

Cast

Legacy

See also

References

External links