Movies-TV

BIG disappointment

before purchasing this movie, i had heard a few rad reports on it that influenced my decision to buy it. however, i stopped the movie not even half way through because i could not stand a seeing this surf movie portraying such a false essence of surfing. the story line sucked and there were not nearly enough surfing shots in the movie. of all the surf movies i have, and have seen ( north shore, in god's hands, endless summer 1 and 2, hit and run, all of these movies are dank) this is the one that i cannot put on my shelf. i recommend that you rent this before you buy it because you will regret it.

BORING

I've been reading as many surf books as I can find as I grew up in Southern California in the mid-60s. Based on the fantastic reviews, I expected much better of this movie. This is frankly, a very bad movie. Where can I start?

Clearly a low budget movie, the sound is very low quality. Of course, that may be considered a positive given the extremely poor screenplay. The movie starts by a series of sketches designed to show life as a teenager growing up. The beach, the party, the quick trip to Tijuana, the girlfriend, and the older surfer mentor. All of them very cliched like they were almost copied. The dialog by all characters is so poor it's virtually impossible to feel emotion for the characters. A few weak attempts at comedy are more lowlifes.

The movie then moves in time to show the kids growing up. The trip to the Draft Board and attempts to be deferred are almost incoherent. But the most humorous part of this movie is Jan Michael Vincent's occasional flashes as a drunken street person. Look quickly because he recovers by the next scene and is normal again. Maybe it's a disease because next the elder surfer (resembles Greg Noll, da Bull) catches the drunken role disease.

As to being a surf cult film, yes there are some early surf scenes, and the ending has a solid 10 minutes of surfing as the kids are drawn to the beach 13 years later when the surf is up. But it's not enough to sit through 2 hours of bad movie to watch some surfing.

I'm surprised this movie is rated so high by so many. If you want a movie of growing up, rewatch American Graffiti or even Saturday Night Fever. But not this movie. The one large positive of this movie is watching some future stars or at least working actors and see what they were like at the start of their careers.

We all surf forever

Our lives like ripples of waves on the ocean thats what Big Wednesday is all about always leading us back into the fray of a big wave, Never knowing what to expect, Maybe the perfect ride or The worst ride of our lives, Life or death always on the brink, on the wave, or on the street

Everyday we surf on that wave or on that highway as spirits of our own desires.

A very very good movie

A CLASSIC

The Muhammad Ali of surf films, this is the film which took surfing into the mainstream. Deeply moving and at times painfully nostalgic, this film chronicles the pleasure and pain of growing up. Consisting of four interconnected vignettes set at various times during the 1960s and 70s this film uses the surfing theme as a backdrop weaving between the bobbysox era, the Vietnam War (long before it became fashionable) and climaxing in the Big Wednesday which gives the film its title. The surfing footage is nothing short of spectacular, a triumph of film making. It is impossible to be unchanged after watching Big Wednesday, a film which has reached legendary status and which represented Jan Michael Vincent and Gary Busey's finest on-screen performances. The Bear logo used in the film was spun off into a successful surfing partnership making surfboards and other products and which sponsored the Big Wednesday 20th anniversary celebrations in 1998 (see http://bearsurf.com/accessories.htm). If you only ever see one surfing film it has to be this one. It is the surfing genre's finest hour.

Chronicling The Passing of the Years

This was one of the most heart-wrenching movies you'll ever see: at times whimsical, funny, sentimental, and sad. Sort of like life.

Milius manages to do what some of us dream about -- which is to capture the most poignant times in our lives, times we think we'll always remember when they happen but fade into hazy memory later.

Surfing is used in Big Wednesday as a background for the coming of age motif, and to ultimately pose the question: can you go home again?

NOBODY SURFS FOREVER...

I grew up in the western part of Denmark, with the North Sea as my playground. In the late 80s I spent almost all my time (including the time where I was supposed to be at school...) windsurfing with a few good friends. We started out in the morning, following the weatherforecast while we packed our gear and discussed where the best spot would be, wind- and wavewise. I think of the days as going on an ekspedition with my best friends, doing what we were best at - and experienced that feeling (what only surfers knows) is the best feeling in the world! In the evening when we came back, we lit up the BBQ, got drunk, party all night - and the next day (if there was no wind) we watched 'Big Wednesday'. I see that movie every once in a while, trying to recall the atmosphere from those days...it was like time stood still... My best surffriend then (LL) allways said to me that '-nobody surfs forever...!' - and to my great surprise he was right... If you are an old surfer - watch this movie for to realize, that those days where the time of your life!

Surfers Love it Everywhere

This movie symbolizes the best time in every surfers life. The times when all you lived for was the biggest wave, the perfect wave, the empty wave. How many of us go out surfing and get flashbacks of all those good times when life was free and easy? The most important aspects of this movie is that no matter how much the circumstances of your life may change you can always head back to the surf to gain the inner strength and unspoken sense of of satisfaction which reminds you of just why we are on this planet, for friendship and the worlds natural wonders. This movie re-enforced the belief of standing by your mates and when it's time charge, don't hold back, a great movie and unreal surfing sequences for it's time.

Big Wednesday

Big Wednesday- a classic. Gary Busey is incredible as Leroy the Masochist. If you've never seen this film, I highly recommend picking it up. This movie is definitely one of my personal favorites.

SURF MOVIE OF THE CENTURY!

This movie is regarded as a surf classic and rightly so. Slickly produced, consisting of a series of vignettes over 13 years it gives a non-surfing person a revealing insight into the surf culture. The still-thorny issue of the Vietnam War is dealt with and the transition from the swinging sixties into the seventies is handled very well (a technique John Milius perfected in his 1983 classic Uncommon Valor which incidentally pre-dated the much hyped Rambo First Blood II by nearly two years). The climax of the film is the surf footage at the end depicting the legendary day of a lifetime, Big Wednesday. The only negative is the thought that the two stars, Jan Michael Vincent and Gary Busey threw away their lives after this movie due to drug addiction (Busey almost died from an overdose in 1994). Another negative is that some of the surfing terminology in the book didn't make it to the film. In the book, the car is referred to as "The Makeshift" - it isn't in the film. Still, if you cast these things out of your mind for 100 minutes you will experience something truly special. You won't be disappointed.

Maybe the greatest movie ever

Words cannot adequately describe the emotional tug that this movie does to the heart. Growing up in a small coastal town in Southern California during the 60's is epitomized in this movie. Friendship, Vietnam, Surfing, Party Crashers, weekends in Tijuana, Friends gone off the edge - man, it's so well depicted and so accurate. This is Jan Michael Vincent's best work ever and he did it shortly before he lost control of his life through his addictions - the guy was an unbelievable actor! I know him through friends and as a young man he was notoriously sought after by hordes of women and was a phenomenal natural athelete. You've gotta get this movie!

The one movie I never grow tired of watching

This movie rates for me to be the one movie that inspired me the most in my teenage years. There was three of us in the Midwest that begged for the escape to the California coast. The story of the three friends only served to endear this movie to us. We all went different paths that started as one.

More than a surf epic. A film that captures the period

I love this film. It is a surf epic to be sure, but more than this it perfectly captures this period of time for me. It is beautifully written and photoghraphed, the surfing sceens are awesome. You care about these characters. For me, that's what makes a film great. It isn't perfect but what is? The three lead actors are certainly in their prime, and there are some excellent supporting performances from Lee Purcell and the late Sam Melville, among them. I have this film on laserdisc and recommend seeing it in widescreen format if available. Don't miss this one!

The best surf movie I have ever seen

This is one of the 5 moast special movies I have ever seen.It has sick surf tape also.I would give it five stars.

Best Surf Film Ever Made

I loved this Movie. I have Probably seen it thirty time

a SURF CLASIC about friendship, growing up and surfing

posibly the greatest american movie ever. as if the amazing story of these friends growing up through thick and thin, through changing times, births and deaths isn't enough; it also has some sick surf footage.

Early acting at its best...

This film is phenomenal in that it brings not only William Katt, Gary Busey and Jan Michael Vincent together but also introduces many new faces to 80's film and television such as Robert England (aka Freddie Krueger) and Steve Kanaly (aka Dallas). The film, although originally thought of as a surfing movie is far from that. It is a film totally encompassing the late 60's and early 70's around the vietnam era and the pressures of the strained relationships of three friends. A film worth seeing for anyone who grew up during that time.

One of the two best surfing movies ever made

You have to see it and like the past to understand the greatness of this movie.( It helps to be a surfer.)

One of the "BEST" all around Surf Movies!

This movie brings back many great memories of the all day surf sessions with my high school bud's! It will not only appeal to surfers but also to anyone who has experienced the true meaning freindship. This Movie is a must have for your video collection.

Great Surf Movie

This is an old favorite from my younger days. It is a movie written by John Millius about a group of young teens growing up in California and surfing. It starts with them in their teen years and deals with their parties, loves, friendship and of course riding the big waves. It is a simpler and nicer time in America in the early 60's. The Beachboys and surf music ruled the airwaves and everybody was tan, hair bleached by the sun, in bikinis and swimming trunks, surf boards, your best girl and late night camp fires on the beach. But then things start to change and the Viet Nam era comes into play. The boys have to make a decision on if they are going to serve, dodge the draft or scheme to come up with a way to get out of it. Also other things are changing. Things are getting more complicated simply because everybody is growing up and has to face more serious issues than when the next keg party is going to be and when the next waves are coming in.


Jan Michael Vincent stars and looks like he is cut out of a Michelangelo sculpture. He was the early 70's adonis and he and Willian Katt and Garey Busey round out the cast. They and their friends are a colorful bunch of characters and as they go thru the ups and downs of becoming adults their friendships are tested by time and by adversity.


I think this is a really good movie. The surfing footage is also very good and I think most of the guys do their own surfing. The guy that plays 'The Bear' is also very good in his role. I believe Millius wrote this about his own coming of age and surfing so it is dead on accurate and believable. Vincent is outstanding in his performance and you can't take your eyes off of him his charisma is that commanding.

Nolstagic look back at the 60s and 70s

This film was written and directed by John Milius, who also directed such films as "Dillinger," "Conan the Barbarian," and "The Wind and the Lion" and has writing credits for "Magnum Force" and "Jaws." This film apparently incoporates some of his own memories of hanging out with friends and surfing in California in the 1960s. The movie chronicles the story of three friends over the course of 13 years from 1962 to 1974.


The movie is similar to "Animal House" and "American Grafitti," in the way it shows these hard-living kids, their beach parties, their wild trips to Mexico, and the way they try to avoid the Vietnam-era draft by faking various injuries and mental illnesses, etc. In fact, the movie is more about friendship and growing up in the tumultuous late 60s and early 70s than about surfing, although there are several surfing scenes sprinkled throughout the movie, especially the "Big Wednesday" at the end of the film.


The movie is more profound and deep than if it had been just a surfing movie, and there's enough going on that people who aren't really interested in the surfing sub-culture will still enjoy it.