Reflections on The Endless Summer – MagicSeaWeed
A little over half a century ago, Bruce Brown, Mike Hynson and Robert August set about travelling the world, documenting untouched setups – ones that had yet to be seen by the eyes of the wider surfing world.
Back then, it never occured to them that The Endless Summer would become the definitive surf/travel movie. Spurred by the formulaic documentaries that were splutterng to the big screen in the 60s, Bruce took a sideways glance at what had been done before and hurled it all out – in favour of a more fluid, humour flecked tale of wanderlust, wrapped up in the trio’s philosophy to make any session engaging.
It’s not really surprising then that the film has remained relevant (as has the excellent The Endless Summer II). Now, to mark the fact The Endless Summer has just passed its 50th anniversary, we caught up with director Bruce to talk past, present, future and the impact The Endless Summer had on him and surf filmmaking.