Bruce Brown , shown here filming parts of On Any Sunday ( the Jeff Ward Mini Trail wheelie ? The trials guy wheelie ?) at So Cal ’ s Saddleback Park , sometime in 1970 .
rine school ended up being sent to Hawaii in 1955 ( the horror !), where he continued surfing and began taking 8mm movies of it all in his off hours . Five early surf films followed after his Navy discharge in ’ 57 , culminating in the epic The Endless Summer of 1966 , which cemented his legacy as the premier chronicler of surf culture on film .
“ In the 1950s ,” he told an interviewer , “ we just tried to figure out something to do to stay at the beach . [ John ] Severson [ founder of Surfer magazine ] did the magazine , [ Gordon ] Clarke did the [ surfboard ] foam , Hobie [ Alter , of Hobie Cat fame ] the boards , and I did movies . We did it just to stay at the beach .”
After the release of The Endless
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Summer Brown began focusing on his other passion – dirt bikes .
“ I ’ d been riding on and off ,” Brown told me years ago , “ and really enjoyed it . I thought , ‘ this is really fun . Maybe I ’ ll do a movie about motorcycles .’ I figured I ’ d cover a wide range , motocross , desert , road racing , the flat track circuit . I wasn ’ t sure where I ’ d go with it , but I figured I ’ d see what developed .”
Brown had befriended Malcolm Smith after buying a motorcycle from him at Malcolm ’ s So Cal shop , and after seeing what a well-rounded rider he was , figured ol ’ Malcolm might be part of his film .
To finance it he approached movie icon Steve McQueen , who was at first a bit miffed that Brown wanted money and didn ’ t seem all that interested in having Mc- Queen star in the film . McQueen said he acted in movies , not financed them . “ Fine ,” Bruce told him good-naturedly , “ you can ’ t be in the film !” McQueen thought better of it and called Brown the following day , telling him to get going on the project .
Getting Malcolm to commit was tougher . Malcolm wanted to be involved , thinking the exposure might be good for his business , but he was underwater trying to make a go of his newly purchased K & N Yamaha store ( which he ’ d just bought outright from Kenny Johnson and Norm McDonald , who were just launching K & N Air Filters ), and told Bruce to go on without him .
Fortunately , Brown asked again