The Evolution of Surf Films 

Australian surf cinematographer Alby Falzon once said, “Surfing is suited to the film process, with the flow of a surfer on the wave similar to the flow of a film reel through the projector.”

Surf movies fall into three distinct genres; the surfing documentary, the 1960’a beach party films, and the fictional feature films with a focus on surfing.  Surf movies started to become popular in the 1950’s and 60’s. These first films had a huge influence on the spread of surfing and the surf culture. It was surf films that first made the sport visible to people around the world. 

                    

                      The Beach Party Genre

The first influential surf film, that sold surf culture to the masses was Gidget (1959). Giget is a story about a teenage girl’s initiation into the California surf culture and her romance with a young surfer. It got the America hooked on surf culture, and suddenly the Californian and Hawaiian be aches were packed, and the demand on shapers for boards sky-rocketed (Surf movies, 2010). 

 An extreamly popular beach party film that followed Gidet was Elvis Presleys' Blue Hawaii in 1961. This film was a surf comedy which helped to popularize surf music, and paved the way for groups like the beach boys. The soundtrack album spent a total of 79 weeks on Billboard's top pop albums chart (5 Best surf movies).

Beach Party (1963), was aimed at a teenage audience. One of the unique aspects this film is the absence of parents or any other authority figures. The movie features a group of independent, fun-loving teenagers that are free to do whatever they want. In the plot anthropologist, Professor Robert Sutwell is secretly studying the wild mating habits of southern California teenagers who hang out at the beach and use strange surfing jargon.

The Surf Documentary Genre 

The most famous surf film of all time is The Endless Summer, a Bruce Brown film, released in 1964. The film and poster that have become iconic of surfing. This film is a surf documentary. It has no actors or script. It follows two Californian surfers as they travel the globe, following the summer, in search of the perfect wave. The film is narrated by Brown throughout. It shows the surfers having a great time doing what they love (Surf movies).                                                                 

The Endless Summer was followed by a sequel. In The Endless Summer II (1994), Bruce Brown returned after nearly thirty years to trace the steps of two young surfers to top surfing spots around the world. Along the they see many of the people and locals Bruce visited during the filming of Endless Summer in 1966. The film shows the growth and evolution of the surfing scene since the first film, which presented only classic longboard surfing. In the film the surfers ride a short board which was developed in the time between the two movies, and there are also scenes of windsurfing and bodyboarding (Top surf films).

                  The Fictional Feature Film Genre

The third genre that surf movies fall into is the genre of fictional feature films with an emphasis on surfing. In these films surfing is occasionally portrayed within fictional storylines, or surfing is used as backdrop or side theme of a film.  Point Break (1991) is about an FBI agent who is investigating a string of bank robberies by a gang known as the Ex-Presidents, because during their robberies they use masks of former Presidents to disguise their identities. The agent has a theory that the criminals are surfers and goes undercover to infiltrate the surfing community.

 A more recent and extremely popular fictional surf film is Blue Crush (2002). The film is about a girl trying to balance raising her sister, financially supporting herself, and finding love and realizing her dream to become a pro surfer.

 My Favorite Modern Surf Films

Step Into Liquid (2003), is one of my all time favorite surf films. It’s from the makers of the endless summer. Surfers and secret spots from around the world are profiled in this documentary. This movie shows the ability of surfing to bring all types of people together, and taps into the passion and fearlessness that’s in the heart of every great surfer

      Riding Giants (2004), is in my opinion the best surf movie ever made, and features the best big wave surfer that has ever lived, Laird Hamilton. Laird rides waves 70ft high waves on a board he specially designed for these monster waves. At the end of the movie Laird rides the heaviest, and seemingly most difficult to ride wave ever caught on film. “Lairds wave at Teahupoo was the most amazing, most significant ride in in surfing history, more then any other ride because what it did is it completely restructured collectively our entire perception of what was possible.”- Robert August.