How ‘Endless Summer’ became a cultural icon

Randal C. Hill

50plus Magazine

 

Bruce Brown wasn’t about to give up on his movie project. After being rebuffed by Hollywood distributors, at the risk of financial ruin, he threw himself wholeheartedly into getting his documentary, The Endless Summer, out to the public.

 

Born in San Francisco in 1938, Bruce grew up in Long Beach. After high school, he joined the navy and was assigned to a base in Hawaii. There he filmed fellow surfers with an 8mm movie camera. Later, back home in California, he became a beach lifeguard and amateur filmmaker. Beginning in the late ‘fifties, he created five short 16mm surfing movies in five years, screening them to rapt audiences at local high schools and rented halls.

 

In 1962, Brown came up with the story idea that would become The Endless Summer. His feature would focus on two young surfers traveling the globe, chasing the summer season and the perfect wave — a fantasy come true for any surfer. The story would star two top-notch local wave jockeys — Robert August, 18, and Mike Hynson,
20 — both of whom had appeared in some of Bruce’s earlier works. August had been a straight-A student body president at Huntington Beach High School; Hynson was a cocky “loose cannon” trying to stay one step ahead of the draft.

 

The three departed Los Angeles in November 1963, returning three months later after visiting eight foreign lands and crossing the equator four times. Robert and Mike then became surfboard makers while the moviemaker set about editing approximately nine miles of celluloid. (Armed with a 20-pound windup 16mm camera, Bruce had had a meager 50 feet of film before reloading for
each shoot.)

 

Roadblocks loomed large when Brown finished his film. Tinseltown movie distributors all but laughed in Bruce’s face. While The Endless Summer did feature incredible surfing scenes, Brown’s friendly, wisecracking narration, and a decent instrumental soundtrack by the Sandals surf band, distributors opined that it simply wasn’t “commercial” enough to go nationwide. But, in his heart, its creator knew it would appeal to surfers and non-surfers alike.

 

Bruce took matters into his own hands, aware it was a huge financial gamble. He and a partner borrowed $50,000 (about $300,000 in today’s money) to enlarge the film to 35mm. He rented a theater in landlocked Wichita, Kansas, in the dead of winter. The Endless Summer sold out each of its showings for two straight weeks.

 

Movieworld bean counters, however, continued to shrug their shoulders.

 

Brown then persuaded a Manhattan theater to give The Endless Summer a one-week tryout. It ran for a year, with about 20 percent of attendees being repeat ticket buyers. The movie was picked up for national (and, later, worldwide) distribution, eventually earning $20 million.

 

The Endless Summer became a cultural turning point and the most influential documentary ever made about surfing.