By Mike Sluchinski
Diving into a surf movie always involves a headfirst leap of faith and watching the Golden Breed (1968) is no different. These niche movies used to be more common, and Bruce Brown and Warren Miller films used to crisscross mountain and coastal areas playing to committed sports fans in both big city theatres and small towns. Surfers, skiers, and boarders of all types used to gather together, and some would drink too much, others would throw popcorn or paper and hoot at daredevil moves by their heroes. They’d meet friends and the movies would be a social event, as much as entertainment. So, if you plan to watch Golden Breed (1968), you need to work with the history and culture of surf and sport films or you might not dig it.
The movie has a simple premise and it’s adorned with some amazing extreme (for the period) sports footage. The movie aims to elevate many of the best surfers of the time by following them around different countries and surf spots that highlight why they’re a “breed apart” or “special men”. Some might think this vainglorious, but if you watch the film, you’ll see some of the best surfers in history surf unique conditions in Hawaii, California, and a few other locales. I enjoyed the Hawaiian and Californian footage the most.
Because I watched an older version, there were audio and visual hiccups. I’d like to see a restored version of the film, but I liked the extremes of types of light captured in the film, even though some might see this as a film quality problem. Dale Davis (who seems to have been director and narrator) grafted the scenes together, not just with his narration, but with his attention to unique perspectives or film shots. His skill and “interested eye” created the quality that held my attention.
From the shots at the Wedge and Banzai Pipeline to hazy orange sunsets, Davis hit unique angles through trees and other backgrounds to capture the surf and other activities. There was some good juxtaposition between the skydiving sequences and mixed activities that the so-called “golden breed” took part in. I enjoyed the surfing, the beachside shots, and also how Davis succeeded in capturing the essential styles of so many surfers in a very compact film. This film is important in that it’s a time capsule for surfing and acts as a tree ring at the same time. It’s more than just an old surf movie, it provides a real window to the past.
I loved the sequences of legendary surfers Nat Young and John Peck surfing. The film clearly documented some of these legendary surfers’ styles. Mike Doyle’s heroic charge down a face at Waimea shot from above made me gasp. I held my breath and the scene literally made me grab my armrest and hold on for dear life. Same goes for some of the footage of surfboards flying around, as this film largely deals with pre-surf leash days.
Did the campy, faux spooky European accents add anything to the film? Not really, but I loved the wipeout sequences in the film and it’s important to remember the surf movie heritage of mixing up some of the sequences. Because these films were often shown in theaters and audiences often reacted in very lively ways to the movies, these films often were made in response to and grew into their rowdy audiences. Shouts, hoots, and other very physical reactions to the films were not uncommon. I couldn’t help hooting and shouting for Greg Noll and Mickey Dora and their skills. Lance Carson and his cutbacks and nose riding also resulted in wall pounding and several stomps that could be heard by my neighbors.
The classic footage of Malibu shows a difference in wave riding culture between island waves and California wave riding. These surf legends took the Hawaiian waves seriously (and for good reason, surfing without leashes or much support), but the California sequences have this warm and playful style that can’t only be explained by the editing, music, and directing. There’s something that’s comfortable, and it’s that certain Californian light on the water or the smaller waves that everyone watching will notice.
Overall, it’s a five-barrel movie—just a few of the shots of Greg Noll pacing down the beach and Mickey Dora prancing and trimming justify that, but there’s much more to see here. This new generation of surfers might raise a lot of questions about inclusion, diversity, and has our stoke achieved further social justice for all kinds of surfers since this movie was made. These are good and fair questions. Fifty years later, I think the years just surrounding the release of this film and the inclusion of surfers like Eddie Aikau really mark some kind of progression compared to earlier surf films.
There will be some who note the few women surfers in the film. Again, it’s been over fifty years since the movie was released and it’s healthy for viewers to ask questions and yet still remember the film acts as a tree ring or time capsule of the period. Still, I’d watch the movie again. I’ve already watched it a few times but this movie also acts as a life preserver that you can grab onto in the depths of winter, or when you can’t get to the coast.
Mike Sluchinski wrote it all down. But it’s taking a while to look it all up. Read his stuff on your next coffee break! Gratefully published in The Coachella Review, Inlandia, Welter, Poemeleon, Lit Shark, Proud To Be Vol. 13, The Ekphrastic Review, MMPP (Meow Meow Pow Pow), Kelp Journal, ‘the fib review’, Eternal Haunted Summer, Syncopation Lit. Journal, South Florida Poetry Journal (SOFLOPOJO), Freefall, and more coming!
Comments