The Fantastic Plastic Machine is a 1969 documentary film following a group of California surfers as they journey to an Australian surfing competition. [1] [2] The film is narrated by Jay North. It was directed by Eric and Lowell Blum and was filmed in California, [3] Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. [4] [5] The music soundtrack was composed by Harry Betts, and released as an album on Epic Records. [6]
(In alphabetical order) [7]
The Endless Summer is a 1966 American surf documentary film directed, produced, edited and narrated by Bruce Brown. The film follows surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August on a surfing trip around the world. Despite the balmy mediterranean climate 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, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Senegal (Dakar), Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa in a quest for new surf spots while introducing locals to the sport along the way.
Robert Kelly Slater is an American professional surfer, best known for being crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. Slater is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, and holds 56 Championship Tour victories. He won the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year four-times. Slater is also the oldest surfer still active on the World Surf League, winning his 8th Billabong Pipeline Masters title at age 49.
Dogtown and Z-Boys is a 2001 American documentary film co-written and directed by Stacy Peralta, produced by Agi Orsi, and narrated by Sean Penn. The documentary explores the pioneering of the Zephyr skateboard team in the 1970s and the evolving sport of skateboarding. Using a mix of film of the Zephyr skateboard team (Z-Boys) shot in the 1970s by Craig Stecyk, along with contemporary interviews, the documentary tells the story of a group of teenage surfer/skateboarders and their influence on the history of skateboarding culture.
Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which experienced surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves which are at least 20 feet high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. Sizes of the board needed to successfully surf these waves vary by the size of the wave as well as the technique the surfer uses to reach the wave. A larger, longer board allows a rider to paddle fast enough to catch the wave and has the advantage of being more stable, but it also limits maneuverability and surfing speed.
Fantastic Plastic Machine can mean one of four things:
The Fantastic Plastic Machine is the soundtrack to the movie of the same name. An album composed and conducted by jazz saxophonist and film scorer Harry Betts. A surf rock album, it is considered a departure from his usual style.
Surf movies fall into three distinct genres:
Maroubra is a beachside suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 10 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Randwick.
Bruce Alan Brown was an American documentary film director, known as an early pioneer of the surf film. He was the father of filmmaker Dana Brown.
Surf's Up is a 2007 American animated mockumentary comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It was directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck from a screenplay they co-wrote with Don Rhymer and producer Chris Jenkins, based on a story by Jenkins and Christian Darren. The film stars the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, and James Woods. It is a parody of surfing documentaries, such as The Endless Summer and Riding Giants, with parts of the plot parodying North Shore. Real-life surfers Kelly Slater and Rob Machado have vignettes as their penguin surfer counterparts. To obtain the desired hand-held documentary feel, the film's animation team motion-captured a physical camera operator's moves.
Harry Betts was an American jazz trombonist.
Robert August is an American surfer and surfboard shaper. He is best known as one of the subjects of Bruce Brown's 1966 surf documentary The Endless Summer, along with his friend Mike Hynson.
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 Robert 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, which was developed in the time between the two movies, and there are scenes of windsurfing and bodyboarding.
Ty Scott Page was a professional skateboarder known as "Mr. Incredible" and a leader in the skateboarding scene during "the golden era" of skateboarding in the early 1970s.
The Sandals, also known as The Sandells, were an early, influential surf music band formed in 1962. They are most famous for scoring the surfing documentary The Endless Summer.
A soul surfer is a surfer who surfs for the sheer pleasure of surfing. Although they may still enter competitions, winning is not the soul surfer's main motive, since they scorn the commercialization of surfing. The term denotes a spirituality of surfing. As Brad Melekian stated in a 2005 article in Surfer magazine:
to pursue surfing not just as an athletic endeavor or as a sunny day diversion, but to try to glean whatever lessons you can from the practice. It means being aware of your surroundings, and respectful of the people and places that you interact with. It means being patient, mindful, kind, compassionate, understanding, active, thoughtful, faithful, hopeful, gracious, disciplined and...good.
Patrick O'Connell is a retired professional surfer who competed in the top ranks of the Association of Surfing Professionals before retiring and working in the surfwear industry and as a top executive with the World Surf League. He is best known to the general public as one of two surfers - along with Robert "Wingnut" Weaver - in Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer II. The film was a 1994 follow-up to Brown's landmark 1966 surf documentary The Endless Summer.
Ride the Wild Surf is a 1964 American romantic drama film. It was filmed in 1963 and distributed in 1964. Unlike the beach party movies of the era, this was a departure from the typical Hollywood approach to surfing as it was a drama, not a comedy. It is known for its exceptional big wave surf footage – a common sight in surf movies of the time, but a rarity in Hollywood films. Likewise, the film has only one pop song – the titular Jan and Dean track, which is heard once, at the end of the film.
National Lampoon Presents Endless Bummer aka Surf Party is an American 2009 comedy film directed by Sam Pillsbury, starring Jim Piddock and Khan Chittenden. The plot involves a group of teens and a veteran surfer, who take a road trip from Ventura, California to the San Fernando Valley, in order to track down a prized stolen surfboard.
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