The Endless Summer

This article is about the 1966 documentary film. For other uses, see Endless Summer (disambiguation).

The Endless Summer
Theatrical release poster[1][2] by John Van Hamersveld from photograph of Bruce Brown (left),[3] Robert August and Mike Hynsen by Bob Bagley, taken at Salt Creek Beach;[4] artwork also used for handbills[5] (1964-1966) and show program booklets.[2]
Directed byBruce Brown
Produced byBruce Brown
StarringMike Hynson
Robert August
Narrated byBruce Brown
Cinematography
  • Bruce Brown
  • Phillip Akin
  • R. Paul Allen[6]
  • Bob Bagley
  • George Greenough
  • Bob Richardson
  • Paul Witzig
Edited byBruce Brown
Music byThe Sandals
Production
company
Bruce Brown Films
Distributed by
Release date
  • June 15, 1966 (1966-06-15)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50,000
Box office$20 million[8]

The Endless Summer is a 1966 American surf documentary film directed, produced, edited and narrated by Bruce Brown. The film follows surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August on a surfing trip around the world. Despite the balmy mediterranean climate of their native California, cold ocean currents[9] make local beaches inhospitable during the winter, without later, modern wetsuits. They travel to the coasts of Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Senegal (Dakar),[10] Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa in a quest for new surf spots while introducing locals to the sport along the way.

The narrative presentation eases from the stiff, formal documentary of the 1950s and early 1960s to a more casual, fun-loving and personal style filled with sly humor, honed from six years of live narration. The film's surf rock soundtrack was provided by The Sandals, and the theme song was written by Gaston Georis and John Blakeley of the Sandals; Theme From "The Endless Summer"[11] has since become one of the best known film themes in the surf movie genre.[citation needed]

In 1994, it was followed by the sequel The Endless Summer II. In 2000, Dana Brown, compiled The Endless Summer Revisited, later directing Step into Liquid, in 2003, documenting tow-in surfing.[12]

  1. ^
    • "How The Endless Summer Movie Poster Has Endured for 50 Years". Vanity Fair. March 2014. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
    • Anolik, Lili (March 2014). "One Summer, Forever". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020.
  2. ^ a b
  3. ^ "It's History: 'The Endless Summer'". Dana Point Times. October 7, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  4. ^ "'The Endless Summer' Historical Marker". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference OCPL-RPA-Promoting-Movies was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^
  7. ^ pronounced "cinema five"
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference starbulletin-2004-Ryan-Brown was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^
  10. ^ "'The Endless Summer' Movie Review". Common Sense Media. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  11. ^ "Theme From 'The Endless Summer'". Universal Music Group. March 31, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2022 – via YouTube. Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group
  12. ^ Farhi, Paul (December 13, 2017). "Perspective: The beautiful lie Bruce Brown and 'The Endless Summer' told us about surfing". Washington Post. Retrieved May 10, 2022.