The Endless Summer Collection (1966) Review

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(More customer reviews)These films are like the 80's movies that made everything that mattered happen. Ferris, Goonies, Breakfast Club, etc . . . except they are surfing classics, epic documentaries if you will.
**Bruce Brown has the classic surfer aesthetic, and narrates each film poignantly and humorously.
Endless Summer 1 is the classic older film, paced a little more slowly and fun-lovingly. It sets a great preface to Endless 2, an incredible multi-hemisphere journey.
Both films have excellent cinematography as well as dialogue and interplay between characters. Endless 2 is as goofily trivial as it is deep, as beautiful as it is mundane. . .
There are gorgeous scenery shots that do Cape Town, Indonesia, Figi, (my fav) and Alaska, justice as incredible places not only to surf, but also to just be.
Our two fascinating and yin and yang protagonists, 1, a Pat O'Connell gives suffusively satisfying short board licks, and 2, a. wing-nut supplies all of the long board smoothness to coalesce.
Five stars, in my to 25 of all time. A truly beautiful film made by those who love life.

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Fun Ways to End Basketball Practice (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)The blurb on the back of the video box says it all: "This video utilizes players of different ages and skill levels to demonstrate a variety of drills that coaches at all competitive levels can use to end basketball practice in a highly enjoyable way. One of the most important coaching techniques is learning how to balance discipline and fun. [both] must be integrated together or both lose their effectiveness. This video shows how coaches can conclude their practices by "rewarding" their players, having them leave smiling, wanting more, and looking forward to the next practice session. Among the topics covered: shooting games; ballhandling games and drills; competitive games and game situations; coaching pointers."

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Bruce Brown 6-Pack (The Endless Summer / Barefoot Adventure / Surf Crazy / Surfing Hollow Days / Slippery When Wet / Surfin' Shorts) (Amazon.com Exclusive) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this for my wife to give to my kids to give on Christmas. There's a lot of great surf footage and some very funny vintage Southern California surf culture in these DVD's. If you learned how to surf pre-leash then you'll get it otherwise it might go right over the heads of the gen x'ers.

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On Any Sunday 30th Anniversary Collection (1981) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Let me clarify up-front: The main attraction, "On Any Sunday," earns 4 stars as a classic film. For any kid who saw this movie when it came out in 1971, it was a life-changing event. Most of us took up motorcycle riding because of it. And to see it again after so many years is a real thrill. It's the free-spirited, shaggy-haired, helmet-optional, no-padding, sunshiny '70s - with a parade of old, now-extinct dirtbikes to drool over. As with "Endless Summer," Bruce Brown shone sunshine upon a little-known pasttime and made it cool, accessible and very popular.
The big problem arises when Bruce's son Dana takes the helm to offer the "revisited" supplementary DVDs. What Dana has put together is a mish-mash of unused footage from the original - along with some 30-years-later home-video interviews with Dad, Malcolm Smith, Mert Lawwill, and a handful of the other racer stars of the movie.
As the "writer," Dana gives us only one-line-at-a-time, occasional screen text to tell the story. It's choppy, poorly written, grammatically flawed. For example, a sample line when Dana is explaining that we are seeing this footage for the first time. "It it being shown for the first time." It it??!! How could they miss that? And did Dana not inherit any of Dad's narrative skills? If you want us to feel that old Brown magic - then talk to us, don't type little bulletins across the screen with mis-spellings.
As "director" and "editor," Dana chops together average footage from 30 years ago with shallow reminiscences from today. It feels like someone's first project with a home-editing system. It looks like Bruce was interviewed at his dining room table - with no professional lighting and no professional camera work. And no professional interviewing skills. Note to Dana: The only way you're going to pull interesting stories from your interviewees is by asking interesting questions.
Ughh - I could go on and on. Long story short: buy the movie, "On Any Sunday." Skip the "revisit."

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The Ultimate Summer Bruce Brown Surf Collection Review

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(More customer reviews)A friend and I were lucky enough to preview this new complete set of Bruce Brown's surf films and it's totally EPIC! The Endless Summer I and II, plus 6 of Bruce's easily as excellent earliest surfing films 'Slippery When Wet,' 'Surf Crazy,' 'Barefoot Adventure,' 'Surfing Hollow Days,' and 'Waterlogged,' a compilation film. Bruce's film making style is a real joy to experience, and of course he is one of the catalysts that brought the real surfing lifestyle to the world. In addition to Robert August, Mike Hynson, Pat O'Connell, and Robert `Wingnut' Weaver you will enjoy such surfing luminaries such as Kemp Aaberg, Del Cannon, Mike Diffenderfer, and Henry Ford; if you haven't seen these films hop to it mate, and even if you have you will be entertained and super stoked, if these films don't make you want to surf or at least get to the beach or the Tiki lounge nothing ever will! The artwork is pretty cool too...

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