It was a central experience in our lives. Milius and his friends George Lucas and Steven Spielberg famously agreed to exchange a percentage point of Big Wednesday, Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind prior to the release of the three films throughout 1977-1978. The picture was screened at various film festivals, including: the Davao City Film Festival, Philippines; the Turin Film Festival, Italy; and others. I was the number one money winner in 76, I earned $8000 prize money. [8], "Because I surfed, I'm the only director in the world who could have made his picture," said Milius. In 1978 surfer and filmmaker John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Red Dawn) set out to make a feature length film for the big screen based on his youth surfing and growing up in Malibu Ca., it would become the iconic film of the 70's "Big Wednesday". Several surf legends - Peter Townend, Ian Cairns, Jay Riddle and Bill Hamilton - were involved in the making of the film as stunt coordinators or doubles. Big Wednesday: Directed by John Milius. Looks like that heavy camera setup bumped George in the eye, and hes laughing it off. Milius created a mythical aura around the protagonists of Big Wednesday. [17][18][19], The film premiered in wide release in the United States on May 26, 1978.[20]. Working on big Wednesday in 77, we earned 50 grand. By 1998, following a 20th anniversary showing at the Newport Film Fesival, the turnaround in opinion appeared to be complete. Now, with their innocence lost to the deeds . You can see the wave all over Instagram today, with all the surf teams there. Big Wednesday (1978) - Summer Surfing Scene (2/10) | Movieclips Movieclips 58.5M subscribers Subscribe 142 Share 28K views 4 years ago Big Wednesday - Summer Surfing: Leroy (Gary Busey),. We were really fortunate to have those big days at Sunset. Several surf legends - Peter Townend, Ian Cairns, Jay Riddle and Bill Hamilton - were involved in the making of the film as stunt coordinators or doubles. It was super fun. Jean Micheal Vincent and Billy Kat were there but the Masochist wasnt. Now It Can Be Yours for $68.8 Million. Apple Computers was founded, NASA unveiled its first space shuttle, Concorde took its maiden commercial flight and, of equally critical importance, surfing had its very first crack at a joined-up international contest circuit. Milius was flipping out, remembers a chuckling Peter Townend in an interview with Surfline. Here well present a miscellany of facts, trivia and anecdotes from behind the scenes on Big Wednesday. IC: Well in May we were in El Salvador, in the summertime, from August to September we were in the Ranch, then we did surf the winter events on the North Shore. "[9], Milius and producer Feitshans had met at American International Pictures, where they worked on Dillinger (1973). For those of you that dont know about George Greenough, you should learn. Billy Hamilton, above, was the double for Jan Michael Vincent. Rent $2.99. It was written by John Milius and Dennis Aaberg, who met hanging on the beach at Malibu in the late '50s, alongside characters like Miki Dora and Lance Carson. This largely autobiographical film from director John Milius ("Conan The Barbarian") features truly spectacular surfing scenes. Of course, thats where you get all the stuff from Sunset that wraps up the movie. In the end, the trip set the production back half a million dollars and yielded just four minutes of useable footage. Terry loves it because it allows her to stay in touch with her old friend, The Ranch. Jean Micheal Vincent and Billy Kat were there but the Masochist wasnt. Other highlights included a complex dual scoring system and hilariously swollen heats sizes, often featuring up to eight competitors, (which sounds like a heavy crowd, but thanks to a lack of leashes and clean up sets, still resulted in frequent periods of entirely empty lineup. "The 40th-anniversary edition of 'Big . Ian Cairns, shown above . [21], Janet Maslin, film critic for The New York Times, did not like the performances of the actors and wrote, "The surprise is not that Mr. Milius has made such a resoundingly awful film, but rather that he's made a bland onethe movie often seems even more uneventful than material like this need make it, and Mr. Milius's attention to his actors focuses more closely on their pectorals than on their performances. Conceived by Randy Rarrick and Fred Hemmings, The IPS, as it was known, was a little haphazard during that first foray according to those in attendance (or chaos if a certain wounded winged Novocastrian is to be believed. Apparently, therefore, Big Wednesday is a 100% Hollywood movie. So, PT told Milius, hey, Ive got a bronzed Aussie buddy who could replace him. And with that, Ian Cairns was in. You can also see a pretty nice wave rolling throughGreat photo. I went there 190 pounds and ended up a 170, and in fact one night I was 110 pounds, vomiting and shitting, just incredibly sick. Surf star Gerry Lopez, who would. Also notice all the longboards. Of course, thats where you get all the stuff from Sunset that wraps up the movie. We all knew it was special, we knew it wouldn't last. Most of the shots of Gary Busey paddling out are me, so I kind of have a lot of those stunt double pieces. IC: We were with the whole Hollywood crew, and the stunt coordinator was this really famous guy that did Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones movie called Terry Leonard, a real mans man. In Milius film, the surfers are the last true American pioneers whose courage and heroism are forged by their ability to live at the intersection between nature and culture. Not to mention a few vintage lenses. Give me a break! Photo from the front cover of his biography: Kanga The Trials and Triumphs of Ian Cairns. Shown here walking out to the surf with Dan Merkel and one of his legendary lightning bolt boards. It was a lot of money. It never strayed from that. n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; "William Katt: New Golden Boy of Tile Romantic Lead Katt as the Golden Boy", "Big Wednesday: four decades between surfing and myth making", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Big_Wednesday&oldid=1139114837, American coming-of-age comedy-drama films, Rotten Tomatoes template using name parameter, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 13 February 2023, at 12:40. Those [guerrillas] looked at him and absolutely freaked. Its pretty sweet, Ill tell you that. Here hes getting pulled behind a boat, probably just killing time between takes. "The part is simply too big for me to do."[7]. I mean, you had George Greenough in his black and white Highway Patrol car, burning down the dirt roads and then coming into the lot doing donutsIt was more like a party than a working situation, and for me it was just like another day at the beach. We surfed there and down at La Libertad and it was pretty fun, just hanging out with the crew. Spielberg in particular was certain that Big Wednesday was going to be a box office hit, opining it was like "American Graffiti meets Jaws", two of the decade's most successful films.[2]. There was perfect longboard waves coming through, a little groomed south swell at Cojo Point, and while the surfers managed to get out and score a few waves, it was the extras who had to suffer. Wed have certain times where wed be shooting scenes and the rest of the time we were just hanging out on the film set watching shit happen. PT leapt at the chance. The films authenticity was enhanced by Milius connection to the surfing world, which enabled him to bring in experienced surf documentary maker Greg MacGillivray. "The novel is a story about old Malibu, its waves, its local characters, and what it was like to surf there in the 1950s and 1960s," explains Aaberg. Despite what he describes as a childhood of juvenile delinquency, Milius developed into an accomplished screenwriter, penning a series of hit films in which surfing often featured. "[11], However, Milius changed his mind again. They still used a stunt double for a lot of the surfing action, his was Bill Hamilton. There, he sought advice from Gerry Lopez, brought in for the action-filled climax to play himself, who told him in the event of a wipeout, to go like a dishrag in a dryer. Sage advice, as ever, from the surfing sensei. We never got a Big Wednesday day down there, and I was always just saying to Milius, dude, you should have just gone to Western Australia. It made only US$4.5 million (half of its original budget) at the box office. Denny Aaberg continues his life long passion for playing music. It was written by John Milius and Dennis Aaberg, who met hanging on the beach at Malibu in the late 50s, alongside characters like Miki Dora and Lance Carson. Cameras were stolen and the whole crew got sick, but in the end, it was an encounter with a local militia that really sent them packing. "[7], Aaberg says "it took about a year to write" the script. Ahead of our upcoming screening, we dived deep into some of the backstories behind the production, exploring the writers, actors, surfers and lensmen who brought it to life. He features prominently in two documentaries about surfing: Hollywood Dont Surf and Between the Lines: Surfers during the Vietnam War. According to surf journalist Paul Gross, hard-core surfers found the film too cheesy. "But I couldn't," he said. But even though we did the Ranch for a month, and El Salvador for a couple of months, they still didnt have the big day, so they just said ok were going to Hawaii., were going to sit up there and make it happen. Big Wednesday - The Hottest Ride Ever: Matt (Jan-Michael Vincent) is praised for his magnificent ride, but he, Jack (William Katt) and Leroy (Gary Busey) know that their summer days are over.. WL: Tell me about the filming of the final sequence? Surf star Gerry Lopez, who would. | Along the way we see many of the people and locales Bruce visited during the filming of Endless Summer (1966). I mean, they were all just waiting for the Big Wave. WL: So it was year two of the new IPS tour, and you were defending a runner up spot, did all that filming not get in the way of competing? Academy Award-nominee Gary Busey ("Under Siege," "The Firm") stars in a story of three young surfers searching for meaning as their lives change in the '60s and '70s. I jumped on a plane and flew down there to join the crew, who were about a week into the shoot. The first week was fairly fraught, beset by illness, bad waves and a standoff with a gun-toting local militia. Forty years after its release the passion and lyricism of the film are even more compelling. Raised in Southern California, Milius made Big Wednesday as an homage to the time he spent in Malibu during his youth. Recently, we called him up at home in Laguna Beach to see what he could remember from his time working on the film. Matt Johnson: Well, I did a lot of things around here I'm kind of ashamed of. "[23], The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports a 67% approval rating, based on 12 reviews, with a weighted average of 6.50/10. Frank McRae played a tough Army Sergeant at the induction center. This movie is about friendship: surfing is just the background. Jack's induction notice says he is to serve in the United States Marine Corps. Photo via www.bearsurfboards.eu. Terry didnt bother with all that, she was already at the beach. All the main characters were inspired by real people, in particular surf legends Lance Carson and Kemp Aaberg and surfboard makers Hap Jacob and Dale Velzy. Seversons title referenced a popular myth that posited all great surf days fall on Wednesdays. Los Angeles Times 21 August 1977: n7. A 20th Anniversary screening (which included cast and crewmembers) took place at the Newport Film Festival in 1998. Multiple scenes required surfers to ride waves up to 70 feet . "[7], "A lot of things [in the film] happened to me," said Milius. Originally Milius envisioned the story as a novel and he included the treatment in a letter, entitled We were gods, to literary agent Lynn Nesbit. All of a sudden he realised hey theres a lot of shit going on out there in the water. So wed gone from death threats in 76 to having them protect us in the water the following winter. Check system requirements. It inspired the names of things as disparate as the weekly New Zealand lotto draw, an Australian pale ale and countless storms and hurricanes. After that whole period in El Salvador, they wanted to do some shots in California so they set up at Bixby Ranch to get that really sparkling California look. They still used a stunt double for a lot of the surfing action, his was Bill Hamilton. The idea of the ocean as the new Far West is reinforced by the films references to Milius favourite Westerns, including The Wild Bunch (the scene in which four characters walk to the draft office) and The Searchers (Hank Worden, the actor who played Mose Harper in Fords classic was cast as one of the secondary characters in Big Wednesday). A lot of them died in Vietnam and OD'd on dope. However, the rapid commodification of surfing culture that occurred during the late 1970s and 1980s made Big Wednesdays nostalgic celebration of a pure surfing culture relevant again. WL: Tell me about the filming of the final sequence? Trips planned for this summer include roundtrip runs to SLO from SB and Goleta on June 30th, July 21st and August 18th. Writer/director John Milius was born in 1944 and the material draws on a ten year span of his life from the early 1960's to the early 1970's. . Robb Report. Although two of the lead actors Jan-Michael Vincent and Willliam Kat had been surfing since childhood, Milius brought in an all-star cast of surfing talent to serve as stunt doubles, including World Champ Peter Townend (whose surfing shines throughout), Ian Cairns, Billy Hamilton, Jay Riddle and Jackie Dunn. Another luminary brought in for this film was none other than Gerry Lopez. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
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