Why The Endless Summer is a Cult Classic
The Endless Summer is to surfers like How to Kill a Mockingbird is to High School English teachers. Almost every surfer in the world has seen or at least heard of the classic surf film that follows local California surfers Robert August, Mike Hynson, and filmer Bruce Brown in their search around the world for the perfect wave.
Why the Film is ICONIC
From Bruce Brown’s playful and classically So-Calesq narration to the iconic John Van Hamersveld designed poster featuring August, Hynson, and Brown’s silhouettes backlit by a vibrant pink, orange, and yellow background, and finally, the pumping Sandals soundtrack that follows the protagonists on their journey, The Endless Summer is the most legendary surf movie in the world.
Brown was 26 years old when he filmed The Endless Summer. He had made five previous successful surf films in the years prior and set out to make something new. Unlike other surf-focused flicks of the time, Brown edited The Endless Summer to follow a plot, fabricating a storyline of two surfers and their journey to find the perfect wave. With a $50,000 budget and a 20lb box of camera equipment in tow, he filmed Hynson's and August's epic surf sessions and out-of-water adventures in Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawaii.
Surfers and non-surfers fell in love with the world-spanning tour that explored new, remote surf like the “perfect wave” at a point break in Cape St. Francis, South Africa, to well-known hot spots like the sun-soaked turquoise waters of Waikiki. The stoke, hungriness for adventure, and hints of humor are transferred from Hynson and August on-screen to the viewers, evoking a true timeless love for the film.
Beyond the excellent surfing of Hynson and August, the film also features some of the most renowned surfers of the time, Greg Noll, Mickey Dora, Phil Edwards, Butch Van Artsdalen, Nat Young, Paul Strauch, Lance Carson, and George Grennough. Viewers were entranced watching these wave-riding masters skillfully glide across the water, and even the most surf naïve viewer would not be able to look away. Brown’s expert craft and unique presentation made The Endless Summer the most iconic surf film, still relevant almost 60 years later.
Instant Sensation
Brown first toured The Endless Summer across the East and West coasts in 1964. In 1965, during the height of winter, he screen-tested the film at Sunset theater in Wichita, Kansas. It received an overwhelmingly positive reaction, and by 1966, the film was re-edited and released to the general public by Columbia Pictures. The Endless Summer eventually made $30 million, and it earned recognition for one of the “10 Best Films in 1966” by Newsweek.
It was a huge hit, not only in the United States but around the world. In 1967, despite a very present Cold War, the US State Department sponsored The Endless Summer to be featured in the Moscow Film Festival, further broadening its global takeover of surfers' hearts and imaginations.
The Aftermath
The smooth cruisy styles of August and Hynson were soon outdated as the 1970s counterculture short-board revolution took over the surf world. Though surf style had changed, the film never lost its gusto, and the journeys of Hynson and August remained near and dear to the hearts of wave riders everywhere.
After The Endless Summer debuted, Brown strayed away from the surf film scene for the next 25 years. He wouldn’t return until the 1994 sequel, The Endless Summer II. After the original film’s success, Hynson distanced himself from the commercial surf scene and anything to do with The Endless Summer. He strayed away from August and Brown and started making boards in the late 60s and early 70s. Then things took a turn for Hynson, and he fell into the drug scene, went to jail, and tried to sue Brown for not paying them a salary for filming The Endless Summer. (Brown paid their expenses, but nothing extra). August and Brown are still close friends, and the three reunited for a civil get-together to celebrate The Endless Summer reunion at the 2001 San Diego County Fair.
In a poll conducted by Real-Surf in 2000, an Australian Surf Website, for the best-surf-movie-ever, The Endless Summer blew out the competition, doubling the votes for the second-place winner, which happened to be The Endless Summer II. Today it remains one of the most popular surf films in history.
You can watch The Endless Summer here.
Article content from Matt Warshaw’s, Encyclopedia of Surfing
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