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Dogtown And Z-Boys
2001
In the late 1960s, a group of burnt out teenagers from broken homes ambled together and began to surf along Venice, California's Pacific Ocean Park pier, a ghostly shell of a former amusement park nicknamed "Dogtown." United by their attention to style and willingness to take risks, this group of unruly boys were handpicked and .. Read more
| Starring | Sean Penn |
|---|---|
| Director | Stacy Peralta |
| Genres | Sport |
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Dogtown And Z-Boys
In the late 1960s, a group of burnt out teenagers from broken homes ambled together and began to surf along Venice, California's Pacific Ocean Park pier, a ghostly shell of a former amusement park nicknamed "Dogtown." United by their attention to style and willingness to take risks, this group of unruly boys were handpicked and nurtured by maverick surfboard designer Jeff Ho, who christened them the Zephyr surf team (or Z-boys). Originally taking up skateboarding as a distraction for the non-surfing hours, the team ended up revolutionizing what was to become an internationally popular sport, using emptied out pools to create a surf-inspired style that was fluid and vertical and ultimately made them legends.
In this fine, frenetic documentary, director Stacy Peralta (one of the most famous Z-boys) tells the inspiring story of himself and his team. Through interviews, archival film footage, and stunningly beautiful still photographs taken by the Z-boys photographers Craig Stecyk and Glen E. Friedman, Peralta delves into both the large and small of the story--from the personal details of skaters' lives to their lasting impact upon a sport that became a culture. The soundtrack--an expertly chosen mix of classic punk rock and heavy metal including The Stooges, Black Sabbath, and Alice Cooper--is the perfect aural complement to this story, reflecting the rebellious attitude that fueled the boys.
| Starring | Sean Penn |
|---|---|
| Director | Stacy Peralta |
| Studio | SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 31 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Sport |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 13 Jan 2003 Production year: 2001 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (6)
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Narrated by Sean Penn and recalling the reverence that characterised Bruce Brown's 1960s surf movies, this is a fond, but fatally self-mythologising memoir of the Zephyr skateboarding team. Known as the Z-Boys, this bunch of kids from the rundown LA neighbourhood of Dogtown rode their boards to national celebrity in the mid-1970s and collectively revolutionised this distinctive urban sport. The unfussy contemporary footage of the team performing gravity-defying stunts in both local competitions and drained swimming pools is priceless. Less valuable, however, are the nostalgic insights provided by Jay Adams, Tony Alva and director Stacy Peralta, with the latter in particular suffering from an overblown sense of his own significance.
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"...A giddy, thrilling, rock 'n' roll-saturated history of skateboarding....[A] taut, viscerally propulsive insider's history of the sport in its early years..."
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Most helpful member's review
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21 out of 34 people found this review helpful
Dudes!!!!!......
Man, this is what it's all about. Even if your interest in skateboarding is limited this is an interesting and thought provoking documentary in anybodies book.
As a kid growing up in the seventies and eighties I was well aware of the great Tony Alva and the reputation of the unique Jay Adams. These were the guys who got me into skating.
Stacy Peralta, once a Z-boy himself (the Z standing for Zephyr, Jeff Lo's surf business and later skate team) spins a great tale of the inovators of modern skating as we know it. Great footage of these boys is continuously thrown at you because they ultimately were doing stuff nobody else was (when you're this good, everybody wants a piece of you).
Watch this film with pads and a helmet...cause it'll knock you on your ass!! It nearly convinced me to get my decrepid body back on the halfpipe! Idiot. -
Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Respect to the Boyz
The most surprising thing about this documentary was that you really didn't have to be a skateboard enthusiast to enjoy it. The story is just a timeless tale of frustrated youth from poor areas setting out to follow their passion.
With some great stories, movie slips and photographs the documentary really pathes togeher a great summary of how important the legend of the Z boys is to modern Skateboard. Both inspiring and entertaining. -
News and features
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- 04 Mar 2009
Inspired by the release of “American Teen”, we’ve compiled own playlist of must-see twenty first century documentaries. It’s been quite a decade for non-fiction filmmakers. Once synonymous with earnest and boring, the genre has undergone a radical facelift and enjoyed the kind of box-office success that would have been beyond the wildest dreams of the old guard of fly-on-the-wall practitioners. If Michael Apted had been charting the life cycle of the documentary film... Read more
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In the late 1960s, a group of burnt out teenagers from broken homes ambled together and began to surf along Venice, California's Pacific Ocean Park pier, a ghostly shell of a former amusement park ... -