Just got in from seeing this movie, actually wasn’t bad. They tried to depict all the small set/costume detail in the correct time line. No one notice they didn’t even mention or give credit to Jeff Ho the main shaper and owner of Zephyr? They depicted Skip as a shaper in some whacked out shaping bay shaping under whacked out lighting position. Skip was portrayed as some Rock n Roll wanta be, I don’t recall the threads he wore in the movie as standard riguer. On the whole between 1-10 I would give it an 7.5.
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No one notice they didn't even mention or give credit to Jeff Ho the main shaper and owner of Zephyr?
Apparently Jeff Ho decided it was “all or nothing” and asked for too big a number for the rights to his name and likeness and thus is not depicted in the film.
You guys, this is not a documentary (Stacy made that one a few years back). This is a fictional movie from a major studio. It’s not supposed to be the exact story of the Zboys. “Inspired by” true events, is what it said on the screen at the start of the film. That’s all.
Marabout is right- Jeff basically wanted no part of this (he figured it would kind of be a fiasco from the beginning) so opted out as did a few others, but that said it is a big hollywood picture and therefore kind of lame and very loosely based on any truth . Even the doicumentary took a few liberties, but it’s all just entertainment. Maybe worth a mention as I haven’t seen it namechecked here is the DVD ‘Downhill Motion’ which is a reissue of a 75 vintage Greg Weaver skate flick. Pretty entertaining stuff if a bit heavy on the freestyle. Great barefoot riding carnage and some awesome old downhill race footage from Long Beach. Lots of scary clothes and hair too. The copy I got has the Gerry Lopez/Rory Russell ‘Uluwatu’ film tacked on as well- well worth the price and superior to any Hollywood version of reality although I’m not sure if Ben and our antipodean friends will be able to find it so easily. Also in vaguely the same vein, Nathan Pratt and a few others including Peggy Oki have started a t-shirt company called Z-Cult (I think) and the shirts I saw were pretty cool- nice old school photos.
thanks for mentioning the ‘downhill motion’ pic ,
and I’ve got the book “dogtown the legend of the z-boys” which contains the original skateboarder mag articles by craig stecyk 111 , as well as Glen E. Friedman’s good photos of the crew in action [he was a ‘kid’ , like the rest of them …thankfully he had the foresight to take a camera with him on his “jaunts” with the boys !]
ben
Thanks Herb. I expected as much. I’ll give it a pass and see the documentary.
Seeing it from the pages of Skateboarder at 13 in my memory … I always just thought of Alva and Adams as the bad boys and Stacy as a good/smart boy - a bit ‘fringe’ to the actual happenings that everyone hypes. The influence and hype came from the bad boys - they sold magazines - Stacy may have been as good or better skater in some ways, but you knew that he was not ever going to be in too much trouble.
It seemed untrue to me to portray Stacy as they would Alva and Adams - did Peralta have any more influence in those days than Biniak, Ruml, or Paul C.? (or others?). He has the connections now, but I’ve got to feel that he could have made it about the z-boys in general and not put himself as more of a main player… maybe I’m totally wrong, but the mags portrayed it as Alva, Adams, Biniak, Shogo, 1-2-3-4 with Stacy a fringe z-boy.
EJ
If you read Stecyk’s original articles, it’s pretty clear that Peralta was right up there with the rest of the crew, all had / have different styles, and each contributed in a unique way…as for the movie, I don’t think it tried to pass Peralta off as a “bad ass” or any more hardcore than the others, quite the opposite, I thought…but I don’t think you can say Peralta was a minor player in that crew…
As for “downhill carnage”, Hal Jepsen’s “Go For It” (and maybe “Super Session”, which is basicall the same film, but without the elements added to attract a wider non-surf / skate audience) has great footage of someone in cords, long sleeve shirt, and full face helmet (no other pads) consistently hitting the pavement at full speed…great, great wipeouts!
If you really want to know what it’s really about…pools and pipes… THAT IS… watch this video.
It tells IT like it is ,not some candied-up production ,it’s raw and real.Don’t get me wrong, the original DT and Z-Boys was vg+,but not even in the equation compared to Chernoski’s “Fruit of the Vine”.
My other favs are : Santa Cruz SpeedWheels/Tony Roberts’ “Speed Freaks” “Goin’ Off” …Scott Dittrich’s “Wheels of fire”… Chernoski’s “Northwestern”…and of all the Powell/Peralta vids,“Public Domain” is my pick of the litter.
If you claim to be a backyard poolrider/pipeline rider.THEN YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS ONE.Herb
Iam the 4th horseman
Fruit of the Vine is cool, saw the premiere in NYC a few years back, it’s out on DVD…Herb, just in case you didn’t know you, all the Powell Peralta videos are on DVD, just watched Future Primitive again last night, the backyard pool slo-mo session and the condemned San Jose pool are pretty sick…