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

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

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

trip around the world. Despite the balmy

mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

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 country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

(

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

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 Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is inst ...

soundtrack was provided by The Sandals, 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''. 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 ...

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 U.S. Navy on

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

years later, he used an 8mm movie camera to photograph surfers from California.Remembering Bruce Brown, Director of The Endless Summer
''

Outside Outside or Outsides may refer to: * Wilderness Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, theatre and TV * Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a television network * '' ...

'' via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

. Retrieved June 29, 2023.‘Endless Summer’ Filmmaker Bruce Brown Dies at 80
'' Variety''. Retrieved June 29, 2023. Once Brown got back to the states, he edited his footage into an hour-long film. Surfer Dale Velzy showed it at his San Clemente shop, charging 25 cents for admission.

16 mm

Bob Bagley chose the equipment at the camera store, including a

16 mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

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 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 United States, contig ...

, and Hawaiʻi, exhibiting a film.

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 Retailing, retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related Service (economics), services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel supply chain, suppliers to offer different kin ...

, during the planning stages of the film, that a round-the-world ticket, would cost $50 cheaper than just a

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

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), 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 by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

( Salt Creek Beach, Steamer Lane, 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 * Robert August * Corky Carroll * * * * * * * * * * Nat Young * Butch Van Artsdalen * Mickey Dora * 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.LA Magazine Article on John Van Hamersveld
/ref> 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 Institution. 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.”

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 List of cities in Kansas, most populous 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, ...

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 theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...

''. 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 aggregator, 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 ...

, 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 criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

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 continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' 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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Robert Alden 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 ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

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 (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

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, '' The Endless Summer II'', 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, 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 Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

and

bodyboarding Bodyboarding is a water sports, water sport in which the surfing, 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 in ...

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

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, 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 o ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, and even

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. 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'' (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'' is an online encyclopedia. It aggregates information, images, and videos from other published dictionaries, encyclopedias, and reference works. History The website was launched by Infonautics in March 1998. Infonautics w ...

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

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

* The Sandals. {{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 English-language documentary films BayView Entertainment films English-language sports films