"(watching a nasty wipeout, and in a deadpan voice) Here's a fella in about fifteen different positions on one wave. All of them were wrong, too."
It was nice to see Bruce Brown out from behind the camera being interviewed in portions of the three shorts collected here, as he was so knowledgeable and articulate about the sport. The interviewer, Bud Palmer, is a little square, asking more than once about the practical purpose of some surfing move when it's obviously just part of the fun, but he serves his purpose. Early on in the first short, Hanging with Bruce, we see Corky Carroll, a 16-year-old who's great at "hot-dogging," doing tricks like spinning on the board or dipping his head close to the wave (and who would grow up to continue a long career in surfing), as well as Phil Edwards, who Brown calls the best surfer in the world, so fluid and balanced on big waves. We also see footage of surfing with catamarans. As with Brown's other documentaries, it's impressive that he had no help at all in filming or formal training either, and yet captured surfers that must have been far away and moving quickly, often in slow motion so we can better understand their rides.
Brown and his friends attempt to surf in "new frontiers," with the difficulty of finding places around the world where surfing was completely unknown, and to have the luck for a good surfing day while there. He follows Del Cannon, on a break from college, and Peter Johnson (age 12, 4'2", 80 lbs) out of junior high, to Japan. It was initially intended for The Endless Summer but left out, and nice to see here - everything from them carrying their boards underneath a giant Buddha, to surfing on Katsuura. They also surf at Kamogawa breakwater before going to the north shore of Oahu, where they surf at Waimea Bay, and where we see a lot of wipeouts in the big waves.
The second short, The Wet Set, goes through the terminology of surfing as well as a bit of its history - well at least since the 1930's, with giant boards, unfortunately not the centuries of surfing by Hawaiians, though that's at least alluded to earlier. We then follow the ten members of the Hobie-McGregor surf team, wearing the latest clothing line, which is highlighted, as this was essentially a promotional segment. Included were "Hobie" Alter and Mickey "The Mongoose" Muñoz, though the footage in California and Hawaii is rather brief, making this the least notable segment.
The final short is America's Newest Sport, about skateboarding, and it's a real treat, particularly after having just watched the 2024 Summer Olympics and seen how far skateboarding has come. Here it's really in its infancy - both with the newly designed boards from Hobie Alter, and in the moves his Super Skateboard team attempt. Brown shows the parallels between surfing and skateboarding, and we can just see the adolescent minds at work in doing (now primitive) stuntwork. While they go off a ledge, no one remotely has the idea of using the rail right behind them - those unfathomable tricks like frontside boardslide were a decade or two away. Seeing these kids skating, as talented as they were for the time, is a little like watching a newly hatched bird that will eventually soar. It's precious to see.
