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Written by Greg Martin
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Monday, 18 January 2010 12:01 |
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Today sees the UK general release of Jeremy Gosch's "Bustin' Down the Door" on DVD. The documentary uses vintage archive footage to tell the story of a group of Australians and South Africans who landed in Hawaii in the winter of 1975 and sacrificed everything in an attempt to change surfing from a rebelious lifestyle to a respected sport with paid athletes. The brash attitude that legends like Mark Richards, Rabbit Bartholomew and Shaun Tomson adopted in a quest to professionalize and commercialize surfing, along with their blatant self-promotion, did not sit well with the Hawaiian surfers who held the sport as a sacred remnant of their heritage. They formed a self-protection group called the Black Shorts who used violence to keep the newcomers in check. Eventually Eddie Aikau helped broker a truce with the outsiders, and with an increased respect for the Hawaiians, they helped to shape surfing into the sport that we know and love today. The film has been getting good reviews across the board and is a must-have for your DVD collection. It definitely falls into the same rare category as "Riding Giants" as a surf flick that you can watch with people who don't actually surf and not have them fall asleep. The UK release of "Bustin' Down the Door" coincides with the archiving of John Conway's old slides here at Wavelength Towers. There's plenty of gold in there which you'll get a chance to see over the next year or so, but in the meantime, here's a few of Rabbit and Mark Richards, including a couple from Rabbit's visit to Beachbeat's very own Chops Lascelles. Check out the DVD at www.extremehorizon.com 
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Last Updated on Monday, 18 January 2010 13:06 |
