The Endless Summer

Released: 1966 Jun 15
Watched: 2010 Dec 20
Queue: Owned
Format: DVD

I think this DVD had been a gift at some point in the past. Maybe from my friend Ron. It seems like the sort of thing he might give. In any case, it had sat unwatched for a few years, but its turn had finally come and we all sat down to watch it.

If there is anyone who hasn’t heard of this, it is basically a documentary following some surfers on a round the world trip to find new and different places to surf. They wander around, they go places, you get a few minutes of glimpsing the locals through the eyes of Americans who really know very little if anything about where they are or the people there. And then they surf for awhile. And then they go somewhere else.

From what I understand, this movie was somewhat significant in surf culture, and many of the places they went where surfing had not been common became places where many people would travel to surf. That’s nice I guess.

From the point of view of someone watching in 2010 though, the whole thing took on a comedic tone, simply because of how absolutely dated everything seemed, both in terms of things like cars and clothes and the like, but also in the attitudes of the narrator and the surfers. I guess 45 years or so really does make a big difference.

It seemed a bit slow by modern standards too. It just sort of rolled along, with no sense of urgency or getting to the point. Which I guess maybe was the point.