Thank You, Bruce Brown

I remember the day I saw Endless Summer for the first time. I was a new surfer at the time. I watched it at a friend’s house. His dad put it on the VHS player and left the room. As the movie played we soaked it in. I don’t think we talked, but we laughed as we went on the journey with those classic longboarder dudes. At the time I was ten and I felt surfing was the same like baseball or soccer. More of an activity and a fun sport. After watching the film a light bulb went off. Surfers weren’t just athletes but they were authentic, light-hearted, cool, travelers and they enjoyed life to the fullest. I want to be apart of that tribe. That movie confirmed it: surfers were cool.

I wonder how many people he inspired through his films? I would guess millions were impacted by Endless Summer alone. The cool thing is he was just making a movie to stoke out surfers. Just like all surf filmmakers are still trying to do. Yet all surf films after that have lived in the shadow of that epic.

 

Endless Summer was a massive mainstream success. When you think about it, having Bruce doing press talks all around the US during the release must have been classic. Especially the landlocked states. How lucky were us surfers to have Bruce back then as the spokesperson for surfing? Someone with his wicked sense of humor and a down to earth world traveler. I’m sure in Ohio or New York in the ’60s they were tripping on that swell rider fellow. I can see him playing it up but in a subtle way that would fit a scene from the movie itself.

A couple days ago we lost one of the true legends of surfing. Yet unlike other legends, we can pop on his movie and hear Bruce’s voice tell us a joke. Tribes used to tell ancient ancestor stories around a fire to teach and entertain the young. Basically, lessons passed down from generation to generation on how to live. Endless Summer will be doing that for many more generations.

Thank you, Bruce Brown for finding your passion and sharing it with us. Rest in Peace.