'The Endless Summer' Turns 60; How Bruce Brown Sold the Best Surf Movie Ever

Close your eyes. Picture the quintessential surf movie.

There’s a good chance that amidst that morass of consciousness, a vision is emerging – one of Mike Hynson and Robert August, lugging their longboards over a South African sand dune, scored to the breezy slide guitar of The Sandals, and stumbling upon a perfect, empty, peeling righthander.

It’s Bruce Brown’s iconic, genre-defining 1964 film, The Endless Summer. And this month, it celebrates its 60th anniversary.

In the time since The Endless Summer’s release (1964 in film festivals, then 1966 in wide release), the film has become a touchstone for surf filmmaking, and a benchmark for how to package up the sport and sell it to a non-core, mainstream audience.

"A brilliant documentary," a New Yorker review described the film, "perfectly expressing the surfing spirit. Great background music. Great movie. Out of sight."

You’ve probably seen the movie. But have you heard the story about how Brown first presented it to the public?

In honor of the 60-year anniversary, check out that story below (courtesy of SURFER's Culture editor, Jake Howard; read his full tribute here):

“It Was 60 Years Ago This Month That The Endless Summer Made History.

“On a frozen January weekend in Wichita, Kansas, Bruce Brown changed the course of surfing forever.

“On a cold, snowy weekend in January 1964, with temperatures and conditions around the United States much like they are this days, filmmaker Bruce Brown and business partner R. Paul Allen, two quintessential Southern California surfers, landed in a frozen Wichita, Kansas, with their new film, 'The Endless Summer.'

“Ironically, they’d screen the film at the Sunset Theater. Despite a strike by the projectionists, Brown and Allen showed the film and sold out the humble theater. Shortly thereafter, Brown moved on to New York City where he rented out a theater and sold out for 48 straight weeks. The legend of ‘The Endless Summer’ was born...”

60 years later, and it's still the best.

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