The Endless Summer Revisited (2000) - full transcript

[music playing]

MALE SPEAKER: OK, we're
setting up we're about to see,

and that's the prologue.

So what are we about to see?

DANA BROWN: Well,
this is a movie

that's taken from the outtakes
of "Endless Summer" footage

never before seen and some
of my dad's old surf films

and with interviews of
people that were involved

in "The Endless Summer"
and "Endless Summer 2."

It's basically a reason to try
to rip off the public one more

time-- that'd be you people.



-Just all across
America, everybody

in all the landlocked
states saw this movie.

And it was as popular
in those places

as it was around the beaches,
because it was so new-- so

different from anything
they'd ever thought of.

-For the first time,
people in surfing

felt that they had
a film which told

the whole story of surfing.

-Bruce's was the real deal.

Some of the Hollywood
movies, the theme

basically was the chick in
the bikini wringing her hands

as the guy's risking his
life at Waiamea Bay-- which

was all basically bullshit.

And Bruce's deal was
about four or five guys



that travel around the
world chasing the sun.

It'll continue to be
the greatest theme

probably of any surf
movie ever made.

-It was the most remarkable
film I had ever seen in my life,

because it was adventure.

Here, people were
living a lifestyle

that was beyond the beyond.

-I mean, you look
at the contributions

that people have made
to the sport of surfing,

and if you went down the line,
Duke Kahanamoku, the father

of modern-day surfing,
but Bruce Brown basically

brought the sport
of surfing to more

people than any
other individual.

GREG MACGILLIVRAY: I
was just so in love

with what Bruce had done
with "The Endless Summer"

that it affected
all my thinking.

You know, the
Beatles, for example,

affected all of the music
industry kind of subconsciously

in some ways.

Well, Bruce Brown
was our Beatle.

He kind of affected
all of us in a way

that was subconscious
and very profound.

-When Bruce started, surfing
was so much different.

I mean, literally in the last 30
years, surfing has come so far.

He's seen it from basically
just this little seed,

and now it's a full tree.

So he has experiences and he
knows people that literally you

can only read about and
are really the history

of our sport.

BRUCE BROWN: Well, we used to
surf at the Huntington Pier.

Before wetsuits,
the local people

would bring their old tires down
and leave them under the pier.

So we'd pile the tires
up and light them on fire

and have this huge
bonfire going,

where you'd get out of the water
and stand about 50 feet away

from the thing and
about fry yourself.

But you could tell when the
surf was up at Huntington

from Seal Beach
because you could

see this plume of black
smoke rising by the pier.

Wow, the surf must be good.

-This was a guy that
came from a time

when you could count
the number of surfer.

You know, there was maybe
500 surfers in the world

when he started surfing.

-And if you're
driving down the coast

and you saw a car
with a board, you

were virtually guaranteed
to know who it was.

And if you didn't, you
might stop, you know,

and make sure board wasn't
stolen or something.

-And so his relationship to this
sport was very individualistic.

All the guys that
surfed at that time

were real distinct from
each other, I think.

They're all pretty eccentric.

-I get accused of
being a player,

and Bruce was the original
player of having toys.

And he gets two
motorcycles, so he's

got one for his friends
to chase him around with.

And we do that.

Pretty soon, we've
all got motorcycles.

No, he's been a big influence,
I think, on my life.

And I would've been a
little influence on his.

-Creative-- very creative.

In order to be a surfer, you've
got to live it, breathe it.

And he did it.

He surfed it.

He filmed it.

And he was one of us, you know?

To a kook, they don't even
know what we're talking about.

-Generally people, when
they think of Bruce Brown,

they think of this genius
with a 16 millimeter camera

that did all this
fabulous stuff.

But I remember a
different Bruce Brown.

At that time, this was prior to
the time he was making films.

And I can tell you this, he was
absolutely the worst camera hog

that I've ever seen in my life.

-I probably was.

I remember, I conned
Gordy out of a surfboard.

I went, Gordy, I'm
going to Hawaii.

If you give me a free board,
I'll paddle out at sunset

and go over the falls
backwards and unroll

a sign that said Gordy's
surfboards forever

or something.

So Gordy goes, oh that's cool.

So I got this free board.

And I probably went over
the falls lots of times,

but not with a banner.

-He'd do anything to be on film.

And that's the truth.

I gotta tell you,
that's the truth.

It's a damn good thing he
finally got his own camera.

Had it not been for that,
he would have been just

sticking his head in
every chance he got

and every time a
camera was picked up

or they heard the buzz
of a camera shutter.

TIM DORSEY: And he just
happened to show up

one day at Blackie
August's house.

He had just got
out of the service.

He was in the submarine
service in Hawaii.

And God, he was a good-looking
guy-- blond hair, thin,

he had kind of that
twinkle in his every time

you talked to him.

There was something there.

But I didn't know what was
there, but it was there.

BRUCE BROWN: You know,
Huntington Pier was,

like, well, Blackie August and
Jack Haley and Chuck Hasley,

a bunch of guys who were older.

You're thinking, wow,
these are really gool guys,

because they had
girls and drank wine

and all these things that
we thought was really neat.

It was when Robert
was just a-- probably

six or eight years old.

-I remember Bruce and a
whole bunch of the other guys

that were, like, the
better surfers, that

were surfing the pier
at Huntington mainly.

We lived right on the
beach in Seal Beach,

so there was always surfing
in front of the house.

The parties were
always at our house.

-I mean, there was every surfer
from up and down the coast

would pile through that house.

And nobody went away hungry.

They were unbelievable people.

-It was Dad's house at
13th Street on the beach.

You know, that was mission
control headquarters.

And Blackie had a home
for wayward boys there.

It wasn't intended,
but everyone kind of

came there, because
Blackie was real with kids

and just kinda took
care of what was

going on there
and a lifestylist.

ROBERT AUGUST: So dad was
kind of everybody's hero.

He was a good surfer
for an older guy.

And his lifestyle-- he had
the balanced life thing.

Work like hell so you
can make some money

so you can go play like hell.

And all those guys
kind of gravitated

toward that same lifestyle.

If you really pay some
dues and get it together

and make some money, you
could have a lot of fun.

And if you just
screw around, you

can only have this much fun.

-And so I adopted the
kind of Blackie August

way of looking at it--
let's go out and have fun.

And we had a lot of fun.

STEVE PEZMAN: And he kind of
fell into that whole filmmaking

thing, probably just as a
way to go surfing and make

a living-- I mean,
industrious, bright.

-When I was in the service in
Hawaii in the mid '50s-- and I

had a little 8
millimeter camera,

and we just took movies to
come back and show people.

Wow, here I am at [inaudible]
or Sunset or something.

I cut the thing,
made a little movie,

you know, a half hour
movie or whatever it was.

We'd show it at
Dale Velzy's shop,

and he'd charge,
like, a quarter.

And God, we'd make,
like, $10 or something.

-It got better each week.

I said, why don't we
do something with you?

He says, what can we do?

I said, what do I
need to make a movie?

-So he went and bought a camera.

I'll never forget it.

He walked into the camera store.

He's got his big cigar.

And-- you like that one, kid?

Oh, yeah.

What about that lens?

Oh, yeah.

Really.

-I didn't even want
to look at the price.

Let's buy it.

Let's go for it.

And I think we can
do something with it.

BRUCE BROWN: That was--
we bought the camera

and then loaded myself and five
surfers on a plane, Rubber Band

Airlines to Hawaii.

And I had a little book, "How to
Make Movies," and that was it.

NARRATOR: Surfing is generally
a non-competitive sport.

Once in a while, the
surfers will get together

and have some
informal competition.

Here's friendly surfer Kemp
Aaberg, friendly surfer Dewey

Weber.

The official starter
says to begin.

And Dewey Weber takes off on
the first wave at Velzyland.

Your partial to
judges on the beach.

They're screaming
at Dewey Weber.

You dirty cheater!

He's riding in
slow motion, which

is illegal in this contest.

-The surfing was
unbelievable for the era.

The boards were
proving themselves.

The guys were
proving themselves.

And he named a beach after me.

That's Velzyland.

And I was proud of that
and still proud of it.

-He was there.

He was part of the crew that
actually developed that.

He named those places, you know?

And that's history
right there, you know?

And it's pretty amazing.

-You know, I always wanted
to, you know, get a new spot.

So we went-- we shot the
first time at the pipeline.

Phil went out.

And we looked at if for
a ling-- you know, years

and just figured you
wouldn't survive it.

So he went out and rode
a couple small waves

and then rode a big one that
scared the crap out of him.

What are we gonna
name this place?

And Mike Diffenderfer was
sitting on the beach with me.

And I think there
was a sign there

that said something
about a pipeline.

I went, well, how
about Pipeline?

Plus it looked like a pipeline.

NARRATOR: You hang
onto your board.

You go over the falls with
it every time, guaranteed.

Any wipeout at the Pipeline
in Hawaii is a bad one.

-You gotta understand,
the worse we jab guys,

the more we like them.

BRUCE BROWN: Well, first of all,
Greg would always go surfing.

He'd put Bev, his
wife, on the camera,

and he'd go out and
try and be a hero.

-And Bruce was
always a lot better

at all of that technical
stuff than I was.

-But one day I was shooting
side by side with Greg.

And I think we're at
Waiamea or something.

And it was a huge day, and
we were taking pictures.

And Bruce had just
gotten this stuff.

And he was a little unsure.

And he's going,
say, Greg, he said--

-What F-stop are you using?

He goes-- what's an F-stop?

-I didn't want to
give him an inch.

You know, I was hoping his god
damn film would come out black.

-I said, well, you know, that's
the little hole in the lens

that you change for the light.

-And I said, I just
bought the camera

at the camera store
a couple years back.

And the guy just set
the thing for me,

and I've never changed it.

Are you supposed to
change something?

-But he had no problem
because he only

shot when the sun
was out anyway.

So it was F8 every time.

NARRATOR: Greg Noll rode Waiamea
Bay with such aggressiveness,

he earned himself the
nickname of The Bull,

hanging on through unbelievable
masses of whitewater.

Only a handful of surfers
actually ride these big waves.

Some of them are sportsmen.

Some of them are nuts.

GREG NOLL: And Bruce is like
Cecil B. De-Brown, you know?

He combed his hair a little bit.

And he got himself a nice
car and some clean clothes.

And man, he looked
like a Hollywood guy.

We really get you!

BRUCE BROWN: Bob and I went
to high school together.

And he was a photographer
guy-- a good one.

So he was the only
guy that I knew

that knew anything
about cameras and stuff.

So when I got to the point
where I needed to hire somebody,

I called up Bob
and said, hey man,

you want to go to work for me?

And so he did.

And that lasted for
quite a few years.

He handled a lot
of the businesses.

And he'd be nice to people.

And he was a good cameraman,
a real good organizer,

kind of production manager.

We didn't have those terms,
but that's what he would do.

And real good at it.

In fact, he went on to
continue to do that.

Still does.

I had a little
office in Dana Point.

Paul Allen walked in one day and
said, I want to work for you.

I went, I can't afford
to hire anybody.

-I told him, I said, Bruce,
if I don't make enough for you

to afford me, then you
don't have to pay me.

-And I'll just take a
percentage of what I make.

And I went, oh, OK.

And it went from there.

The guy was just fantastic.

-And I didn't leave
any stone unturned.

I went to the newspapers
and used whatever angle

I could to get,
honestly, some coverage

for the opening of the movie.

And Bruce's movies were good.

They were great.

And the people just
needed to know about it.

We became a pretty good team.

I would collect the tickets
and sell the tickets

and collect the money.

And I would introduce Bruce,
you dad, to the audience.

And Pat, your mother,
would run the projector.

-I was tense, man.

The thing might break.

I can remember going to the show
saying, oh, please don't break.

Because everybody
would start booing.

Here I'm trying to
re-threat the thing.

-Bruce would stand up there
and narrate the movie.

-Sit on the stage with the
music on a little tape recorder

and play the tape.

Just watch the
movie on the screen.

I had a little table there
and sit beside the screen

and narrate it.

-And I used to go
to his early movies.

And they were real important
events in the life of a surfer

then.

-It was the cultural of surfing.

-He would rent a place like--
wherever it was, a hall.

And all these
surfers would come.

And it was the event
of the year, basically.

-It was an event.

We'd all look forward
to it all week long.

You'd get there early.

You'd wear all your
new surf clothes.

You're just going, wow,
this is so bitching

that all these guys are here.

-It was just a cultural
madhouse that was so much fun.

It was contagious.

-I mean, they were wild-ass
situations in those days.

Guys would drive
motorcycles and Miki Dora

would bring fireflies
and let them out.

And they'd all
charge the screen.

-Of course, a lot of guys
would bring bottle caps.

And there'd be bottle cap wars.

-Bottle caps.

And they would start
flicking at the screen

if they didn't like the films.

-Everybody'd be flicking bottle
caps until the movie started.

And then--

-And then after a
while, they just

started flicking
it at the screen

just because they wanted
to flick it at the screen.

-In Australia, they'd
throw coke bottles,

and it was a little
more serious, but--

-You know, you'd age 20 years,
just going through one session.

-Oh, yeah.

Well, Greg's movies
were no good, you know,

so he got just pelted
with bottle caps.

Mine were a little better,
so they were nicer to me.

-The one everybody
wanted to see was Bruce.

They wanted to see
Bruce, because he

had a little twist to it.

There was always just a
little twist to his films

that made it click.

TIM DORSEY: Every night they
were played, it was packed.

Rain, it was packed.

Wind, packed.

Fog, packed.

We're all going to be there.

I mean, it's just-- it
was that surf stoke.

-All this money in my
hands from the tickets,

selling tickets and stuffing
it in our pockets, and--

-And we'd get home.

We had a whole bunch.

We'd just throw it up
in the air and roll it.

-We were just kids playing and
not knowing what we're doing,

just kind of every day
doing the best we could.

BRUCE BROWN: But
you really couldn't

afford to do a whole lot.

We'd go to Hawaii and
spend, like, three months.

But then you could rent
a house for, like, $75

and share it with five guys.

-That was pretty adventurous.

I mean, people were living
in vans and vacant lots.

That was a frontier for,
like, California surfers.

-So I'd take off
usually in November

when the swells started
hammering through.

And we'd go to the
islands, let's say,

generally until it pretty
well crapped out in January.

TIM DORSEY: There was
really quite a camaraderie.

And the North Shore,
to be honest with you,

was the place that
would humble you.

It would make you a believer.

And I think that people
have to understand

that you weren't
competing with yourself.

You were competing with
yourself to compete with nature.

-A little tough making
the transition from six

foot South Bay to
20-plus Waiamea.

TIM DORSEY: The equipment
we were riding was junk.

We had no leashes.

I mean, we were
just going out there

to test our mettle, so to speak.

Awful-- I mean, you
just swim all day.

You get one wave and
then just swim all day.

You get back to the beaches and
say, I'm never going to go out.

BRUCE BROWN: We'd spend
maybe three months

shooting and a couple,
three months editing,

and six months showing it.

-Every year, we had to within
a six-month period of time

make a movie.

Well, that's really hard to do.

You've got to go
out and film it.

You've got to have an idea
what you're gonna film.

You have to have the music.

And Bruce has to
make the narration

and put everything together
and shoot it and everything

within a six-month
time, because we

have to show it in
the other six months

to make enough money
to make another movie.

So you're just
chasing your tail.

BRUCE BROWN: There was "Slippery
When Wet," "Surf Crazy,"

"Barefoot Adventure,"
"Surfing Hollow Days,"

and then "Water-Logged," which
was a compilation of the old

films plus some new stuff.

-And that was our
movie in 1963 while we

were shooting "The
Endless Summer."

-And the reason for
that was to two years

to make the next film.

Just because I thought,
well, if I have more time,

I could do a better job.

It'll be a better film,
and they will come.

But we spent more
money making it

than we'd ever grossed
on the rest of them.

So from that
standpoint, it probably

didn't seem like a good
idea to a lot of people.

But I've always been
kind of a dreamer.

Oh, let's make a good one.

And they'll come and see it.

What the heck?

ROBERT AUGUST: He
had asked me if I

wanted to go on a surf trip.

He's going to make a movie.

And I said, well, when?

He said, well, it's going to be
in-- probably leave in October.

And I went, well, I can't.

I'm going to school.

I was pretty serious
about school.

Anyway, I talked to my mom
and dad about this trip,

you know, and thinking that
they'd be negative about it.

-I look back sometimes
thinking, how-- you know,

if somebody came to me
that was 24 or something

and said I want to take your kid
around the world who was, like,

18, I think I might have
been a little skeptical.

-My mom and dad were
always real supportive.

They liked Bruce
and admired him.

-But Blackie?

Oh, yeah, no problem.

-So I went, yeah, hey.

I'll be there.

-When we checked on the
tickets to South Africa,

to get LA, Cape
Town, back to LA,

it was $50 more than going
around the world via Cape Town.

-Fortunately for this travel
agent suggesting that to Bruce

and coming up with
a better price even,

that is what made the
truly remarkable movie,

"The Endless Summer."

-So that's how it happened.

We saved the $50.

And then sort of
the summer thing

came to my little pea
brain, like, gosh, you know,

it's summer in the
Southern Hemisphere

and it's winter here.

Wow, if you just went around
the circle long enough,

you could stay right
in the middle of summer

the rest of your life.

So that turned out to be, you
know, the theme of the film.

NARRATOR: The winter evening
before their departure,

in front of a warm fire, reading
up on a few last-minute books

on Africa, which would
be their first stop.

Robert August, Mile Hynson.

GREG MACGILLIVRAY:
In a lot of way,

Bruce had quite a bit of wisdom
in casting these two dissimilar

characters in "The
Endless Summer."

You know, you had the blonde
and you had the dark-haired.

And you had the character
who had a lot of style

with the surfing, Hynson,
who, his style was almost

his essence.

And Robert was kind
of hang-loose and kind

of carefree with
the way he surfed.

Both excellent surfers, but
a real contrast in the water,

but also on land.

ROBERT AUGUST: When I was six
or seven, I started surfing.

And I surfed every day--
before school, after school,

all summer long.

My sister's husband
was in the Navy

and was stationed in Hawaii.

So I was going to
Hawaii every summer

and every Christmas and
basically surfed a lot.

GREG MACGILLIVRAY: Besides being
one of the most brilliant guys

in surfing, he's just
a really genuine,

straightforward, honest guy.

-Robert, you want get in a
car and take a 100-mile drive

with him, and you enjoy
every minute of it.

-Robert August
probably is-- for me,

he's an example of
how to live your life.

-He's just sort
of figured it out.

He's fine-tuned his life
to the way he likes it.

And I guess I hope that I could
pull it off in that same way.

BRUCE BROWN: Robert was always--
he was a real good student

and didn't ditch school, like
most of the surfers of the day

did, if the surf was good.

He was, like, president of
the student body or something.

STEVE PEZMAN: Robert
and Bruce, there

was some thing--
I mean, they come

from different generations.

But there's some
connection there, I think.

They're both real genuine.

They don't pretend
to be something

they aren't, comfortable
with who they are.

-You'd have Robert,
who would give you

his last dime or the
shirt off his back.

And you'd have Hynson,
who just was different.

I don't want to go
any further, but he

was a different
kind of character.

He was more involved
with himself.

And that's what made
him interesting,

is that he had this kind
of regal flair to him.

-He was one of the most
melodramatic persons

around at that time.

He had the dress deal.

He had the cologne.

He had a whole group
of followers behind him

that followed, wanted to
ride boards like him, comb

his hair like him.

-He was-- he was great.

I mean, he is a real-- he used
to call him Helmet Head because

of the way he combed his hair.

And he was real cocky, but not
in an offensive way at all.

And a real good surfer and
a good guy to travel with.

And he sort of marched to the
beat of a different drummer

slightly.

But he was great.

I just had a wind-up Bolex
camera and a suitcase

full of film and some
lenses and a tripod.

So we could basically
carry everything.

So we'd just go shoot.

That's what we had always done.

And I didn't really
know any better.

And you know, we're young
and dumb and all that.

But we had suits
and ties and tried

to make it look like we
were respectable people.

NARRATOR: On the plane
heading for Africa,

Robert wondered what
was in store for them.

Would they find surf?

Would they catch malaria?

Would they be
speared by a native?

He didn't have any idea.

ROBERT AUGUST: Next thing
I know, we're on a plane

on the way to New York
and then just stopped

there and changed planes and
blitzed straight for Senegal.

I had no idea where Senegal was.

That's some baseball player's
name or something-- Joey

Senegal, coming up to bat.

Next thing I know, we're there.

And it's a French place.

And nobody speaks any English.

They either speak some local
language or French, you know?

BRUCE BROWN: You
know, in the movie

it shows a fancy French place
that they made us stay at.

We went out and went surfing
out in the point there.

And the native kids and
people were cheering.

And we'd go back to the
hotel, thinking, well,

maybe now somebody will buy
us a free meal or something.

And all these French
guys were sitting out

in the patio in
their little bikinis

and drinking mineral
water or something.

And as we came up, they
all turned their back.

It's like-- like, we're not
impressed with you idiots,

you know?

-God, it turned into
this colossal adventure,

you know, for an
18-year-old kid.

BRUCE BROWN: That was
before any high-tech.

We were high-tech
because we had a map.

We'd go, there's a point.

That might be a good place.

NARRATOR: Can you imagine
driving in a highway on the US

like that?

They'd put you in prison.

They made it to a little hotel
without the boards falling out,

congratulating the driver
for being such a good packer.

He really liked Mike
and Robert-- didn't even

charge them for the
ride and offered

to spend a couple of days
with them, showing them

around his country of Ghana.

-Well, we had no clue
what we were getting into.

And the cab, we just said,
take us to the beach.

And we probably had some
still photos of surfing

and pointed to them.

So he took us there.

We just got out-- and you
know, just mobs of people.

It was a little scary.

We didn't quite know,
you know, if they

were going to like us or
hate us or what the deal was.

So they went out
and went surfing.

And I was just on the
beach rolling the camera.

And just the crush of the
people, especially the kids--

you know, you'd go to pan and
bonk somebody in the head.

They were just leaning
up against you.

And they're looking
at themselves

in the lens, the
reflection and stuff.

I think they took that
canoe out just to show off.

I'm not really sure,
because we didn't, you know,

speak the language.

But I think they saw them
surfing, they were just going,

hey man, check this out.

They got out their salad
forks and off they went.

And we were totally
dazzled, because they

were water-oriented.

And they knew the surf.

And kids had their little
belly boards and stuff.

It was amazing.

PAUL ALLEN: That scene at
the West Africas, where

Mike and Robert go down
on the beach, to this day,

is the most incredible, highly
remembered scene of that movie.

NARRATOR: There are
surfers in South Africa.

John Whitmore is the leader
of the group in Cape Town.

John makes surfboards
and sells Volkswagens.

There are about 100
surfers around Cape Town.

And when Mike and Robert
arrive, all 100 of them

took the day off to go surfer.

-John was like the
Volkswagen dealer and surfed.

So that was a contact.

And I got a hold of John.

Oh, come on down, man.

It's cool.

And so we did.

And he had sort of
organized some stuff for us

to show us where the surf
spots were on Cape Town,

knew the guys up in
Durban and all that.

So if we went where we went,
you know, we'd have some help,

where we're not just wandering
around, wondering where to go.

Great guy.

And then he's the one that
introduced us to Terrence.

And Terrence agreed to take
us on a big long safari tour.

So he took us around.

And he didn't know anything
about surfing or the surf

spots.

But he took us to
the different places.

John told us to
go to this place.

And they had these
little rondavels

that were, like, $4 a night.

So that fit our-- it
came with a horse.

So they're out
surfing at that place.

And I'm shooting some pictures,
going, you know, typical deal.

You go all around, you never
really get as good a surf

as you can find at home.

-I was just sitting
on the beach,

talking to Bruce and whatever
and watching Mike surf.

And he was shooting
some pictures.

And Mike came in and
said, I'm going to go out.

I want to check that wave out.

And we're going, oh, Mike.

He's-- you know.

You look, it's just whitewater
pounding on some rocks.

-I look up at the
beach, and you see

these little peelers coming.

-So we loaded up all the
stuff and film and gear.

And I was walking with Bruce,
carrying stuff and my board.

And Mike paddled.

And the closer we got
to the point there,

we got a little angle where
we could see these waves.

And Bruce sets the tripod up.

And Mike drops into a wave.

And we just go, holy
cow, look at this.

NARRATOR: You
can't tell how good

a wave is till you
actually ride it.

On Mike's first ride,
the first five seconds,

he knew he'd finally
found that perfect wave.

The waves looked
like they had been

made by some kind of a machine.

The rides were so long I
couldn't get most of them

on one piece of film.

Here's Mike, further along,
still riding the same wave

at Cape St. Francis.

ROBERT AUGUST: So
all of a sudden,

we're riding the best waves
we'd ever ridden in our lives.

And it was a total surprise.

It wasn't like we're going to
go to this place we heard about

and check it out.

It's like, nobody had
ever surfed there before.

We surfed till we
were just dead.

I can remember vomiting in
the water, part being tired

and part being excited.

BRUCE BROWN: This was like
the best way we'd ever found.

That only lasted for,
like, maybe an hour or two.

And the tide came in or changed,
and that was the end of it.

-So then that afternoon, he
made us climb up and down

those sand dunes 20 times.

BRUCE BROWN: You
know, these dunes,

I had to use them somehow.

So the spur of the
moment, I'm going, oh, OK.

Well, it's Lawrence of
Arabia coming over the dunes.

And they didn't want to do it.

They were tired, and it was hot.

-Near mutiny, you know?

Boiling.

It looked hot in the movie.

It was really hot.

-This far dune.

And oh, by the way, we
can't have any footprints,

so you gotta go
all the way around.

And they were really
whining about that.

Here, go over here
and slide down again,

where there's a fresh
trail, no footprints.

Climb back up and come
down the other side.

Oh, sure.

Do you know how much
my board weighs, Bruce?

Do you know how tired I am?

I just barfed in the water.

I have no food.

Water-- no water.

That's OK.

Just climb right up there.

You're young.

OK, that's fair.

I'll claim back up there.

-Well, I never said it was.

It was kind of like, hey.

NARRATOR: When you go
looking for a surf,

you don't look for
a really big wave.

If you found one, you'd never
ride it in strange waters.

It would be much too dangerous.

What every surfer
dreams of finding

is a small wave
with perfect shape,

what we call a perfect wave.

The odds against finding
that are 10 million to 1.

They finally got
their first look

at Cape St. Francis,
South Africa.

BRUCE BROWN: The
actual thing was--

it doesn't make for a
very good sound bite.

And like I say, a lot
of "The Endless Summer"

is the feel of the thing.

That's the emotion we
had, was the discovery.

Like I say, we had done that
kind of stuff a million times.

And most of the time,
it's just disappointing.

NARRATOR: A group
of Australian blokes

took Mike and Robert with
them on a surfing trip.

They drove over 1,000 miles
in four days looking for surf.

Everywhere they went,
they were greeted

with a familiar cry surfers
have heard 1,000 times each.

Quote, "You guys
really missed it.

You should have been
here yesterday."

-Here we are in
Australia, and we're

hanging around with these guys.

And there was just
no surf at all.

We were there.

It was the only surf we had
which wasn't that great.

But it was the stuff that Paul
shot, with Rodney and Nat.

He'd been showing my earlier
films down there anyway,

you know, in Australia.

By then, we were
getting big time

and started putting
soundtracks on the stuff.

So he was like my
Australian distributor.

And I think he maybe
just wrote and said

he was going to get a camera
and take some pictures,

and would I be interested?

Yeah, sure.

NARRATOR: Rodney said the
surf isn't the same either,

and obviously it isn't.

He told them of all the
great days of surf he

and Nat Young had had
riding Bells Beach.

Nat Young here, only
16 years old, and one

of the very finest
surfers in Australia.

-I went on this tour
with Paul Witzig.

And I had never met Bruce Brown.

So it was basically Paul
taking me to Western Australia.

What we'd do is we'd put
on the show in, say, Perth.

And then we'd put
that on for a week.

And then the money
from that would finance

the next part of the
trip to go down south.

And it was a great trip,
because we loaded up

a Commie wagon full of
cameras, projectors,

because we had to
do the actual-- we

were doing the show.

We were the roadies.

NARRATOR: Let's see what it
looks like now when you're

actually in the water riding,
as we watch the amazing footwork

of Mr. Phil Edwards in Hawaii.

BRUCE BROWN: It was just sort
of the early days of that water

photography.

There was nothing you
could buy at the time.

And so we had this guy
make us a Plexiglas housing

for a wind-up Bell & Howell.

-With suction cups on the
bottom and a little lever

where you flicked it on.

And then on the other
side you could wind it.

So we just suction cupped
it on the nose of my board

and rode some waves
and clicked it on.

It was pretty awkward with
this camera thing up there.

But it's so close, you can't
really tell what's going on,

whether I was
surfing good or not.

BRUCE BROWN: We had all kinds
of things we tried to invent.

We had, like, a football helmet
with a camera on the top, which

would about break your
neck, trying to use that.

We got a little magazine
load, wind-up camera

that takes 50-foot little--
which was real small.

And we built a little
plastic case for it

that was, you know fairly small.

And they could actually surf
with the thing-- you know,

shoot your feet or do
this or do that, whatever.

-Stupid little
things that you'd go,

well, that's never gonna work.

But then you'd put it in on
a surfing film, where people

are in a good mood, and it's a
carefree environment already,

that they're ready for
that kind of a thing.

And "The Endless Summer" kind
of carried that charming quality

of humor further-- whether
it's jumping quickly

on the beach at Cape
St. Francis or the guys

in Africa, looking over
at the gas station, where

the sign says, "A gip."

Riding in the rickshaw, where
the guy goes up in the air,

because they have so
much weight in the back

with their surfboards.

-And your dad's basically
pretty silly and corny at times.

And little kids just
think it's great.

NARRATOR: They called
this place El Stumpo.

They named it El Stumpo after
the famous Polynesian explorer,

Leonardo El Stumpo.

-You'd show surfing, and
then you'd have comic relief.

Or you'd have a
little bit of travel.

And then you'd get
back to the surfing.

-What makes-- what
makes Bruce Bruce,

I think, is his sense of
humor and his storytelling.

-We had little
trout fishing stuff.

And when you shoot it, you don't
know if you're going to use it

or how you're going
to use it or whatever.

But we got back and then, well,
we frequently had a little fire

and cooked out.

But we didn't have any shots,
so we just got some calico bass

or something and
put them on a stick

and built a fire in the
backyard at our house

and shot that part there.

NARRATOR: They had
enough fish for weeks.

They had trout for dinner,
trout sandwiches for lunch,

flaked trout on their mush
in the morning, rotten trout.

-Because Bruce can make
something fun out of nothing.

He's got a knack for it.

-You know, and the
surf would be down.

And you'd just be sitting there,
kind of-- gotta do something.

-Yeah, basically I was the
closest guy who didn't mind

being made a fool of, so--

NARRATOR: You get off the path,
you never find your way out.

This was a full-on jungle, full
of all kinds of creepy things--

snakes, spiders.

They expected Tarzan to
come swinging by on a vine.

-We got Paul Allen and
just painted him all up

and had a shield I think I
brought back from somewhere.

PAUL ALLEN: Well, that
was just-- Pat, your mom,

put that on.

That was just black shoe polish.

And that was all
done on location

in Dana Point, California,
at the third bush

to the left from your house.

-And what's the old saying?

You can't make a fur
coat out of a pig's ear?

Well, I tell you,
Bruce can do anything.

I mean, I just think
that he's brilliant.

-Africa, Australia,
Tahiti-- I mean,

places that you
could only dream of.

I mean, it was such
an imaginative trip

for a lot of us that I
don't think a lot of us

have really recovered
from that film,

because we're all still looking
for the endless summer today.

GREG MACGILLIVRAY: It
told all of the emotions

and wonder of finding surf when
you never expect to find it.

And that's part of
the joy of surfing,

is going to the beach every day,
never expecting it to be good

but hoping that it's just great.

And then one out of 30 days,
you find it really good.

And that's part
of being a surfer.

BRUCE BROWN: We'd try
them out on people.

And "The Endless Summer?"

And it was like, what the--

-He tried a few
other things, I'm

sure, before he settled on that.

-But you know, I liked it.

And my wife liked it.

-I didn't like it.

I'm going, nobody
says "endless."

BRUCE BROWN: When
Columbia Pictures

did the worldwide distribution,
they hated the poster.

They're going, God, Brown,
this poster just sucks.

And we have all
these genius people

that do stuff, much more
appealing than that.

So they did their
version of the poster.

I mean, I'm looking at the
thing going, holy mackerel.

This is a joke.

But they all wanted
to do the same thing.

They always wanted to throw
a few girls on the poster

or try and make it look
more like "Beach Blanket

Bingo" or something, which
you're kind of going,

don't you get it?

The reason it's popular
is it's not like that.

It's its own little thing.

-I remember the first we saw it,
just in his cutting room there,

the shots of "The Endless
Summer," that we were going,

this is not just a
regular surf film.

NARRATOR: With enough
time and enough money,

you could spend the rest
of your life following

the summer around the world.

But for now, the
endless summer must end.

This is Bruce Brown.

Thank you for watching.

I hope you enjoyed my film.

BRUCE BROWN: I remember the
first time we showed it,

when it was over, there
was just total silence.

And I thought, oh, crap.

We've made a dog after all
this work, and they hate it.

And there was just about
30 seconds of silence,

and then everybody started
cheering and clapping

and stuff.

-The surfers basically saw
it on the lecture circuit,

and they saw it over
and over and over.

People would go
to the auditoriums

as long as your dad
was showing the film.

-And the next day, you could go
down to the beach, and it just,

like, unbelievable.

Everybody would just
communicate on the beach.

Did you see that
film last night?

Yeah.

Wasn't that awesome?

And the guys would
go out on the water,

and the gals would
go out on the water,

and they'd surf
until they dropped.

-So it was a
phenomenal draw, which

is what sort of made
us think that it might

go on a national basis
in theaters and stuff.

Making a movie is
real serious to me.

But the business part of it,
especially with Hollywood

or New York or whatever,
is like a joke.

I mean, it's like monopoly.

So they play the game.

And being a surfer, I
could play that game too.

-Bruce is a great pumper-upper.

If I didn't want to do
it, somehow or another,

he and Pat could pump me up
to where I want to do it.

-If someone says to me, you'll
never work in Hollywood again,

I mean, it makes me laugh.

Because I never worked in
Hollywood to begin with,

and who gives a damn?

I don't want to
work there anyway.

-Because I didn't want
to go to New York,

and he pumped me up to go.

And I went.

And the first time
I went, these guys

looked at the movie, about
three or four Warner Brothers,

United Artists, Paramount,
and they looked at the movie.

And the first words out of
their mouth was, hm, well,

it'll never go 10
minutes from the water.

-We ended up renting a
theater in Wichita, Kansas,

in the middle of the winter.

-A theater that had
been closed down.

The last show they had
shown there, I think,

was "My Fair Lady."

The day of the
opening of the movie,

the worst thing in
the world happened.

The biggest snowstorm in the
history of Wichita, Kansas,

hit Wichita.

I'll never forget it--
looking out and seeing

nothing but white.

And I'm going, oh my god.

This is not going to work.

I got there.

You'd see the marquee.

The icicles on the marquee,
"The Endless Summer."

What an irony that was.

And here's a line of
people around the block,

waiting in snow up to
their knees, to go in.

We sold out every single
night for the week.

I held it over for a
second week, sold it

out the second week.

The theater owners
couldn't believe it.

They wrote a letter, saying,
hey, this movie is fantastic.

The people came
out of the woodwork

for this, in the middle
of the worst snowstorm

in the history of
Wichita, Kansas.

-So we thought, that proves it.

That's as far away from
the ocean as you can get,

Wichita, Kansas.

-I went back to
New York City armed

with all this great stuff.

Big guys in New York City
knew everything, right?

It was a fluke.

-And New York is
really provincial.

If it doesn't happen in
Manhattan, it never happened.

-I'll never forget
the guy riding down

in the elevator with me, a big
cigar in his mouth, saying,

hey, listen kid, I got $3,000
I'll give you for that.

I said, no thanks.

We make that in
one show, you know?

-So we thought, aha.

We'll go rent a
theater in New York.

-And do it ourselves.

If you want to go to
New York and promote it,

Paul, you could do it.

Pump, pump, pump.

You know how to do this.

Look what you did in Wichita.

Pump, pump, pump.

-So we blew it up
to 35 millimeter,

rented this theater in New
York, Kips Bay Theater.

-He borrowed the money.

He borrowed the money from our
local backers, [inaudible],

probably the poor guy
that owns the money,

he was worried about it,
but he had faith in us.

-Everyone in the surf industry
thought, oh yeah, yeah.

It's just not going to work.

They'll come back to town with
their tail between their legs.

-We're both thinking,
boy, what have we done?

And how are we going to pay
this money back to the bank?

And the movie opened--
opened to incredible reviews.

-And then we started
seeing the reviews

in magazines and newspapers.

Pauline Kael, who was the number
one reviewer in the country,

loved "The Endless Summer."

-So we got all kinds of
publicity from the press.

And we were on the
Johnny Carson show.

And we were saying in
some flea bag hotel.

And we get a call from
the distributor going,

we'll send a limo for you.

Where are you staying?

And we'd go, oh, we're
staying at the Hilton.

What room?

Oh, we'll just
meet you out front.

So we'd go stand out in front
of the Hilton, get in the limo,

go to the guy.

Then we started finding out
there were better hotels.

So we started standing
in front of really

the high-didge hotels.

Yeah, we're at the
Sherry-Netherland.

It's the top floor.

We'll meet you out in front.

-Of course, they're
there to buy it.

But none of them wanted
to do it our way.

We were now in
the driver's seat.

We said, well, yeah, you can
have the movie to distribute,

but you have to do it our way.

Oh, no no no.

We're going to put a couple
of bikini girls on the poster,

and we have some ideas of
how we want to do this.

-They go, well,
Brown, first of all,

you need to put more
chicks in there.

And we need a little
love interest.

And they were just going
to change it to the point

where they were gonna ruin it.

-And then along came Don
Rugoff of Cinema 5 who said,

I want to know who
did this promotion.

And I won't buy the movie
and/or distribution rights

unless he does it and goes
to every city and opens it.

And that's my final offer.

-He was a sharp guy.

He figured out probably
how much we were in debt.

And here's a check,
a $50,000 advance,

which was how much
we were in debt.

-The Vietnam thing
was just happening.

And there was a lot of misery
going on, a lot of doubt,

a lot of negative
stuff going on.

And all of a sudden, here's
this goofy, happy surf movie,

just wandering the
planet, having fun.

What a break.

GREG MACGILLIVRAY: It became
a major motion picture

and took not only the
surfing world by storm

but changed the way everyone
in the world looked at surfing.

And all of a sudden, surfing
was a respectable thing to do.

-After "The Endless Summer,"
they went, oh, you're a surfer.

So it was an interesting thing.

It was like a threshold
that the sport went through.

-Because that's the one
thing that they hadn't seen.

They hadn't seen a movie that
was really a documentary that

told you what real
surfing was about.

It wasn't Hollywood's
version of surfing.

-It epitomized
what we were really

doing, not the phony
Hollywood part of surfing.

It really got down to the core
of what we were really doing.

-I envisioned what
happened happening.

But had it not
happened, I wouldn't

have been surprised either.

-That guy, every friend that
I met from all over that

I was skiing with, Bruce
Brown, "Endless Summer," that's

what it was like.

Because other than
that, all they ever

saw was the "Beach
Party Bingo" movies.

And that was like, oh, this is
what really surfing is about.

-Even though he was only
on camera once or twice

in the film, he was the star.

And that's what
made that film work.

-Most of the publicity would
come out like I'm rich.

Well, I hadn't
seen any money yet,

other than enough
to pay the bank off.

And I keep reading
these articles

in "Life" magazine and "Time"
and Rich Dad, [inaudible] dad.

And I didn't have any money.

I'm saying, boy, I hope
this is true, because--

-I know his favorite ones
was, he'd say, guys say,

you're really lucky.

And he says, where were they
at 4:00 in the morning when

I was working and
editing my films?

ROBERT AUGUST: And I'll run
into somebody somewhere that

sees me for the first time.

And it's like they
think they know me

because they've watched
this thing over and over.

Wow, I got to meet him.

Yeah, aren't you thrilled?

ROBERT WEAVER: I
get a phone call.

It was January 15,
1:15 in the afternoon.

And the phone rings at my house.

This is Bruce Brown.

Is Wingnut there?

Yeah.

Well, we're thinking
about doing a sequel

to "The Endless Summer."

We wanted to know if you wanted
to be one of the two guys.

Uh, yeah, well, I gotta do
laundry and mow the lawn,

but in about 45
minutes, I can be ready.

-Well, I was
working with my dad,

putting together some
of his old surf movies.

-So after several
months of that,

maybe a couple of other
little things we did,

these people kept coming
by, you know, what

about making the sequel
and this and that.

-And he decided we should
do "Endless Summer 2."

-And collaborating
with somebody that

was on the same page-- which
most people aren't, at least

with me.

-If he ever gets mad
at me, he blames me

for taking years off of his
life, coming out of retirement.

-Your fault.

STEVE PEZMAN: No one
chronicles surfing

with quite the same spirit
as the Brown family.

I mean, you can look at
surfing any way you want.

It's like a
Congressional Record.

You can find anything
you want in it.

So I like what Bruce and Dana
find in surfing, to point out,

to be interested
in, to look and be

kinda stoked on who
we are as surfers.

-The time where I realized that
wow, this is really happening

is when I got to the airport for
the first trip to Costa Rica.

And they handed me my ticket.

And it was all the boxes
stacked, the luggage,

and all the film stuff.

And that's when I
finally realized,

wow, this is really happening.

I looked on the
ticket, saw my name.

I'm like, that's right.

That's right.

-And then all of a sudden,
it was like, deja vu.

We're going somewhere
on another surf trip,

making a movie from
35 years before, when

I was a little kid.

We're doing the same
thing, but just different.

-Like I say, most of the stuff
I'd done, my wind-up Bolex.

Here there's other
people working.

And I'm going,
this is cool, man.

-I mean, it was so different.

The first film was,
jeez, you know,

Mike and Bruce and I and
a suitcase full of film.

God, when we went to Costa Rica,
it was like a full film crew.

And every day, those
guys had a plan to shoot.

When the sun's
out, we're working.

-They were talented people.

Their heart was
behind the project.

They never complained.

I'd be going, god, maybe
you ought to take a break.

And they'd go, oh
no, it's OK, man.

I want to keep doing this.

And with big heavy
35 millimeter stuff.

-It was a cool thing
to see it happen.

BRUCE BROWN: Oh, they
were great-- both of them.

Just couldn't ask
for two better guys.

They would never say
I'm cold or I'm scared

and I don't want to drive
the wrong way on the one way

street or the crocodile's
going to get me

or anything like that.

-Oh, my god.

And I don't like creepy
things like that.

I don't like snakes.

I don't like iguanas.

Spiders-- I don't like that kind
of stuff, man-- straight up.

Standing on cliffs
and pretending

to look over the
thing-- I'm sorry,

I'm just not down with that.

Airplanes crashing and stuff.

-That was an easy flight.

Let's go surfing.

-Let's go.

-Thanks a lot.

-Hey, man.

Thanks a lot.

That was a radical flight.

-I mean, this is a
risky job here, dude.

I didn't realize.

I thought I was just
going surfing, you know?

-As a surfer, if you
can go through your life

and meet certain heroes,
surf certain places,

I got to do all that
in a year and a half.

I mean, it was just given to me.

-Together, with
yourself and Bruce,

we decided what we
were going to do.

It sounded good.

And then we were towing
a bit of bloody plastic

on the back of the car.

Or we were going to ride away.

It ended up being the
smallest wave in the world.

And I was given pretty much
license in the Bruce Brown

style, as you
know, in Australia,

to do anything I wanted.

NARRATOR: When I made my
last surf film in 1964,

there were only four
countries in the world

where people surfed.

Today, surfers are riding waves
in virtually every country

in the world that
has a coastline.

-It's always tough
to make a sequel.

And everybody's ready
to criticize any sequel.

Oh, I like the
original one better.

-So "The Endless Summer
1," had something

it could do that would
never happen again.

-We thought that Bruce
with "Endless Summer 1"

had done the ultimate.

It was the top.

But then "Endless Summer 2" came
along and surprised all of us.

-I thought that it was the
finest surf movie ever made.

ROBERT AUGUST: The
first time I ever

saw it, like on the big
screen, I got goosebumps.

It's incredible, the
way the guys surf.

God, I love watching it.

But it also showed that the
sport's basically the same.

It's goofy people having
fun, riding a wave, no rules.

You know, people can relate
to that and think, oh god,

wouldn't that be fun, if me
and my friend could do that?

And a lot of people are doing
it these days, you know?

They work like hell
and save some money,

get a couple friends,
and they go do that.

-I can't tell you
how many letters

that I've gotten where people
are so excited about the movie

that they learned to surf
because of that movie.

Or they moved to
the coast and they

love it, and stuff like that.

And that's the stuff that
really gets me stoked.

And it's funny, because I think
when the movie first came out,

I didn't really notice
anything like that.

Now there's new generations
of surfers coming up

where "The Endless Summer
2" is the same as it

was for people a long time ago,
like "The Endless Summer 1."

And so what's happened is kids
watch that movie religiously.

So many times, oh, I've watched
it 100 times, or whatever.

And it's like, people see
that as-- it's the same thing.

-People watch "The Endless
Summer 2" over and over,

like they did "The
Endless Summer 1."

So they get the same
reaction with Wingnut.

You know, wow, I've seen
that movie 14 times.

So when both of us are together,
it's kind of a double whammy.

They're just overwhelmed
with nostalgia.

-To get to be a part of
something that is surf history,

I mean, it's just become
a part of the culture.

And it's such a huge deal.

And it's opened so
many doors for me,

which has given me a
lot of opportunity.

-I mean, WIngnut could have
stepped up a little bit.

But other than that,
it was great, I think.

-Oh, God.

He's gonna love that.

Wingnut, we really get him.

NARRATOR: With enough
time and enough money,

you could spend the rest
of your life following

the summer around the world.

This is Bruce Brown.

Thank you for watching.

I hope you all enjoyed our film.

TIM DORSEY: You realize how
far ahead of his time he was.

I mean, they're treasures.

He was recording a lifestyle
that has changed dramatically.

Now it's a sport.

Now it's a profession.

Now it's an industry.

Whereas at the time, it
was just a lifestyle.

HOBIE ALTER: I don't
know how to explain,

because he's got this
unbelievable sense of humor,

a really loyal type of friend.

He's a friend for life.

-You know, we're
still good friends.

I still really look
forward to seeing him.

I wish I could see
him more often.

I'm trying to get him to
go to Costa Rica with us,

just to surf and golf and have
some fun, not filming anything.

-He's one of my best friends.

I've never argued with him,
except saying, how much money?

-Oh, I love him.

I mean, I love Bruce.

With your mom, with
Patty, it was--

they were just wonderful people.

Always-- good spirit.

ROBERT WEAVER: I mean, he
just watches out for me now.

And he's real honest about
things with me, which I really

appreciate.

You know, my father passed
away when I was really young,

so I don't have that.

So I really appreciate you and
your brother and sister sharing

dad with me.

I really enjoy that.

It means a lot to me.

-A great filmmaker--
probably the most influential

documentary filmmaker,
one of the three or four,

in the history of cinema.

I'm not putting that
in, Dad, by the way.

TOY: I'll bomb Baghdad,
I'll bomb France,

if you'll remove my underpants.

-I got it for Bill.

TOY: Hey, baby.

I got some AstroTurf in
the back of my El Camino.

-Your movie's a
little-- do you know

what I mean if that
makes any sense.

MALE SPEAKER: Well, if you had--

-Short, concise answers.

-Like, if it was
fun to drive, he

got to drive and do the
walkie talkie, you know?

But the crappy stuff,
I had to drive,

and he got the walkie talkie.

Like, he always had the
fun stuff, you know?

I'm still pissed off
about that obviously.

It's been 10 years, and
I'm still that pissed.

-I wanted to get good at it.

God, the Japanese guys are loud!

MALE SPEAKER: Sorry.

-We're doing TV.

-I think Bruce is like
this really nice guy,

and Dana's an [bleep].