Customer Rating:  
Summary: "The Endless Bummer"
Comment: Nostalgia aside, you gotta admit: it was a '70s ultra-cheese fest, starring future burn-outs Jan-Michael Vincent and Gary Busey, and William Katt, who would go on to star in surely one of the most jaw-dropingly lame TV shows of all time "The Greatest American Zero".
Customer Rating:
Summary: A "bombed" masterpiece
Comment: When I first saw this film on release in 1978, many of the critics had panned it with several observing that it was only interesting when in the water, given surfing is its main excitement and the movie subsequently bombed. Looked at again 30 years later (I have in fact seen it several times in between given the cult status it enjoys in UK fringe cinemas), the film's time horizon of mid 1960s to early 1970s following a surfing mad group growing up is nowhere as bad as those critics may have indicated.
Named after the fact that most big surfing swells over the years have occurred on Wednesday, the film by using the surfing culture provides an excellent snapshot of a group of Californian teenagers maturing across the late 1960s and facing up to their changing responsibilities, with its keen observations along the way on the tension with the later hippy movement and the indirect impact of the Vietnam War and its draft on people's lives.
None of the three lead actors (two actual surfers and Gary Busey as the "Masochist" in gonzo mode) were going to be Oscar contenders based on this outing but what makes the performances succeed is the quality of the ensemble playing. The director co-written script given John Milius's other writing credits is a bit clunky in parts (especially the lead personal relationships and the father figure of "Bear"), but since Milius was a surfer from a very young age, he admits in the recent interview included in this Anniversary DVD that it is a very personal movie and an amalgam of many different characters he knew from those days.
Sure the film's surfing scenes still look fantastic 30 years on, especially in widescreen format. The accompanying short Milius interview and his Director commentary (which because of its conversational style works well in conveying his enthusiasm for the subject as well as including lots of personal observations and stories) also makes you realise the difficulties and dangers that were faced in the location shooting of such footage.
Yes, one suspects as has already been seen over the last 30 years that this little gem while bombing on initial release will outlast many other over hyped movies of the same period. This is not just just because of its surfing community following but because it is a lot closer to depicting how it actually was for many in those times.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Day Like No Other
Comment: The story of three surfing buddies from the 1960's into the 1970's, it is also John Milius most personal movie, written with a surfer buddy about those days. Sam Melville's "Bear" character is pretty much Milius. For boomers a delight. Look closely for Milius' cameo as a pot dealer in Tiuajana!
Customer Rating:
Summary: An American Classic
Comment: What makes this a great movie is the cinematography that was executed back in 1978. The viewer will appreciate the complexities that the filming crew had to probably endure. While there were some stupid and silly scenes in the movie, I particularly enjoyed the overall theme and the music mainly from The Shirelles. Everyone should have the opportunity to watch this movie!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Terrific
Comment: "Big Wednesday" (1978) is a film that was made for baby boomers. 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. Along with needing a span of time to qualify as a coming-of-age saga, it was hoped that the long time span would enable it to connect with the entire range of boomers (birth dates from 1945-1963). Almost anyone born during those years will find things in the film they relate to-even shadow boomers with just the second-hand exposure provided by their older siblings. Younger viewers should enjoy the spectacular surfing sequences and might find the other stuff an interesting history lesson.
Milius is one of the so-called young auteur directors of the 70's (Coppola, Lucus, Spielberg, Scorsese, De Palma). Unlike the others he did very little after 1984, the year he released "Red Dawn", an embarrassingly moronic and histrionic right-wing propaganda film that alerted an unsuspecting world to his extremist political views. Hollywood insiders already knew about this and the Coen Brothers would use him as a model for John Goodman's character in "The Big Lebowski".
But "Big Wednesday" is his masterpiece and it is unlikely that any other writer/director could have brought this story to the screen this effectively. Unfortunately its surfer subject matter did not draw many non-enthusiasts to the theatre; even though the film is a lot more than surfing, containing a very original universal message about the process of living and changing. Low box office led to a re-edit for pay- television, with the more philosophical content taken out for that version. The current DVD and VHS are that shorter version so if you saw the "Big Wednesday" during its theatrical release you maybe somewhat disappointed.
Structured like a four act play with each transition moving the action ahead a couple of years, "Big Wednesday" follows three young surfers in the LA area (Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt and Gary Busey). Each plays a talented surfer with Vincent's character approaching legendary status. Surfing plays a big part in their lives (Bruce Surtees' cinematography provides some of the most stunning views of the sport you are likely to ever see) but much of the film takes place away from the beach with scenes of parties, the induction center, Tijuana, family life, and romance (a full range of what growing up in southern California was all about).
Milius' treatment of surfing is reverential and sometimes even mystical, with a sweeping musical score and local character (Bear) who is a kind of guru for the sport. In a scene cut from the television version Bear explains the origin and significance of the "Big Wednesday" title. Somehow Milius gets all this right and the film transcends what might have been a pretentious exercise in sport glorification.
The final scene is truly special as the three main characters manage a convergence for a final day of surfing, a scene that recalls the freedom and awe of their teenage years, contrasting it with how removed they have gotten from this former way of life. Anyone who has had to choke back their emotions after a nostalgic rush reminds them of what they will never have again, will be moved my this wonderful sequence.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
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