A Surf Classic

I was stoked to be able to catch this on one of the Encore channels I get. It had once been a favorite movie of mine, back in the good ol' surfin' days... ahhhh, youth. Not that I'm not youthful anymore, I am in many ways, and I still surf... I mean, well, not a lot but I would when I have a chance, it's just not on any list of priorities these days but tis somethin' I still love. Also different from then is I don't hold this movie in high esteem anymore. Must've seen it well over a dozen times back then and while it was great to see it now, just wasn't the same.

North Shore (1987)


Arizona isn't exactly a premier surf capital. For recent high school graduate Rick Kane, it's home and it's all he's got. That all changes after he wins a local surf championship which is held in a pool with real machine-generated waves. With his cash prize, Rick (Matt Adler) takes off for the summer to surf some true waves -- in Hawai'i.

Pretty much as soon as he arrives in paradise, trouble ensues. Soon enough he's bunking for the night with professional surfers who just happen to be throwing a pretty sweet wing ding of a party. When it comes time to get his board in the water and get to some surfin', Rick finds he's not so welcome. Locals just know he's another FOP haole (contemptuosly meaning -- Fresh Off the Plane and pronounced: "howley" meaning foreigner) but Rick's too ignorant to know it until he's clued in.

Thanks to a local nice guy surfer named Turtle, Rick soon has a place to stay at Turtle's bosses place. Chandler (Gregory Harrison) is a surfboard shaper and he gives Rick lessons in surfing. Being champion in Arizona does automatically make one able to handle the waves of the north shore of Oahu. The young one is eager to learn and learn he does. He even advanced so much in one summer to be able to go head to head with the best surfers in the world.

At the end of the summer before heading back to the mainland to attend art school, Rick enters the Pipeline Masters, a serious competition against best. In the end -- he gets the girl (Nia Peeples.)

A romantic storyline was completely unneeded here but it works. Nia is totally enchanting as a local Hawai'ian girl. I was most able to associate with Turtle, the laid back, carefree shaping apprentice as well as Chandler the carefree, laid back local shaping legend. Some characters may have been wicked stereotypical but not completely out of the realm of reality. The story moved along well and the scenery was tremendous! Usually I am one who longs to live with a mountainview and cold weather but this film achieved in making me wanna move to paradise and become a local surf bum without a single care in the world. Ahhhhhh...

Overall, a decent surfing movie. The best thing is it tries to be real without stooping to a level of idiot comedy laden with nudity. It stays away from both and we're treated to a story about a kid with a dream. This is definitely a surfing cult classic.