I’ve just re-watched The Endless Summer.
When I was a kid, growing up in San Diego, I really, really wanted a surfboard. It was just so cool! My sister would take me along to Pacific Beach, where she would hang out with her hippie friends, and sometimes we’d go to a store called The Sand Box. Yep, they had boards. But I could never get mom to buy me one. As I gre to be a teen I had other interests – motorcycles and airplanes. I never did learn how to surf. Now my knees are shot from skiing and a car wreck, and I know I’ll never be able to surf.
Still, The Endless Summer has some appeal even to non-surfers. One of the reasons I wanted to leave L.A. is because it was always so bloody hot in the summer. Now, in the PNW, there are days when I miss the heat. No way I’d get into the water up here without a dry suit! (And I have – Diving season is just around the corner! 
) No, up here I’ll stay in the kayak or the boat when I’m not diving. Watching The Endless Summer reminds me of body surfing and boogie boarding in the waves of SoCal.
I also like that it was filmed on a spring-wound Bolex camera. I have one of those! Watching The Endless Summer is like watching a primer on how to shoot a documentary on a shoestring budget. (Actually, they spend about eight thousand 1964-dollars. Cheap by Hollywood standards, but a big chunk of change back then.) Being a wind-up camera, they were limited to shots lasting no more than about 25 seconds. They made mention of that when the surfers went on very long rides.
The colour is beautiful. Many of the shots seemed to be made when the sun was low – the Golden Hour, as it were. It really brought out the colours in some scenes. I’m used to the surf in SoCal, which is greenish-brown because of the sand that the waves churn up. Much of the surf in the film is similar. But then there are beautiful blue waves and white clouds and tanned surfers in their bathing costumes. There are the yellows of the African grass, the reds of people’s shirts, and the greens of lush trees. I’d really like to know what film stock they used. I think their telephoto lens was an Yvar, but I’m not sure; and I don’t know the focal length. The film and lens, combined with the (still) excellent Bolex camera body captured some very nice images. No doubt there has been some restoration for the DVD release, but you do need to start with a good negative. Visually, this is an incredible film.
The Bolex is, as I said, uses a spring-wound motor to transport the film. Aside from the limited time you have for takes, there is also the limitation that you can’t shoot for sound. First, the camera must run at exactly 24 fps to remain in synch with the sound recorder (which must also maintain a constant speed). Can’t do that with a spring motor. (Two of my Bolexes do have crystal-controlled electric motors, as do my Éclair and my Arriflex.) Second, you need a quiet camera so that you don’t hear it on the audio tape. So practically speaking, the technology Robert Brown & Co. used – except for the size of the negative – is the same as your dad or granddad did with his 8mm or silent super-8 camera. With this basic equipment, they had to make a film that would keep people’s interest for an hour and a half. They kept it interesting by including some nice surf music, and with amusing (if sometimes corny) narration.
Some might object to the depiction of native peoples as politcally incorrect. It’s true that they did poke fun at some people, but mostly it was ‘These people have never seen a surfboard. What must they be thinking? Look at them try to surf!’; but remember that this film was made over 40 years ago. Standards were not as high back then. Besides, they did give credit where credit was due. In Ghana they showed a native paddling out on one of their boards. The narrator pointed out that the man had never seen a surfboard before, and gave him props for catching a wave and even standing up for a short, but respectable, time the first time out. IMO you’d have to be extremely (overly) sensitive to be much offended by their depiction of native peoples (with the exception of the Zulu rickshaw driver).
A couple amusing things I noted – from my perspective four decades after the film was made – was that they were shocked – chocked! – that a hotel room cost $30/day each, and that petrol was almost a dollar a gallon! (A cup of coffee also cost about a dollar.)
The Endless Summer probably did as much to promote the sport of surfing as did Gidget or the other beach-party movies that were popular at the time. It’s also an interesting time capsule, showing a ‘modern’ transistor radio (in a leather case, and no doubt AM only) and vintage automobiles. Think about the time. 1964. Space capsules and transistor radios were still new things. The war in Vietnam was still relatively small-scale. People drove V8s to drive-in restaurants and drive-in movies. The Beatles were just starting the British Invasion. My dad and his friends would go to San Diego bay to water ski. A few years later, I’d go to the beach with them. Speaking of water skiing, it seems like the '60s were the heyday of water ski shows. (There was a place in Florida – its name escapes me, and I’d never been there – that was famous for its shows. It closed a couple of years ago.) The 1960s remind me of sea, surf, sand and sun. Ah, those halcyon days of youth!
The Endless Summer reminds me of when I was little and carefree. Its beautifully shot, shows wonderful places on the planet, and is entertaining even for those of us who never surfed.