# Origin of "Charlie Don't Surf"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2001, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471 "2001-10-15T10:20:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471/21 "2010-05-30T18:36:15Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > “Why do all you guys sit on your helmets?” Yes it is by far. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471/22 "2010-05-30T18:50:25Z")
> [@toofs](#): > > Wow. The op was from nine years ago. > > Apocalypse Now Redux, with the extra 49 minutes, is the best version of the film. See it if you haven’t already. I’ve never much liked the Redux version. Interesting to see, but the movie really just flows better without all that extra stuff. Back on the topic of the OP, though, it does explain why you see one of Kilgore’s surfboards on the PBR later in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![cantbangel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5e9695/32.png) [@cantbangel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantbangel)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471/23 "2010-05-30T20:55:46Z")
i love this movie so much, full metal jacket is a good book/movie too i have soldiers on the brain memorial day weekend and all. i’ve been you tubing viet nam all day ---
**Author:** ![cantbangel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5e9695/32.png) [@cantbangel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantbangel)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471/24 "2010-05-30T21:00:51Z")
> [@toofs](#): > > Wow. The op was from nine years ago. > > Apocalypse Now Redux, with the extra 49 minutes, is the best version of the film. See it if you haven’t already. i think the whole french plantation info would have educated young ppl more. i duuno i lve AN, period ---
**Author:** ![cantbangel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5e9695/32.png) [@cantbangel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantbangel)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471/25 "2010-05-30T21:10:54Z")
[quote=“waterj2, post:22, topic:87471”] I’ve never much liked the Redux version. off topic too i love original Bladerunner wayyyyyy better than director’s cut. film noir type films must have a narrator, even in color. also WWII in europe always seems black and white, and WWII Pacific seems color. do you think it is the movies i watched as a kid? I have to start a new thread i think ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471/26 "2010-05-31T12:27:51Z")
Instead of calling it _Apocalypse Now Redux_ I think they should have called it _Apocalypse, Now With Boobies!_ ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471/27 "2010-05-31T12:58:49Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > The script for the movie was written much earlier than the movie’s debut, by John Milius. He was a surfer from California way back when. > > [Here’s](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:L1HhKHxekd4J:www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/09/john.milius.movies/index.html+milius+napalm+interview&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) an interview with him last year. The reason I have this is that the question about “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” authorship came up recently on my American Dialect Society mailing list. Milius wrote the line. He’s a pretty conservative guy. > > I know this doesn’t answer the question about the connection with Manson/t-shirts Interesting fact about John Milius: The character of Walter Sobchack in _The Big Lebowski_ was based very closely on him. According to Milius, when he watches the movie with his kids they’ll laugh and point at Walter and say things like “That’s totally you dad, that’s totally something you would say!” Milius doesn’t mind and is a fan of the movie. This is according to the book _I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski_. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471/28 "2010-06-04T20:22:26Z")
Hate to continue a zombie thread but … I just realized yesterday that in Sofia Coppola’s _Lost in Translation_ there is a character named “Charlie” who is in fact a surfer. I hope she put that in on purpose. The guy [playing Charlie](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1435725/) is not a professional actor and is just a friend of Coppola’s. _LiT_ is his only credit. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471/29 "2010-06-04T22:08:17Z")
The line has popped up in comics too. I have an issue of Doom 2099 with a mutant wearing a t-shirt bearing an image of professor X (whose first name is Charles) with the slogan “Charlie don’t surf”. ---
**Author:** ![cantbangel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5e9695/32.png) [@cantbangel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantbangel)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471/30 "2010-06-16T15:35:50Z")
OH Iwant it I want it! so cool > [@DocCathode](#): > > The line has popped up in comics too. > > I have an issue of Doom 2099 with a mutant wearing a t-shirt bearing an image of professor X (whose first name is Charles) with the slogan “Charlie don’t surf”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-charlie-dont-surf/87471.md?page=1)