Product Description

The greatest surf movie ever made. "On any day of the year it is summer somewhere in the world..." Go with Robert August and Mike Hynson as they follow the summer season to Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii and California in search of the perfect wave. Still the ultimate surf film of all time!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2727 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-05-23
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
The definitive surf movie, this 1966 documentary by Bruce Brown is beautifully shot and thrilling to see in its portrait of youthful freedom on the world's shores. Brown followed two surfers around the globe in their quest for the perfect wave, finding it eventually on a remote beach far from home. The narration by "Big Kahuna Brown" cuts through the reverence a bit, being cheeky in tone. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

The Endless Summeer
For people who live in a hot summer climate, I live in Texas, this is a classic escape flick. It is a perennial favorite. Two fellows who are well liked, and a great narrator--searching for the perfect wave for their surfing. Where? Around the world. On my computer I found modern day pictures of the fellows. Yes, each had changed from their appearance in the early years of the 1960's, but much fun to view the DVD. Thanks. JM

All Good Summers Must Come To An End
I suspect everybody has certain movies that became almost mythic for them, even though they never quite got around to seeing them. ENDLESS SUMMER was such a film for me. It debuted in 1966 when I was in junior high school, and, like the BEACH PARTY movies and the motorcycle flicks of the era, it was a film I wanted desperately to see, but one I was just a few years too young for. "Youth culture" was a very ill-defined term at the time, but anything that seemed to smack of freedom from familial and societal restraints, i.e. just bumming around, was inherently intriguing to me. Unfortunately, my mom and dad didn't always agree.

Within a few years, surf culture probably started seeming relatively wholesome compared to the more illicit activities that were starting to gain a foothold in the culture. But even as a young teen, I was vaguely aware that there was sort of a Beatnik underside to the surfing scene. Sure the Gidgets of the world would grow up, and Frankie and Annette would settle down in the suburbs. But there were also those guys you'd hear about, like the two dudes in this movie, who were doing wild things like traveling the world searching for the perfect wave in "an endless summer." There was something Romantically "Kerouac-ian" about people like that.

Or so it seemed 'til I finally saw the movie. For years I had labored under the impression that the two guys at the heart of this documentary were the hardcore, near-beatnik beachbums who would spend their entire lives on this kind of quest. Turn out they were a couple of average Joes (or given their surfer dude status, maybe I should say "average Chads") who probably jumped at the chance to make this doc and travel around the world for one GLOBAL summer (but hardly an "endless one") before heading to business school or wherever their real life career paths would lead them.

Still, the cinematography--while perhaps a bit primitive by today's standards--is good enough to suggest something of the thrill of the sport, and there are plenty of scenes that give the viewer a feel for the Zeitgeist. But it's still pretty much a conventional documentary, with a "youthful orientation" that hasn't aged all that well. And, yes, some of the non-PC commentary about native tribesmen and customs in the various locales IS grating, even if it's more or less understandable given the era. Gripes about $30.00 a night hotel rooms and $1.00 cups of coffee (and--EGAD-- $1.00 per gallon GAS!!) are bound to give contemporary viewers a chuckle or two.

Worth a look-see, but this viewer was somewhat disappointed to find out after all these years that "The Endless Summer" was really more like "a protracted spring break." Maybe somebody will do the Miki Dora story sometime. Now that could get into some Neal Cassidy-type territory.

Ok video, but not as great as Endless Summer II
If you get both Endless Summer 1 and 2, be sure to watch 1 first and its a little of a letdown if you want 2 first (because the videography is so much better, and narration alot more humorous in 2)