The Dogtown and Z-Boys skateboarding DVD chronicles the overnight impact of the Zephyr team on skateboarding in the early 1970's and the eventual collapse of the team later in the same decade. This DVD is directed and co-written by skateboard legend-turned-filmmaker Stacy Peralta and narrated by actor Sean Penn. The DVD features bonus material including commentary, extended raw skate footage, deleted scenes, and more.
1 The rebirth of the cool
This movie is alot of fun. It has the same spirit and sense of invention as the great surfing movies. In fact, it comes as little surprise that a brat pack of surfboys were the ones to turn skateboarding on its ears in the 70's, by introducing extreme maneuvers that left the judges agape when they reintroduced national competitions in the late 70's. Here you get the unvarnished impressions of the motherf*#!ers of invention themselves, exploiting every school yard and swimming pool in their immediate vicinity to give skateboarding a whole new look and feel.
Stacy Peralta captures the energy of the Z-Boys and how they rise to fame and in some cases fortune by turning this kids' sports into one of the great extreme sports of the 90's. Like "Riding Giants," Peralta has fun piecing together the history and breakthroughs of the sport with a lot of personal interviews with the original Z-Boys. It pretty much ignores everything else that was going on in skateboarding at the time, but no matter, these guys were the top dogs, launching onto the scene in Skateboarding magazine, thanks to the gonzo style approach of Craig Steyck. Style was everything and these guys and lone gal had it to spare. My only qualm is with the dull voice over of Sean Penn who sounds like a wet blanket.
2 Excellent.
My boyfriend skated with some of these guys in the early 80's in Los Angeles. I wanted to understand what he was talking about, so I rented the DVD from Netflix the other day. GREAT film. A very interesting piece of history and skateboarding culture.
3 killer
I saw this movie a couple of years ago at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center and thought it was great...Now I am adding it to my surf flick collection...if you live/love the surf/skate lifestyle, this is a must have...aloha
4 Alva rocks!!
I remember when I first saw Tony Alva flying out of the pool in skateboarder magazine. I was amazed. I was a fan of his and all the guys and gals he was with.
What an awesome video. It shows the way they were and how they came into the "fame" they have achieved.
Thank you to all of them for starting to bring skateboarding into the mainstream.
5 Beautiful film
I'm not a skateboarder--I never have been. So my review of this film is from a truly "outsider" position. I'll skip making comments about the wonderful aspects of this film as a documentary about skateboarding, because to me what makes this a truly remarkable work of art has to do with being a documentary about life and truth and beauty and all that.
This movie is about hope. It paints a picture of young kids growing up in an incredibly harsh environment (the film goes out of its way to portray Venice of the early '70's in practically post-apocalyptic images) who see in the concrete wasteland nothing but ocean waves of endless promise. They craft, as artists, a new ballet amidst the rubble. They are obsessed with skating the perfect run, not necessarily to be better than their friends, but just for the sake of perfection. In this pursuit of perfection, I see hope. I see a vision of a recreated world where there are no barriers based on class or empty swimming pools surrounded by fences and patrolled by police. But there's also an irony in the hope, in that the Zephyr boys have an exclusivity about them--they are fiercely elite in their rejection of conventionality.
The story of one of the top two skateboarders, Jay Adams, provides the heart to this film. His story provides a balance to the narrative of corporate greed, which ultimately destroyed the Zephyr team (but which also made the film possible and the story relevent). He is shown as a very young and, though violent and utterly contemptous, innocent boy oozing with natural talent. He's interviewed several times as an adult who, we find out, is doing time for heroin-related charges in Hawaii. Next to the brilliance of the Jay Adams the boy, in Jay Adams the man we see a dark shell of regret and pain. His fellow riders lament the fact that Jay's life is so tragic and unfair--there's a sense of complete injustice "he should have had it all" "Jay's had the hardest life of anyone I know who's still alive" "you only get one shot at this...once it's gone it's gone." So within this movie about beauty and hope, we meet Jay Adams and see tragedy and injustice. There's an absolutely beautiful and haunting scene at the end of the Jay Adams excurses in which the beautiful young Jay, maybe 12 years old, with long sun-bleached hair, is skating in an empty pool and falls on his way down one side. His board continues through the bottom of the pool, up the other side, and straight up into the air about 10 or 15 feet. The scene is in slow motion and freezes the board mid-air. Then, there's a fade to a still of Jay at about 25 years old holding a picture of himself as a cute, innocent boy of about 7. Then another fade to Jay as a hard, broken man in his 30's, with a crew but, what seems to be a black eye and bruised nose, and tattoos running up his throat. Eyes like empty holes. This is the filmmaker's art at its finest. A scene like this says so much more than words ever could.
Some of the reviews on this film have complained that the film was too short--that it left too many questions unanswered. I couldn't disagree more. This film is all about the questions, not the answers. As a Christian, I see this film as a commentary on humanity and our longing for beauty--our hope for a future that includes a recreated world where architecture is no longer purely utilitarian, where there are no longer divisions between north Malibu and the southern beaches. Where everyone has access to a perfect wave. A future in which greed no longer robs us of our innocence, and Jay Adams is once again that strikingly charismatic and beautiful blond-headed boy writing profound poetry with his skateboard, poetry that destroys the walls of violence and drugs and elitism, that opens his soul to ours and ours to him. In the words of U2, a future "where the streets have no name." Our souls groan for a better place, and this film captures that emotion as well as any I've ever seen. This is an amazing film!
6 GREAT FILM
great film simple as that well edited great story great music and great skating watch it rent it buy it I saw it in theaters three times and have seen it dozens of times on video
7 Coulda been longer though...
I have to say this movie was quite enjoyable...and that's an understatement. I enjoyed the "punk" editing, the cool photos, and especially the soundtrack (soundtrack shoulda had all the songs!). I wished the documentary dug a little deeper into the crew's backgrounds though (i.e. family life, school [some dropped out of high school], drug use, aftermath of the '70's skateboard craze, etc.). It left me hangin' a bit; so many unanswered questions. I wanted the "low-down"! Too many skeletons I guess...all style, less substance.
Overall it's still a good film (in a flashy "video" sorta way!)...
8 Should've been longer...
I have to say this movie was quite enjoyable...and that's an understatement. I enjoyed the "punk-aesthetic" of the editing, the cool photos, and especially the soundtrack. I wished the documentary dug a little deeper into the crew's backgrounds though (i.e. family life, school [some dropped out of high school], drug use, aftermath of the '70's skateboard craze, etc.). It left me hangin' a bit; so many unanswered questions. Too many skeletons I guess... I wanted the "low-down". Overall it's still a good film (in a flashy "video" sorta way!)...
9 Beach Boys go Punk
Style-wise, the documentary footage was too cut up and special effected for my taste. Granted, film footage from the 70's is minimal, and lots of still pictures had to be weaved in. It shouldn't be Ken Burns slow, but the fast cuts seem very MTV 90's or 00's... while the scene and music are perfectly 70's. Sean Penn's narration is a great coup - the perfect actor for this. At one point, Penn got stuck half way through a word, stopped, cleared his throat, repeated the word, and kept going. I love that no one said "do it again"... a punk aesthetic.
The Dogtown themes remind me of "Style Wars," about late 70's/early 80's New York City kids using graffiti, breakin', and rap to turn their environment into "art." (Authorities often called it "crime.") Dogtown (South Santa Monica/Venice) Z-Boys use their resources - athleticism, style, mental hunger, and physical environment - to create a new attitude... that fed/feeds energy to the world. As a Pasadena grandma would say, "Not too shabby!.... Uh... What the %@# happened to my pool!"
With so many 70's skaters covered in the film (by design - to show the scene), few of the individual stories carry much weight. Jay Adams' story was most interesting: He was the youngest and brightest skater, but at some point took a walk on the too wild side for too long. Adams' not lasting with the pro scene is portrayed as big a loss for skateboarding as Alva's ascendancy was a gain.
Overall, Dogtown is a unique "one of." That said, I prefer the 80's themed documentary "Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator." (It's technically more formal and linear.) Take the preference with a grain of salt... I'm a product of the 80's.
10 Jay Adams isn't DEAD!
I didn't have the pleasure of seeing this movie until it got to cable. It immediately got my attention because it was about skateboarding and pictures of cute boys (who are now middle-aged daddies!),and touched on a brief history of the underground sport/way-of-life. The soundtrack definitely gets you "stoked" and wanting to get your own skateboard. I revived my interest in "sk8g" completely. I couldn't give it 4-stars though 'cuz it left me hangin' with a lot of questions. I think style over substance is the issue here, but overall it is an excellent movie especially if you love documentaries (like me!); I am now a confessed Dogtown addict!
P.S.
Jay Adams isn't dead and writes excellent editorials for a skate mag...
11 Good but not great
it's an intresting compelling story about the history of skateboards
12 EXCELLENT
This is a great movie for anyone who in interested in skateboarding or even any sports at all. This movie keeps you interested every second and when you watch you'll see.
13 inspiring!!
it's an awesome film. i randomly picked it up from a video store and decided to try it out. it was one of the best films/documentaries i have ever seen. the cuts and compositions of the film was original and entertaining. the content of the film, which was about how z-boys revolutionalized the skateboarding world by introducing vertical wall/pool riding + how they came to where they were, was inspiring.
14 Exceptional Documentary
This is an exceptional documentary of a group of guys in blue-collar south Venice Beach, CA that revolutionized skateboarding. As a 50 year old who grew up in Southern California in the mid-60s skateboarding in the "uncool" manner that they portrayed in the first skateboard tournament, I was absolutely mesmerized by the evolution to vertical skateboarder, ie, "airtime".
This film narrated by Sean Penn interviews the members of the Zephyr Surf Shop skateboarding team from the 70s. Sean Penn does an excellent job as voice over and the teammates and shop owners are very honest and forthright in sharing the evolution through the skateboarding where they were first seen, to the urban guerilla boarding in empty swimming pools, to skateboard stardom, and finally to grown-ups.
Many reviewers mention the braggadocio of the participants since the director was also a Z-Boy. Also many complained that they were just a bunch of skateboarders. But I didn't view it that way at all. I found their reporting to be very balanced and in fact, I thought the director somewhat downplayed his stature in the skateboarding world vs. say, Tony Alva. Also as a former skateboarder of a previous generation, I found it absolutely fascinating watching the evolution of the sport. Whether true or not, following that evolution to airborne makes fascinating history. Now, skateboard/wakeboard/surfing/in-line skating have merged into extreme sports. Did these guys invent it? Of course not. But they were substantial in its evolution.
My wife who has never lived outside Southeast US viewed this also and while the subject matter was not familiar, she found it interesting. I recommend this for people wanting to study 70s culture, Southern California or pop culture.
15 (((((((AWESOME!)))))))))))
Must see for all who survived the 70's.
I'm not a skateboarder...but LOVED this dose of my history.
=^..^=
16 40 Going On 14...
When I first heard about this movie, back when it was debuting at Sundance, I couldn't wait to see it. When it did finally come to my town, I dragged my husband to it; it certainly confused him, seeing his 39 year old computer nerd wife turn into a teen age skate rat overnight!
In my mispent youth, I lived about 20 miles south of Dogtown & idolized Tony Alva. I had his magazine shots covering my walls; I memorized every issue of Skateboarder when it arrived in my mailbox. I also spent every available moment gonzoing the local hilly streets with my friends. As soon as I was old enough to get my own place, where did I move to? You guessed it, Dogtown. I don't talk much about those days now, or at least I didn't until DOGTOWN & Z-BOYS came out.
This movie is wonderful. It really captures what that time felt like, when skateboarding was still closely allied to surfing & just finding it's own identity. The archival footage is amazing, especially the P.O.P. sequence, & the early shots of the Z-Boys at Paul Revere & Bellagio. The editing is brilliant, & the music rocks! What is truly remarkable is that it manages to make skateboarding accessible & enjoyable to those who never participated, such as my husband. He's just as blown away at some of the footage as I was.
The DVD transfer is great. It's nice to be able to slow down some of the sections, or freeze a frame to get a better look, or just repeat your fave sections over & over again. The voice-over commentary by Peralta on the bonus track adds many anecdotes that had to be left out of the film, as well as giving credit to many of the people who contributed footage the documentary relies heavily on. There's also an additional, uncut film of today's Tony A during a pool session, which is nice to see.
The only reason this film doesn't get 5 stars is because of some of the people it left out. Where's Tom Inouye, of the notorious Inouye's Pool Service? When it came to outlaw pool-finding, Tom was the man! Laura Thornhill was probably the only other hard-core girl who got attention at the time; she's completely unmentioned. Although Stacy Peralta gets his props for modesty, he sometimes errs on the side of being TOO modest; there was a spectacular Arizona Pipe session I recall that goes unmentioned, one that Stacy made history at. It would have been nice to see some of that footage too.
All in all, Dogtown & Z-Boys can't be beat if you remember those days. If you're at the age where all this is new to you, it's a great way to learn where all those moves you're busting came from.
Now to dig out some OP's & Vans, & I'll be stylin' again...
17 Very Entertaining Documentary
A friend highly recomended this documentary about skateboarding, and I was very doubtful going in because I do not skateboard and am not interested in it.
Surprisingly, I found the documentary to be entertaining, informative and definitely interesting. It's a very unique look into a group of unsung heros who unintentionally gave birth to a new sport and a worldwide counter-culture that has undoubtedly influenced several generations. This documentary is not just for skaters; anyone interested in the forgotten but influential events in history would like this film.
What these guys did in the world of early skateboarding is on the same level as the way the Fosbury Flop changed the high-jump in track and field, but even bigger because it was part of a cutural revolution that gave rise to a whole new genre of sport. Once the cat was out of the bag, the world could never go back. Equally important was the early promotion of the sport and the lifestyle, of which the writer/director was an early pioneer. He was also a member of the Z-boys, which provides a perspective that no one else could deliver. He personally knows all the early superstars of the sport and the guys behind the scenes, which seems to make those interviewed very candid and open.
You will not be dissatisfied with this film, even if you know nothing about skateboarding or have bo interest in it.
18 Awsome video
This video goes through the history of skateboarding with kids and how skateboarding became a fad. It mentions the start of vert and different styles were created. I recormenend this video to any skateboarder or just skateboard enthusiast. I give it a 5 for everything. Its awsome.
19 Awesome movie...even for non-skateboarders like me!
My brother-in-law lent us this DVD to watch. I ended up watching it twice in 2 days and then running out to get my own copy!
An absolutely fabulous documentary on the So. Cal. skateboarding scene in the 70's. Even if you don't skateboard, the stories on these athletes are riveting...in particular Jay Adams.
I can't say enough about the music in this movie. Great songs, one and all. Every song clicked perfectly with what was going on visually at the time.
Very impressive directorial work by Stacy Peralta.
20 Poetry in Motion
This movie is a love letter to a sport that to those of us who've never skated, helped us understand the passion these people feel for it. With it's absolutely breath-taking visuals, very artistic still photography, and killer sound track, who could resist but be a bit envious of these sunshine golden-boys and their awesome talent? Learning the history behind each person's humble beginnings, and how their passion for a fading trend, helped launch a counter-culture extreme sport is exhilirating to watch. I have a lot of skater friends, and none of them are getting any younger, knees have been ravaged and bones are weary. This film allows those folks, who grew up in this era, and equally loved to skate, relive the reasons that drew them to skating in the first place. To see someone's eyes light up, and catch a glimpse of the sparkle in them, that this awesome sport incites is really beautiful to behold. And the movie definately shows we "non-skaters" why these guys have so much love for their boards! The movie truly is a work of art, beautifully filmed, with actual footage from the era, still photograghy that any world-reknowned photgragher would envy....watching it will make you want to go and grab a board and at least TRY and feel the love!! I just had tickets to Tony Hawk's Boom-Boom Huck Jam exhibition, and seeing this film, showed me he may be the Michael Jordan of the skate world, but he is simply carrying the torch, in a sport where it's founding fathers were all plain old kids from middle-class neighborhoods, who loved something enough, to help turn the sport into what it is today!!!! A MUST see movie!!!!!!!
21 Awesome Old School
This movie was the best overall skate documentary that I have ever seen. It showed everything about the gang. I reccomend it to anyone who loves true skateboard videos. It shows all of their struggles to big-time skatin'. Buy this movie!
22 Going Back With the Best
I was resting in my room when this movie came on cable. The soundtrack roused me and the narrative style of Sean Penn pulled me in. So, I got up, and went out to watch this documentary. I came of age - on the East Coast - during the 70's. I have to admit, I was a party girl, running with the boys - and knew nothing of stakeboarding. Yet, the ZBoys soundtrack was the background to my life in the early 70's. I was fascinated by their absolute lack of fear. Watching Jay Adams take that road with no helmet at 70 mph took my breath away. This movie celebrates that very special time in life, and the Zboys,and the soundtrack did it proud. Loved this flick and am really looking forward to the Lords of Dogtown. Good Luck, Tracy.
23 Shameless self-promotion
I certainly can appreciate the cultural influence that this group of skaters had...but I have never seen a group of people who felt more self-important about something that is so unimportant. It isn't surprising that the movie was made by Peralta (whose enthusiasm along with everyone elses is acutely artificial). Who makes a documentary about themself and passes it off as something with historical credence? The film is full of could of's, hyperbole and lifetime channel attempts to be dramatic. At one point the film eulogizes Jay Adams as if he was dead (really he just didn't sell out like Peralta and Alva and make enough money). Its feeble attempt at tragedy falls quite short and seems ridiculously self-involved.
One moment they are lauding themselves for being loners, then they are celebrating themselves for signing contracts and offering themselves up for money. The soundtrack, although quite good, is anachronistic with the time period and furthers the fact that this is a silly attempt to make more money off something that they once held to be so pure.
This movie was nauseatingly contrived and offensively commercial. It was quite good when it ended
24 Dogtown and the Z-Boyz
I'm from Brazil and skateboard is as popular here as it is in the US. I started skating in the 80's so names like Peralta, Alva, Hosoi and Caballero were top skaters we've never seem, but we knew those guys could skate. I saw tons of pics of Alva riding a pool, Jay Adams' stylish tricks, but I never saw any footage of'em. When I saw this movie, it felt like I was in the dogbowl. It really made me understand how skateboard change those kids' lifes and how they changed skateboarde course and the whole skateboard scene, with the way they dressed, the shoes they wore, and stuff like that. Skateboard industry was never the same after Dogtown Boys. It's a complete source of information of how skateboard grew, got popular and changed the life of millions kids around the world.
25 "Dogtown and Z-Boys" fresh, unique, and infectious
Almost 30 years before the world had heard of Tony Hawk, three-sixties, or even Jackass, there was a place called Dogtown, a singed wasteland of ruin in Venice, California where a then overlooked group of rebellious youthful outsiders shared one passion...Skateboarding.
Spearheaded by the unbelievable skating prowess of Tony Alva, Jay Adams, and Stacy Peralta (who also serves as director here), the Zephyr Team would go on to revolutionize the world of skateboarding in only a few short years, and bring what was once a passing trend into a national, and inevitably commercialized obsession.
"Dogtown and Z-Boys" passionately chronicles the skyrocket rise and subsequent fame of the Zephyr Team, particularly Alva and Adams with remarkable freshness and purpose. Rare and raw footage and pictures of the infamous Z-Boys blazing the asphalt and riding the dry-bone swimming pools of the early 70's is art in itself creating gripping visual moments set against a
soundtrack courtesey of Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Blue Oyster Cult, and Led Zeppelin, just to name a few. In any case, it's hardcore...a hardcore documentary experience that effortlessly recaptures a fleeting moment in history that will never be repeated, when a group of no-account skateboard outlaws rewrote the rules of the game and changed the way the skateboard was ridden forever.
Clever, engaging, and purposeful in its storytelling, "Dogtown and Z-Boys" is a fascinating documentary, and certainly worth checking out.
26 RIVETING !
Wow, I'm originally from the east coast and never skateboarded in my life. I don't know JACK about it. But, I've gotta congratulate the entire crew responsible for making this movie. BRAVO! It ROCKS! The amount of film footage & stills is awesome and so is the SOUNDTRACK.......GREAT ,GREAT DOCUMENTARY.I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys GOOD FILMAKING.
27 Those were the days...
I started watching and was immediately thrilled! When the black and white photos from Skateboarder Magazine started showing up my head was filling up with flashbacks. Everything looked so familiar. My brother and I watched it and all we could say was "Do you remember that!!!" The classic skaters, the clothes, the hair, the pools, equipment,...everything is there. I went right to eBay and bought some vintage Skateboarder Magazines as soon as we were done watching it, again. I'm 36 now, this is what I grew up with. I don't skate anymore, but the surfing will never leave me. Buy it. Classic.
28 Z-Boys...amazing story
Most people know the name Tony Hawk today. He has his own series of incredibly successful video games (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater). Other X-Games superstars are also well known and have their own games and are nationally recognized (Kelly Slater, Matt Hoffman, etc). Snowboarding is an Olympic sport. Skateboarding is at an incredible level of popularity. Skateboarding today is alive because of a group from the Dogtown neighborhood of Venice, CA. This group was called the Z-Boys. The Z-Boys were from the Zephyr competition team. They were first an elite group of surfers who only started skating when the ocean didn't have the waves for surfing. The Z-Boys ended up helping propel skateboarding to new levels of popularity.
Dogtown and Z-Boys is a documentary and it deals with how they got started in skating (and surfing, because it is relevant to the skating) and about the impact that they had in the skate world. The Z-Boys created new moves that would set the standard for what it means to skate. They began by using what they did in surfing and emulated top surfers, but when California had a huge drought, they started skating in dried out pools (often without permission). This led to the beginnings of vert skating, and had the Z-Boys not skated in pools, perhaps the style of skating today would not even exist (vert ramps did not exist when the Z-Boys were skating pools). They were testing the limits of what was possible in skating and with each passing day they discovered that more and more was possible. The Z-Boys made it to the top of the skating world, and they inspired new generations of skaters. This is their story.
I had never heard of the Z-Boys until this documentary came out and the most I knew of skating was that I couldn't skate, and whatever I learned from the Tony Hawk video games. It would be hard to believe the influence that these skaters had on the skate world if not for today's influential skaters (Hawk, Burnquist, etc) also talking about how they were influenced by the Z-Boys. This is a must watch for any fan of skateboarding at all.
29 Funny!
You know the little skate rats in your town, the ones that interrupt sidewalk traffic and scar public property? Meet their heroes. This is a documentary about forty year old geezers who wax nostalgic about trespassing into peoples homes and ruining their pools by skateboarding in them. These pioneers of "Xtreme" sports speak with such seriousness about their "accomplishment" that you'd think they discovered penicillin.
Bravo.
30 Memory Lane
I still have about 50 Skateboarder Magazines out in the garage. I was rattling off the old brands of gear as I watched the movie. Bahne, Sims Pure Juice, Kryptonics, Road Rider, etc. I love this nostalgia ...! Only 4 stars?? Obviously I wanted more. Extras, footage, whatever. Plus if that first reviewer really is HH, you all should know, that he could tear up the slalom.
31 MOVIE SUPER! CANNOT ACCESS THE RAW FOOTAGE
I'M A 50 YEAR OLD WOMAN WHO HAS WATCHED THIS DOCU 6 TIMES!
VERY WELL DONE. MUSIC = INFECTOUS AND PERFECTLY TIMED WITH THE AMAZING STILL AND MOVING FOOTAGE OF THE BOZS IN THEIR EARLY DAYS.
PROBLEM WITH THE DVD = ON 3 DIFFERENT DVD'S THE RAW FOOTAGE AND DELETED SCENES ARE NOT ACCESSABLE. THE ICON COMES UP BUT HITTING "ENTER" DOES NOTHING.
CAN ANYONE HELP WITH THE SECRET OF HOW TO ACCESS THE RAW FOOTAGE?
THE SONY AND VANS WEBSITES HAVE BEEN NO HELP.
I WANT TO WATCH THE RAW FOOTAGE OVER AND OVER TOO!
WHETHER THE SPECIAL FEATURES WORK OR NOT THIS IS A DOCU THAT SHOULD NOT BE MISSED!
AMAZING FILM.
32 A Documentary that Defies Gravity!!!
Being a fan and student of everything and anything, that has to do with the 1970s, this Sean Penn narrated documentry, "Dogtown and Z-Boys" came highly recommended to me from a number of people.The film turned out to be much more than just a piece about '70s Southern California nostalgia. Instead it is a fascinating story about how a group of kids from a low income, L.A. neighborhood graduated from surfing to skateboarding and became the legendary Zephyrs(or Z-Boys) skateboarding team.Using urban guerilla tactics, they created a style and attitude, that revolutionized the sport and made it, what it is today.The film shows how many of these kids (including Tony Alva) went on to a superstar status within the sport. Director, Stacy Peralta has done a wonderful job of telling this story, through the use of recent interviews, beautiful still photography and tons of actual archival footage from that period. You will be amazed as you watch the film footage of these skateboarders as they seem to defy both physics and gravity in an aggressive style that is like poetry in motion.Also, listen for a great classic rock soundtrack (everything from Jimi Hendrix to Pink Floyd to Black Sabbath) that recalls the era. This is a fascinating documentary, which I highly recommend!
33 THIS MOVIE SMOKES!!
THIS FILM IS WAY OVERDUE! AS WE 70'S TRIPPERS ARE GETTING OLDER AND LIFE STARTING TO GET A BIT BOARING THIS FLICK PUMPS A LITTLE LIFE BACK INTO YOUR BELL BOTTOMS! (AND TO YOU CLOWNS WITH THE BAD REVIEWS GET A LIFE),THESE GUY'S LOVED WHAT THAY HAD GOING DOWN!! I WAS RACEING MOTOCROSS BACK THEN IN THE 70'S STEEL FRAMES AND DRUM BRAKES IN THE FRONT IT'S ALL WE HAD THEN BUT IT WAS TOP DOG, AND HOW HIGH CAN YOU FLY!
THUMBS UP TO YOU GUYS, MADE ME FEEL LIKE A KID AGAIN.
34 DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS!!
THIS MOVIE SMOKES~~~GREAT ALL AROUND THIS STORY NEEDED TO BE TOLD!!
WOW! DID WE LOOK LIKE THAT BACK THEN?
35 DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS!!
THIS MOVIE SMOKES~~~GREAT ALL AROUND THIS STORY NEEDED TO BE TOLD!!
WOW! DID WE LOOK LIKE THAT BACK THEN?
36 Rippin'! (did I just say that?)
Great historical documentary of skatboardin' and concrete carving, not to mention the birth of pool skating. Very informative and an eye opener to those who live or have been in Santa Monica lately but not 20 years ago.
37 Awesome!
A really well put together documentary.
Made me want to go out and hit the streets!
38 I lived it on the East coast
This movie brought me back to a time I had almost forgot about. In high school we lived to skate (Cape May area (NJ)). Actually the surfers did not skate much. The less pretty of us from the surrounding areas built the half pipes and did all the riding. Back then I studied every issue of Skateboarder magazine. I stared at the images and the faces of the people. In the film I saw the exact same photographs! I remembered so many of the shots from the magazines. Now I was able to see those images talk, skate, become real people. It brought back way too many memories of my youth. We had a crew of riders from all over the county and one guy was black (unheard of back then!) We rode on my wooden half pipe, on the street, and anywhere else we could get the wheels on. We were even featured on a local TV show. It was more a culture than sport for us. I had an Alva board. My pipe had Alva's name painted on it! Skateboarding was a popular commodity but we lived the lifestyle. It was not about clothes-the look. Soon they built a indoor skate park in Cherry Hill, NJ. It was reputed to be one of the best, if not the only park on the upper East coast. There was also a small park in Sommers Point, NJ. I mention these places only for those who knew and loved them. If any of you remember me post a response. The people in the film really were the founders of the moves you see. OK, maybe somebody somewhere else did it first or would do it eventually but they got the "patent" so they wear the crown.
Yes. I still skate at 41.
39 An exquisitely produced slice of pre X-Games sporting angst
I'm a big fan of documentaries. Especially documentaries about the cooler things in life. 'Dogtown and Z-Boys' is an excellent production, giving a fascinating insiders perspective on the evolution of modern Skateboarding. Produced by Stacey Peralta, with assistance from the expert photographic lens of Craig Steyck; 'Dogtown' ... you in with it's exquisite juxtaposition of still photos, old home movies, classic rock, and interviews. Even if you don't care about Skateboarding, this film definately merits your attention. Artfully constructed, visually rich, and full of great anecdotes, 'Dogtown and Z-Boys' is one of my three favorite documentaries released in 2002.
40 OldSkewl Sk8r goodness
Shows an amazingly honest portrait of the early days of skateboarding. Incredible footage of some of the early greats in their prime, as well as their commentary on the current state of the skating universe.
41 Even uncool old geezers like me can like this film
The first time I saw this amazing documentary was when the punky types on the night shift at my local video hut were watching a bootleg VHS copy a few months before the video actually came out. Nearly every customer in the store craned their necks up towards the screen, and sat transfixed, watching the history of modern skateboarding unfold onscreen. [Note to self: if it was that absorbing in the video store, be sure to get it when it comes out!]
"Dogtown And Z-Boys" is a thoroughly engaging, well-produced film which recalls the dim, pre-punk origins of the skateboarding scene that came out of LA in the 1970s and has grabbed hold of antisocial daredevil types across the world ever since. I was transfixed by this film, from beginning to end, and found there wasn't a dull moment or false note in the entire production. I should hasten to add that I have never been much of a skateboarding fan; when I moved to Berkeley in the mid-1980s, skateboarding was already firmly identified with punk rock rebelliousness, with swarms of leather- and denim-clad losers barrelling down the sidewalks at top speed, tediously intent on messing with the minds of all the uptight squares who dared to be less cool than they were. As a punk rock fan who prefers walking to knocking others off the sidewalk, I intensely dislike the culture of show-offy, in-your-face self-centeredness and machismo that skateboarders have adopted; in the 1990s, when the scene went mainstream and became commercialized as an "extreme" sport, it became even that much more tedious and trivial. But this film shows where it all started, with a motley bunch of scruffy teenage Santa Monica beach bums who took the elegance and attitude of the world's best surfers and adapted it to the humble (and then quite primitive) skateboard. The documentary appealed to me both aesthetically and personally -- the Dog Town skateboarders were all undeniably hella cool, and their story is pretty amazing. Also, I remember having the same sort of restlessness and rebelliousness during the post-hippie, pre-punk years of my adolescence, and watching the old footage of the Dog Town crew, I was powerfully reminded of my own proud years as a 1970s juvenile delinquent. The film's tone rang true, which isn't surprising since it was produced by guys who were part of the original Z-Boys clique. It's a captivating, funny, stylish and very creative film, which exhalts a sexy urban subculture without exploiting its subjects or leaving out any members of the audience who might not skate themselves. Great soundtrack, too. A+ all the way around.
42 History Lesson in the Old School
Hey Henry (Hester), good job on the review. I still have one of you're old G&S stick's, was curious to know, still skating or ?
people- Penn does this film right, a great depiction of what it used to be like in the dayZ of old.
Word, Cab
43 This Movie Rocks!
A great documentary that really depicts the mood and the attitude that made all of us want to be Z-Boys. A tribute to the guys (and gals Peggy!) that changed skateboarding from Venice Beach to Washington Square Park. To the naysayers... shine on.
44 Tripping down memory lane, a great film!
No, I'm not a skateboarder fanatic, although I did own one and I'm a contemporary of many of the protagonists of this film. However, this movie was a blast for me because I grew up on LA's Westside and went to school with several of these guys. The "surfing and skating" crowd at Venice High School in Los Angeles might have radicalized the sport, but they were never viewed as evil or with distain by the most of their peers. In fact, the surfers were viewed as a kind of a "cool" group because so much of the summer culture revolved around the beach. However, as they state clearly in the film, they did feel somewhat marginalized from the mainstream. Furthermore, their sport and efforts never got the full measure of respect from their peers at the time, although, time, fame & fortune and several prestigious awards from the Sundance Film Festival have changed all that. What I do recall from those days though, is that Stacy Peralta and Nathan Pratt were pretty decent guys and it is nice to see them featured in this entertaining and enjoyable film. Well done, guys. I'd recommend this film to anyone, whether they are interested in surfing and skateboarding or not. It perfectly describes a very real slice of southern California culture of the 70's.
45 You can only relate toward, if you skateboard........
This movie brought back so many good memories of my young skating days. Names like Peralta, Adams, Alva are big in the history of skateboarding. There is some great footage and information I had never heard before. The Z Boys pushed the envelope building a base for future skaters to emulate and expand on. The Z Boys skated because they loved to do it and it is absurd to state that they weren't as talented as skaters who came after them. The skaters of the 80's to the present have the Z Boys to thank for bringing skateboarding back into the the limelight. In every area, there are people who came before who helped carve the way. In climbing it was Hillary. In Jazz, it was John Coltrane. Sure skateboarding was a subculture and the Z-Boys were misfits but that should not detract from the contributions they made to skateboarding.
46 It's Style, They Said; Engaging Documentary on Skateboarding
I'm a teacher at college in Japan; I'm no skateborder, and will never be. I bought this video simply because one of students in my English class said how cool the film was, and I just checked it out to see if I can use the film in my class. The result turned out more engaging than I expected, and "Dogtown and Z-Boys" is pretty awesome documentary for those who are interested in the hot summer of 1970s.
"Dogtown" follows the rise of local youth, hanging around the beach of Santa Monica in the 70s. Around that time, once prospered amusement park by the seaside had been long deserted, and the seaside area had become a place for local surfers. They made the rule of "only locals" which means, you cannot mess around the place, just coming from outside the town.
And after their dangerously exciting surfing in the sea (among the ruined piles), they spent time doing another thing: skateboarding. While doing that for fun, they gradually developed the style, making it their own. Finally, taking advantage of unused swimming pools (that means, trespassing, of course), the boys (though, actually, the original members include a girl) went on to set a new style, using the edge of the pool, which, according to the film, led to today's vertical ride of skateboarding. They become famous; they become cultural icons. (One of them appears as a cameo in original TV series "Charlie's Angels" as, who else, a skateboarder; this brief scene is also included in the film.) In short, they set the style.
You must face it; the film sounds like self-advertizing at times. But still, "Z-Boys" gives very interesting information on skateboarding, which by the end of the 20th century has become one of the independent category of sports (you will see, for instance, the difference between skateboarding in Jan and Dean era, and the Boys' own style). The original skatebording footages are also noteworthy, which, with all its faded color and shaky camerawork, telescope the free spirits of the 70s into the exciting moments of their skateboarding practice or contests.
The film is also unusual in that the director himself appears before the camera, giving his own interview of the film. This kind of attitude would invite criticism of the film's taking unbalanced view. But they somehow get away with it, probably because it is clear that they love the sports, and really want to say something about it.
"Dogtown and Z-Boys" lets you look at the world of street culture of the 70s West Coast in a quite unique way, and anyone who is interested in this sort of thing should watch it, whether or not he/she has ever experienced skateboarding. The film ends with the reports of the original members' life today, many of whom seem to have settled down, and leading a family life. That is most interesting, you might say.
Sean Penn (who was one of the fans of the "Boys") provides narration, but I wish he too gave his own account of the boys. And it seems some part of the film is missing -- I want to know whether or not they ever got injured; what they were doing in the 80s and 90s, and so on, but perhaps it is not our business after all. Still, I enjoyed watching the film.
47 NOT AS GOOD AS FRUIT OF THE VINE
Not so much about skateboarding but rather the entertaining humans loosely attached to the boards, DOG TOWN AND THE Z-BOYS was an audience favorite and winner at Sundance and AFI film fests. Sean Penn is the perfect narrator for skateboarding legend Stacey Peralta's true story about a gang of discarded Venice (CA) kids who revolutionized skateboarding and transformed the culture. In the late 60s and early 70s, skateboarding had gone the way of the Hula-Hoop. And then polyurethane wheels, hi-tech bearings, custom trucks and laminated, curved, surfboard-shaped platforms were custom rigged. And the sport exploded with an aggressive style, awe inspiring moves and intimidating, sometimes cynical, street smarts. This is an affectionate, irreverent look back by the guys who lived and loved it. FRUIT OF THE VINE is an even better film, also nominally about skateboarding. This wonderful vintage footage, shot on Super-8 is dirty, raw, disrespectful and anarchic. At its heart, it's about breaking into private property, cleaning out refuse-filled but otherwise empty swimming pools, and using the tempting concave shells for practicing blissful wall-riding stunts that often end in bone crunching crashes and torn flesh. It's very tribal: enemy territory is claimed and marked, then daring tests of manhood, repetitive, almost trance-inducing coming of age rituals are performed that inevitably involve blood-letting. Recommended.
48 Hands down one of the best skate videos out.
Ok, so I'm over 30 and a skateboarder. Perhaps this is why I liked this movie so much; what can I say I remember a lot of this stuff. If you've been skating for more than a decade and dont want to watch yet another nollie-heelflip to noseslide down a hand rail; don't miss this one.
49 entertaining film for experts and novices alike
Somebody commented that this movie would bore anyone who wasn't a skater. No way! I live in Canada, touched a board a couple of times and had no idea who dogtown or the z-boys were, but I loved this movie. The editing is wonderful, stylish without being too self indulgent, and the soundtrack is perfect. I never realised how beautiful skateboarding was to watch, I think because these guys really approached more like a cross between surfing and figure skating, it was more of an art than about tricks and getting vertical, as it seems today.
True, the movie is self-congratulatory and "gee, weren't we cool", but lets face it, these guys *were* pretty friggin cool, check out any of the fish-eyed Tony Alva photos from the 70's, that guy makes rock stars look like dorks, he had style ... The story is also pretty riveting, and the fact that there was so much footage from the time is great (vertical skateboarding was made for photography, you suspend yourself at rediculous angles for a split second, just long enough to take a shot).
This movie will pump you up and make you want to go carve some pools, even if you've never skated in your life which is a testament to the power of this film.
50 Great Documentary
I've watched this DVD over and over again, I'm in my mid-30's, a female and my experience with a skateboard was some narrow, plastic thingy I wiped out on in 1977. So why do I like this documentary so much? It's charged, nostalgic, a slice of life from a time I grew up where kids could roam, not wear helmuts, and perhaps get away with a lot more-just be kids. The music was so good and a lot of seaside towns were still funky and not gentrified to the generic death they are today. This film encapsulates all that and makes the subject of the Z-Boys it's heroes (or anti-heroes) of skateboarding in the '70's.
This film is well put together without seeming so. I'm amazed at some of the footage recovered like the surfing at the graveyard of the POP pier-yikes! I've never seen that in all the surfing documentaries. They do a nice job too of spending just the right amount of time presenting a bit of history of Venice, Dogtown, the Zephyr shop and skateboarding without ever losing the tempo of the film. The interviews interspersed throughout are great and feel casual and if you think they are "chest-beating" over their part in skateboard history remember that they DID win contests, they WERE in the mags and they DID crash pools, which I think is so funny. Maybe they too are nostalgic for those days and like anybody who recalls their wild teenage years things always look a bit larger than life. Wentzle Ruml's interviews are priceless.
And the music. The director's commentary will help you appreciate how hard it is to get music you listened to and paid for years ago for your film. They were so lucky-the bios on Peralta, Adams and Alva are so much fun to watch and driven by Hendrix, Allman Brothers and Zeppelin in a way perfectly timed and suited to each Z-Boy. This, I think, is the reason it's so easy to watch over and over again. Even Tony Alva was quoted in Stecyk's book as saying, "When I skate it's toward the Nugent, Hendrix, Zeppelin style." You gotta love it-everyone wanted to be a rock star.
Peralta and his friends have much to be proud of here. If this is perceived as a paean to his group of radical little rats then so be it. Of course extreme sports today make these guys back then look like amateurs but I doubt many others could glean so many photographs and home footage of themselves just fooling around-and doing it with style. And whether some of them are has-beens or not really doesn't matter...most of us are and don't even have anything to show for it. They all seem to still have the spirit within them and credit is due.
51 This Movie Is Amazing
Dogtown and Z-Boys was one of the best documentaries I've seen in a very long time. The side of skateboarding it shows is not meant to wow audiences used to the likes of Tony Hawk and other modern skaters. These guys weren't amazing because they could get huge air on a halfpipe or ollie over a ledge. They were amazing because they basically created skateboarding, as well as the culture and additudes associated with it. The idea that something is not an important first because someone "would have done it first" or isn't an inspiration for later extreme sports because they "would have been created anyway" is one of the most illogical and nonsensical claims one could make. The fact is, these guys infuenced underground culture in a MAJOR way, and this extremely well made documentary demonstrates this fact with style, humor, and an excellent sense of what constitutes an interesting and original documentary. I would recommmend it to anyone, especially if they are interested in skateboarding.
52 Peralta & Penn Rip It Up
A must-see for any high-energy, thrill-seeker no matter if you've ever touched a skateboard or not.
After watching the flick, you emerge with an adrenaline rush still pulsating throughout your extremities. The film offers you a first person ride through the minds & experiences of those that shaped & molded skateboarding as its known today.
...A film about making the best out of life, really.
Sean Penn narrates by documenting the birth and rise of the sport that sprang forth from the neighborhoods surrounding the decaying Santa Monica Pier in the 1970s.
The music kicks...and the footage, well....you gotta see it for yourself...
53 Glory Daze
I laughed out loud at the end of this documentary when I realized that "Dogtown" was made by the people it praises. What a silly movie. Full of phony bravado and chest beating, it plays out like the Bruce Springsteen song...... :"boring stories of Glory Days".
The only people that I respected were the machinist and Jay Adams, the guy in prison, who at least admitted what a burnout he was. The rest of the "stars" don't even realize how marginal they have become. Really quite sad.
That said, I did enjoy the Del Mar Nationals and the footage of Jay blowing minds to Hendrix.
54 Long Live The Banana Boarders!
I rented this flick one Friday night figuring it would go down good with a couple of beers. The next thing I knew, it was 1977 again and I was a 10 year old who did stuff on a board that I wouldn't dare do now. Thanks for the trip down amnesia lane, Stacy.
55 This Movie Rocked!
This was a wonderful movie for the whole family,
it takes you back to the 70's when skateboarding was back at it's pier. It must have been a walk down memory lane for many classic and veteran skateboarders from the 70's.
Stacy Peralta was a wonderful director to make the movie, as in he was a skater then to! So when you watch this movie... Remember one thing,
Made By The Skaters,
For the Skaters
56 If you skate or don't skate....you must witness!
If you don't know about the Legendary Dogtown and Zephyr teams you don't even know yourself. I'm currently 26 years old and started skating back in 1987 at the age of 11. Watching the Z-Boys from my era (the 80's -90's) the Bones Brigade sparked my curiosity in discovering who influenced them. I've heard so many stories now over the years from the older skaters about how the Dogtown skate team changed our world. I read articles and saw photos. But never was able to witness first-hand what was taking place at that time. This documentary is one of the rawest compilations of footage that I've ever seen. Sure, It may be self-congratulatory. But I don't think anyone else besides the actual Dogtown team could actually convey the story more effectively. Words can't explain how beautiful this documentary is. It covers the foundation of modern-day skateboarding beginning with the aggressive so-cal 70's Zephyr surf team weaving in and out of Piers and metal wreckage. To the birth of modern day vertical skateboarding and early street skating, which clearly mimicked the popular 70's surfers individual styles. This movie displays how a once decayed sport such as skateboarding was rejuvenated in the 70's by a group of young teens. But most importantly this is an outstanding educational tool intended for those who skate and those who don't skate. From a skateboarding standpoint this documentary will show you that the trick necessarily doesn't make the man, but style will ultimately separate you from the rest. Style and individualism is something that is almost extinct today amongst skaters. Hopefully a film of this magnitude can save the actual soul of skateboarding. Kids with Eric Koston, Jaime Thomas, and Stevie Williams posters on their wall need to actually view the talent that emerged from this tough neighborhood and gave birth to not only a sport, but a world wide sub-culture and phenomenon that transcends age, race, and gender. This film will make you grab your board and hit the streets or the local park no matter who you are. Thank you Stacey Peralta for enlightening the world and educating the masses about yourself, Jay Adams, and Tony Alva.
Skateboarding is an art. Skateboarding is not a crime.
57 Fantastic
Boy did this movie take me back!! I began skating in the mid 70's, and the Z Boys (Jay Adams in particular) were my heroes. It was a real blast to see the skaters I remember from way back when. Really gives you the feel of the time and place, and even makes it understandable to people who know nothing about skating. A must see if you are (or were) a skater and well worth seeing even if you're not
58 Best of the year?
This is definitely one of the most entertaining films of the year (up there with THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE). The zippy dialogue, the fast action, the not-too-serious look in to the subject all combine to make for one really entertaining movie experience!
59 Incredible memories of West L.A. in the '70s
Disclaimer: this review might be a little biased, as not only was I a young street-rat in the mid-Seventies, but I also went to school at Bellagio Road in L.A., played baseball every weekend at Paul Revere Jr High (Pacific Palisades), and got to know those sloping slabs of asphalt detailed here in this movie very well. Both those school-yards are filmed all through this documentary, and it's difficult for me to watch them and not smell that hot tar, and hear the sounds of those eurethane wheels careening up and down the banks.
But for those who weren't there at the time, Stacy Peralta's movie is just a sheer blast of fun from start to finish. It's really about celebrating the underdog, cheering on these particular Bad News Bears as they almost single-handedly created the "cool" ethos behind skateboarding. As detailed in the film, writer-photographer Craig Stecyk, and photographer Glenn E. Friedman (the great!) understood that what they were witnessing in their backyards (and in the backyards that the Z-Boys would invade, to pool-skate) was sheer greatness in action. Seeing the blindingly cool results of their words and images, it's inspiring to understand that "scenes" can spring up everywhere--not just the backstreets of Santa Monica and Venice-- but it takes those with patience and passion (and yes, brilliance) to help it reach those who would truly appreciate it.
The soundtrack playing as it unfolds is hella cool as well: ZEPPELIN, SABBATH, HENDRIX, FLOYD, T REX, THIN LIZZY, STOOGES, BLUE OYSTER CULT, NEIL YOUNG, TED NUGENT, AEROSMITH...how in the world did Peralta get the rights to some of this stuff??? They could have used a little bit of FU MANCHU's music, in my opinion, as they're a band that worships the Dogtown ethos (songs like "Blue Tile Fever," and "Downtown In Dogtown"; photos of Tony Alva on the cover of their fifth album), but they weren't there in the Seventies, obviously.
Personally, I was most fascinated in the footage of the surfing in and around the desolate Pacific Ocean Park (which had mostly been cleaned up by the time I was aware of it, in the late-'70s). I applaud and thank Peralta for this stuff, because it showed me a side of Venice Beach that I was too young to ever see.
Hard rock, punk rock, skateboarding, sunshine, gimme danger little stranger...it's all RADICAL in this movie, and it's all American. This is a DVD that will get played again and again. (And for those who are concerned that the DVD's not in widescreen, don't worry. As "Dogtown" is a documentary using vintage home footage, it wasn't SHOT in widescreen. The version you get on the full-frame DVD is truer to the original footage than the one seen in the cinemas.)
60 Dogtown and Z-boys Grinds
First off I'm 42 not 12 I couldn't get the "Adult" form to accept my review so I dropped in on this one ,,,sorry. VIBE,is what this documentary is all about! Transferring the energy and subculture of that period to todays audience is something this film does short of dragging them to a live pool session and forcing them to ride. I have tried to convey what pool riding sessions were like in the 70's to kids and adults but could not do it as well as this film. Now I'll just put in the Z-boyz DVD and let it rip. I wish they would have shown night sessions like we used to do with trouble lights and stereo speakers in the shallow end. Kind of a surreal underwater feel to sessions like that. Dogtown does describe correctly the fever pitch that builds during riding pools as each rider pushes the limits and the heaviness, if you weren't part of the accepted "crew" you weren't allowed to skate. The riding, the hoots and screams of the on-lookers, the loud rock, always combined into a intoxicating tribal ritual. For those who grew up skating during this period the movie will be an emotionally intense experience, to see your "heroes" resurrected on the screen. For those who have riden pools like myself, You can feel the energy radiating from your groin to your extremities as you vicariously ride with the boyz and feel the grinds and slides. Rise up "Skategeezers" dust off your Jay Adams Flyaway Helmets, grab your Z-pigs and go show all those young Tony Hawk wanna-be-nintendo-poser-never rode-real-vert geeks where it all started. I'm 42 now, never stopped surfin, recently started skaing again to teach my 12 yr old son to ride vert, originallly from Atlantic Beach (Rattown), teaching Kids at the local skatparks how to do all the old school tricks like Berts. Keep Skatin, this movie gets it RIGHT! Buy It , watch It, Relive IT, Live IT . "No Pool too Deep No Ramp Too Steep." Ray Klein 2002.
61 One thing we should all agree on...
As America heads straight towards an ideological breaking point, where no one agrees with anyone on anything and the Christian Right hate the Socialists and the Republicans hate the Environmentalists and Ralph Nader hates everything (curse you, Ralph, you betrayed me, you scumbag!) and so forth and such, one thing remains the same: America is the home of the radical. Oh, I lived in Europe for many years, did some travelling, am an ardent fan of all things Asian, but you ain't never gonna find anywhere in the world where so many cool things have crawled straight from the gutter into the conscience of humankind. "Dogtown and Z-Boys" is the most true-blue, slap leather American film you'll see in forever. How the accidental stumblings of screwups and dropouts from broken homes in concrete suburban hell-town, CA. transformed a generation into rebels, made millions, and turned sidewalks deadly for the aged thereafter is a story only an insider like director Stacy Peralta could get right. It could be about the mating habits of the Brazilian Banana-Faced Boll Aphid and still be good, such is the pace and energy put into it, but of course this one is about skateboarding - not just skateboarding, but skateboarding raw, nasty and pure - with drugs, violence, and rock and roll thrown in for measure. It plays like it was thrown together in five minutes, coming out perfect by some fortune of gestalt and GOD. Instead of fading between scenes, the film melts and catches aflame, or the reel runs out, or test patterns fly all over the place. Narrator Penn's coughs and errors are preserved. Interviews are interupted by laughter in the background. The footage is grainy and shakily shot by hand. All of it, of course, entirely on purpose. This is a documentary experience that must be seen to be believed. This is why documentaries are MADE, brothers in arms. Hoo-hah.
62 you don't need to be a skater to love this film
The visuals in this movie grabbed me and never let go. The shots of people surfing through the piers and skating all over the town make you giddy. The Z-Boys' moves were dangerous, beautiful, and thrilling to watch. It's great stuff.
The local cultural history was more interesting than I thought it would be. The information about Dogtown, surfboard design, and the source of the graphics used on surfboards and skateboard was fun to learn. I loved the way they looked at skateboarding as an art, a sport, pop culture, and the larger culture.
I am a 40-something woman, and I never skateboarded. I DO ski, and I like watching "extreme" sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, (and gymnastics). But it's hard for me to imagine how anyone (other than, okay, maybe a 12-yeary-old) could be bored.
63 great film
this is a great documentary that anyone who enjoys "alternative" sports will really enjoy. It's well made and the story that is told is amazing. i highly recommend adding this to your collection.
64 As fresh today as when it was happening
First, major kudos to the first reviewer of this DVD, Henry "BAD H" Hester. For those of you who weren't part of the 1970s skateboard wave, the heroes of which are documented in this movie, you may not know him. A pro slalom racing legend. Rode one of the first skatecars (which have evolved into the luges we see on the x-games today), and the founder of the Hester Pro Bowl series (which if I've heard it right is was purchased by Tony Hawk's dad in the 80's and was THE definitive skateboarding competition). He also had his own model of Road Rider Wheel: The Henry Hester Slalom wheel. I was totally pumped to see a true celebrity review on here! Henry's worth a movie his own self, but he's not from Santa Monica so not featured in this great movie, Dogtown and Z-Boys!
Now, about the movie. This is about the guys and gals who made skateboarding what it is today. Typical ruffians from Santa Monica (aka "Dogtown"). These were ones who thought about bringing surf moves to the street on a skateboard. The ones who thought about taking a skateboard onto a transition/vertical surface (today's half-pipes and bowls). The ones who pioneered getting a person, and a skateboard to go so fast that they could both leave the bowl and get "air." NO ONE DID IT BEFORE THEM. These are the pioneers of extreme sports, and they did it all with incredible style.
My friends and I in Bellevue, WA would scour every issue of Skateboarder Magazine to see what these guys were up to, and do all we could to emulate their moves.
They did a great job in this movie, IMHO, of showing the impact of the choices we all have make. Several of the greats profiled went on to HUGE success (e.g. Stacey Peralta), some went on to prison, some went on to do "normal things." I used it as an opportunity to discuss these issues with my kids. Regardless of where they are now, though, the fact remains that they started a ball rolling beyond just skateboarding, but all of extreme sports.
Good job of narrating by Sean Penn, interviews are solid, music ROCKS, the video editing was a little jumpy ("MTVish") for me, but hey, I'm just an old skater who still listens to Jethro Tull.
This is a great movie, and if I were part of the Motion Picture Academy, it'd get my vote for best documentary of the year. Watch it if you're an old skater, you'll jump back on a board quicker than you can say "bert revert."
Watch it if you're a new skater, it'll teach you that style and soul is as important as trying a rail grind/heal flip mutant and not landing it 9 out of 10 times(heh heh heh).
Carl Kincaid
65 Long live the Dogtown days
This movie did not come to my town, so I had to wait and get the dvd to watch it. Let me first say, for any of you out there who are in your mid 30's - 40's, and did not skate back in the 70's, probably will find this movie (this is more of a documentary then an actual movie) boring and lacking. On the other hand, if you are like me, in your preteens-teen years back in the mid-late 70's, and lived to skate, then you will love this film. It will bring back so many memories of how the scene was back then. Narrated by Sean Penn, and directed by a Z-boy himself, Stacey Peralta, and numerous interviews with other Z-boys (and girl) legend Tony Alva, Jay Adams, and also Tony Hawk speaks on the tremendous impact the Z-Boys had on the skate world. This film took me back, and made me want to grab a board and start skating again, and im in my mid-late 30's. I think the younger newer generation skaters should watch this film, and then they will know where it all came from. Long live the Dogtown days, and the Z-boys....
66 Not your father's documentary...
Great piece of local Southern California history. That fact that some of this footage even exists, is a credit to the people who lived it and thought enough to document it. Nice job.
67 Flashback!
Great piece of local Southern California history. That fact that some of this footage even exists, is a credit to the people who lived it and thought enough to document it. Nice job.
68 What it's really all about....
Boy does this movie take me back! As a So. Cal. surf rat growing up in the 70's, the Z-Boys represented everything my friends and I were shooting for. Not exactly what you would call ideal role models, especially as far as my parents were concerned. Never the less, they carried themselves with such style and mystique that we were all spellbound by thier mere presence. My mother read an interview with Tony Alva in on of my issues of "Skateboarder" sometime around 76 or 77, and her response was - and I'll never forget this - "He is sickening. He makes me sick to my stomach". Ha! I'd found my new hero! When we went to the skateparks, if any of these guys were there, we'd all just step back and consider class to be in session. They were the guys who started it all, and they did it better than anybody - period. This movie is an outstanding document of an amazing slice of American history. The editing, the sountrack, the narration - it's all there. Stacy Peralta has put together his interpretation of his early life with stellar results. I'm sure there is way more left out than what made it into the final edit, but outside of living it yourself, you can never know the whole story anyway.
It's interesting to note the ego's of thier youth vs. where they all stand today. Biniack appears to be "happy with himself". Alva seems to be letting his history do his bidding for him. Red Dog and Wentzle seem to have humbled over the years, without forgetting anything about how they became who they are. And Jay Adams, well, a sad story to be sure, but one that is thankfully still in progress. (welcome back, Jay!) Hopefully he will keep it together and show us what it's all really about once again. To all of those criticizing this movie for being too "self-congratulatory", well, all I can say is you sure missed the friggin' point! If you can't see the impact these guys have had on modern pop culture, you are as blind as a bat. You may say "they're just skateboarders", but if you look around, you'll see that they have dealt a sturdy hand in just about every corner of this country, if not the world. No one makes movies about people who stand back and say "shucks", nor does anybody want to watch one. Where does that leave us? Observing what some might think of as mindless egomaniacs beating on thier chests, but consider this: These guys are interesting, dynamic athletes that defied and rewrote the rules and conventions of organized sports. X-games anyone? I doubt they'd exist if not for the trail blazed by the Z-Boys. Thier achievments seem rediculously obvious to me. They changed the world that I like to live in. That takes ego, balls, and of course, STYLE! As I watched the film, and they detailed their youthful and sometimes criminal exploits, I never once got the feeling that they felt they were ever doing anything other than being themselves. The notariety seemed to be an afterthought for the most part. It would be so disapointing if they felt the need to apolgize for that. The Dogtown nay-sayers can talk all they want. Fact is, the Z-Boys don't give a rats hiney. You have to have done something pretty great to get people talking about you to anywhere near the extent of the rhetoric surrounding the almost mythical achievments attained by these guys. Good or bad - it doesn't matter. They made a movie about them. They write books about them. Apparently, we still care, because we see the movies and read the books. Love 'em or hate 'em, deep down inside, we all know why they are still important all these years later, right?
69 Oh Boy...
How to begin this interview without sounding like a 30 plus wishing that he was 18 again...Forget it, I have to gush.
I wasn't sure about what could come of this when I first heard that the documentary was being made, but once I saw Stacy's name as th director, I felt reassured that it would be the right thing. Once the film started rolling I was transported back in time to my Junior High years 1975-77.
Every picture flashed on the screen that was culled from Friedman's awesome footage made me laugh, made me cry and most of all made me want to run out and skate again. Everything from the editing, music, and interviews told the story as well as it could be told. Sure, it's self congratulatory, what do you expect from these boys? did you think that it was going to be a Hallmark greeting card?
This Film flat out rules. No one is going to be completely satisfied with what they did or didn't get from the production, but thanks god it's out there. BTW, Good to see Henry Hester is still out there, give it up for the slalom king of San Diego. (I am frightened to see that Fred Durst, of the most god awful band to ever record, Limp Bizkit, is directing the fictional version of this awesome piece of So Cal cultural history.) Anyway, this is a must buy if you have not made the choice.
70 ...zzz
...zzz, see I'm still asleep after watching the first 30 minutes of this movie. THIS MOVIE SUCKS! I was bored out of my mind. This wasn't even interesting. I was expecting alot more from this movie. Maybe I should be quiet because I'm not a skater. I do play the games and bought the soundtrack to THPS3. Unless you're a hardcore skater, I don't recommend this movie to anybody. Another negative is that the DVD doesn't even contain a widescreen presentation, its in full frame with 5.0 surround not 5.1 which would have made it better. I have to admit the 2 stars is for Sean Penn's narration, I tried so hard to stay up through it to see what he brought to this and it was quite a bit. The DVD case and disc artwork is cool. The case is a see through blue and the disc is a red wheel with the title and logos. Watch this movie ONLY if you're a skater or surfer (the first 15-20 minutes is about surfing).
71 Dogtown
I liked the footage of POP and the music was excellent but I think it's wrong to praise a group of rowdy guys who took over Bay Street and POP Pier then wouldn't let anyone else surf there.
It was also interesting to see that most of this bunch failed to capitalize on their brush with fame.
72 dogtown take me home
I was soo glad I saw this movie...I'm from SoCal and I live in FL. It made me want to hop a plane and go home! Whether you have an apriciation for skating or are a hardcore skater, this movie is a must see! The soundtrack kicks. I wanna go hoooome!! *sniffle*
73 Coulda been real good!!!
Too bad Peralta didn't tell the story of what was really happening at the beach. It could have been great...Parelta gave the yuppie kook memory of it...The best part of this movie is the P.O.P. parts . . . and the music...
74 These guys are the ...
This is the most passionate & inspiring film I've ever seen. Should be required viewing for any kid looking for a focus on life. Beautifully filmed/edited... perfect balance of old, rough, scrappy footage interspliced with the modern. The music couldn't be better. Put on your Vans & watch it. Then rewind & watch it again.
75 Henry Hester
Although it's been out for a number of months, it took me way too long to get to a theater to see it. I can't tell you how important this film is. As this ground breaking documentary starts to unfold, Stacy and Craig give you a bird's eye view of their 70's concrete playground, complete with historical reasoning for why Dogtown ever existed (and where, exactly, it existed). The editing style is incredible. At one point, Sean Penn makes a verbal mistake yet keeps on going through his description. Any other editor would have cut it and retaped the audio but keeping it in made the whole thing way more real, like Sean was talking to YOU. In addition some of the skaters, in their interviews are "Fast Forwaded" on screen. Very slick way of clipping the bull and getting to the meat.
This movie is a cultural document that should be played in schools, design studios, city halls and to every youngster who ever thought he knew everything about skating, the X games, Bob Burnquist and Tony hawk. Thank God someone caught as much 70s "film" as they did and thank God these guys got this important era of our American culture on DVD. Buy it. Show it to your kids. Make them watch it. Then... take them out, loosen their trucks and make them do berts until they get it down.
76 A Hit in Santa Cruz
Went to see Dogtown last week in the newly refurbished Del Mar Theater in downtown Santa Cruz CA. This movie moves you, makes you think and is flat out entertaining with its realism. A sure bet for those that want some insight into the origins of today's skateboarding world. Amazing vintage footage from the 60's & 70's, plus great narration and interviews. The crowd at the theater gave it a standing ovation at the end of the movie. Joe Bob says check it out!
77 Dogtown and Z-Boys
This movie is told by the main players...and it comes off a little on the self congratitulatory side. It however,is a worthwhile way to spend a couple of hours...the sound track is righteous and the editing punchy.If you are at all interested in skateboarding or seventies culture..it is a must see.
If you are a skate "grommet"...GO NOW and learn the history.
If you are an "ex skater" SHAME ON YOU....but go see the movie...and buy some old school skate gear on [local store]..and drive the prices up for everyone else who never quit.
78 Good
WAY too self-congratulatory a movie. I mean, these guys are SKATEBOARDERS. The narration and interviews give the impression they discovered the theory of relativity.
Having said that, I did enjoy the movie a lot. For one thing I was a So. Cal. grom when urethane Cadillac wheels hit the scene and changed skate boarding, and all my friends and I raced down to the surf shops and bought them. How weird and wonderful to see Cadillac wheels on a movies screen all these years later.
And Tony Alva used to scare me when I'd read interviews with him when he was the #1 skate star. Nice to see he's matured into a soft spoken, mature individual.
This was a trip down nostalgia lane I never thought I'd experience. I thought those guys and that time were long forgotten. I felt like calling up all my friends from when I was 12 to reminisce...but I don't know where the hell they are now. I hope they see this movie, too, and remember those times. We had some fun.
79 This is where skating began
If you were "hardcore" into skating in the 80's or especialy the 70's (I was only just born at the end of the 70's) this film explains the birth and growth of skateboarding from a dinky little sport about weaving between witches hats on boards with clay wheels (yes clay as in pottery) to the maximum vert, hardcore sport that it developed into. There are some major godfathers of skateboarding staring in the film, Stacy Perralta (as in powell perralta) and Tony Alva (as in Alva Skateboards). There is also the guy who started Dogtown Skateboards.
A very interesting documentary that made me go out skating the very next day and made my friends buy new skateboards even though we are all 25+. I am glad that someone who was one of the original Z-boys crew made the film so as we didn't end up with a realy cheesy look at a sport that we lived for. Sean Penn has a great voice and narates the film very well, the soundtrack is awsome and I can only hope that it gets released on CD.
I have heard that this film will not be released on DVD, so if you skated hard in the 80's and you missed this film you should go and kick youself.
Skateboarding is not a crime
