LORDS OF DOGTOWN – Catherine Hardwicke

Once in awhile a film comes along that is worth bringing to your attention. A film that most people don’t hear about and slips “under the radar” and this is one of those films. Being from Southern California, I can tell you there is nowhere like it in the world! There are SO many things that make California great; the weather!

The people, beaches, mountains, desert, Hollywood, The Valley, movies, Clubs, the food, Disneyland, the open-minded/kick-back/mellow attitude, and of course; the surfing & skateboarding. The film Lords of Dogtown, is a quiet Independent film that slipped under the radar & it is a film that must be seen! Not JUST because it is about California, but because it is about real history of just how skateboarding really got started and makes it what it is today.

Lords of Dogtown is a film about four young California boys in the 1970′s who are the best of friends, care-free, and free-spirited hanging out at the beaches of Southern California. Known as “Dogtown” which is at Santa Monica, Ca., these boys eat, sleep, breath, & live skateboarding. They do nothing but skateboard and hangout with their cool friend, Skip (played very well by the late, Heath Ledger), at his surfboard/skateboard shop. With their long blonde hair, vans sneakers, and boards of life taking them all over the beaches, they know there’s something else out there waiting for them. Something that calls them to a higher purpose. Enter: Swimming pools. When one of the boys discovers that an empty swimming pool is the next wave of skateboarding, the four boys comb the whole area looking for every and any empty pool to skate in. The bigger the better. In some cases they even empty the pools themselves. Having wild parties, picking up cute and tanned Cali. girls and waiting for the next step towards their higher purpose.

As they enter skateboarding contests blasting their hard rock & roll music and doing tricks and styles others never seen or heard of before, they take the skateboarding world by storm! Once they start winning trophies, jealousy steps in and so does the sponsors that want to make them all millions! Question is; Do they stick to their “manager” Skip who got them their start? Or do they go their seperate ways and learn the hard ways of success? To find out I highly recommend Lords of Dogtown.

This is a film that explains “sorta documentary-style” of how the now very famous Zephyr team got started. Also known as “The Z Boys”, this film gives a sharp, edgy, fast-paced look at this lifestyle and shows the true side of California skateboarding. It has outstanding performances by the four boys themselves; Emile Hirsch, John Robinson, William Mapother, and Victor Rasuk. As well as supporting cast members, Rebecca DeMornay and Johnny Knoxville. However, it is the late-great performance of Heath Ledger that truly shines. If you want to look at a film that shows the true story of how the skateboarding world really got started and with a hard Rock & Roll soundtrack, this film is for you. Without these boys, we wouldn’t have the skateboarding world we have today. This is a film that shouldn’t be over-looked.