User reviews

Big Wednesday is a celebration of life on the beach as seen through the eyes of three surfing buddies who only live for riding the wave. Gary Busey, Jan Michael Vincent, and William Katt, three blond California surfer types if there ever were are the three pals with a host of supporting surfing types.

The film is four vignettes over a 12 year period from 1962 to 1974 and amazing as it seems I did not hear The Beach Boys once over the soundtrack of the film. Quite an accomplishment for director John Milius in and of itself.

William Katt is a straight arrow type and and Gary Busey and Jan-Michael Vincent are screw ups to some degree. Vincent has the most interesting character, he's a surfing god when we first meet him, the idol of all, but he doesn't like the acclaim. He goes through more changes than anyone else in the film.

Barbara Hale who is William Katt's mother plays his mother her in her last big screen appearance. If she wasn't Della Street for so many years on Perry Mason she might have wound up doing Donna Reed or Barbara Billingsley or Jane Wyatt type roles. I loved her bearing up under it all demeanor while her house is being wrecked with a wild party.

Highlight of the film is the scene at the Selective Service induction center. All the young surfers try to avoid the draft, some with some truly creative ideas. William Katt actually goes to war, the other two avoid it, but Katt's not even trying.

Second highlight is the Big Wednesday of 1974 where all three try to prove they still have the right stuff for the waves. The waves were tipping on 20 feet.

Big Wednesday is a good buddy/buddy/buddy film about three guys who live for what they love, but who have to realize it's a young man's game.

I much prefer a movie that looks great to one with great dialogue. So with this movie I was pretty much satisfied. OK the acting can be a little iffy at times ("those kids do look up to you" said in a bit of an over the top way) but the story line, humour, and fights (very enjoyable at the party, not as much in Mexico because of the more serious tone) are all very good.

But this film really excels in the shots of the ocean and surfing. They are quite simply beautiful.

I don't really understand why this film did so badly but heh it seems to be more accepted now.

JM Vincent, WIlliam Katt, and Gary Busey are three surfer dudes, back in the 1960s. period piece. Free wheeling, looking for the next perfect wave. so symbolic. ride that wave as long as you can. Matt, Jack, and Leroy are enjoying the good California life on the beach, until life will inevitably bust into their lives, and change everything. Some similarities to American Graffiti, which had come out five years earlier. teens prepare for what's coming next in life. lots of drinking, fighting, violence. some fun bit parts in here, if you check the cast list. Barbara Hale (Katt's mom). Charlene Tilton from Dallas.Todd Lookinland is Mike Lookinland's brother (bobby brady). Celia Milius, the "bride", is... the wife of the actual director! Directed by John Milius, who was a surfer himself. was nominated for writing Apocalypse Now. Locations and/or footage from Hawaii, Texas, El Salvador, and numerous California beaches. and some great music from the 1960s. it's pretty good. coming of age film.

"This movie is too good for surfers." Quentin Tarantino was asked about "Big Wednesday" once and this was his answer. Tarantino grew up in southern California and surfers, he says, were mean to him and his friends. Tarantino, however, knows a good movie when he sees one. This truly is Hollywood's "perfect wave", the only time the surf culture was portrayed accurately in a studio film. The surf community consistently refers to this film with reverence, citing it's depiction of the "soul" of surfing as being worthy of their hallowed endeavors in the water. After years of Frankie and Annette or, God forbid, Keanu Reeves, this is one they can be proud of. Writer-director John Milius was a surfer himself referring to it again in his most celebrated screenplay for "Apocalypse Now" ("Charlie don't surf!"). One of the keys to this film's authenticity is the fact that the three stars did a lot of their own surfing. Actually seeing their faces as they stand up for a ride is a bonus. William Kaat, Jan-Michael Vincent and Gary Busey (actually pretty big names from this era) were accomplished surfers, Busey learning for the role. The fine cast is rounded out by cuties Lee Purcell and Patti d'Arbanville and Sam Melville as the mystical mentor Bear. Keep your eyes peeled for legendary surfer Gerry Lopez, "Perry Mason"'s Barbara Hale, future Freddy creep Robert Englund, Larry Talbot from "Miami Vice" and Charlene Tilton and Steve Kanaly who both ended up on "Dallas". If you ever had a group of friends who did stuff together, you'll find this film has a lot of depth and soul. As Matt says after riding Big Wednesday "we drew the line". The three friends have validated the thing that consumed them as young men, that is riding waves and promising to be together when the big one hit. But they also acknowledge the need to embrace adulthood and put surfing where it should be. As Bear himself said "nobody surfs forever". Sad but true. It applies to all of us, no matter what we do.

I'm not a surfer, and I don't particularly fancy gazing at hunky males in their naked torsos and swim shorts. I am, however, a fan of good cinema, and according to many film articles and cinematic reference books, "Big Wednesday" is one of the greatest American films of the 70s.

I certainly wouldn't label it as such, but I can easily understand why this film enjoys the reputation of being a classic, and why it has such a wide and loyal fan base. It's a contemporary epic, a true coming-of-age movie for an entire generation of beach boys (and girls) who were teenagers in the sixties. The film actually reminded me somewhat of "Forrest Gump", only small-scaled and centered around a shorter and specific period of time. We follow three handsome and talented surfers throughout a period of 12 years. In 1962, life is great and completely carefree, but unfamiliar things like adulthood and responsibility begin to appear at the horizon. In the following decade, they are faced with the Vietnam war recruitment and the deterioration of their beloved surfing beach area. Matt Johnson (J-M Vincent) is the most talented surfer, but also the biggest troublemaker, Leroy Smith (Gary Busey) is the reckless one, and Jack Barlow is the mature and responsible one.

The challenges these three must face are not too dramatic, to be very honest. Matt struggles with alcoholism and causes a stupid accident, Jack's girlfriend doesn't wait for him to return from the war, and Leroy can't find enough kicks to agonize himself. The scenes where the boys and their friends must undergo physical and mental tests to check their fitness to serve in Vietnam are borderline genius and definitely form the highlight of the film, but there are several aspects that make "Big Wednesday" a delight to watch and experience. The brilliant 60s soundtrack, for starters, but also Bruce Surtees' cinematography and the performances of the leading trio.

I first saw this film in 1978, my father took me to see it with my brothers at the drive-in as a double feature with "Every Which Way But Loose." It's a movie that I have never forgotten. It combines brilliantly heart gripping surfing action, heart wrenching emotions, and heart uplifting humour, all set against the back-drop of the Vietnam War, teenagers growing up, the wisdom of elders (Bear) and of course, the surfing.

I've never surfed a minute of my entire life (although whenever I watch this, I feel like I should), so don't think of this as a "surf movie". It simply is an excellent piece of cinematic history that you will feel you missed on if you never see it.

Recommended with 2 thumbs way way way up.

Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt, and Gary Busey chase the perfect waves in California in the 1960s and 1970s.

Despite the fact that this lead trio looks too focused, too mature, and too intelligent to spend their time doing this sort of thing -- plus they clearly spent a lot of time in the gym making sure they looked good in trunks -- this is a very watchable movie. All credit due to cinematographer Bruce Surtees. With the connivance of writer-director John Milius, he shoots the Big Wave opening in black&white, and other portions in between.... and the longstanding 'reality' of b&w and clarity of image are compelling.

Surtees began getting credits in the late 1960s on Clint Eastwood vehicles, and was the listed cinematographer on nine of Eastwood's productions. We was favored by directors of tough, masculine dramas, not only Eastwood, but Siegel and, here, Milius. His career tailed off by the early 2000s, and he died in 2012, aged 74.

Down the street from my house is a restaurant/bar called RT's Longboard grill, which was opened by family as a tribute to a brother lost at sea. Adorning the bamboo laden walls, amongst yesteryear photos, boards, posters, and memorabilia, are TV screens which endlessly show classic surfing movies. The feeling one gets in this environment is similar to what one gets watching Big Wednesday. This isn't a surf movie in the sense of the word. You see, the trendy, infantile children that drunkenly roam the streets of Pacific Beach (where I live in San Diego)for the most part don't have souls, sadly, living in the very town in which many surf legends have been born. Hard pressed to find are the light hearted conversations over a good burger, malt, and a good set of waves. Big Wednesday contains such an epic story. OK... I seem bitter. It's because I am. I know the word "dude" and a nose covered in sunscreen is an easy stereotype... but the spiritual life altering experience behind surfing is most often misunderstood. What is your passion? Do you have one? It may be your children. It may be horses. It may be hockey. But no matter what goes wrong in your life, or who dies or what happens, at the core is your passion (translated : spirituality)... something pure. At the heart of this movie is this purity... and after the draft, relationships, addictions, and just plain adolescent insanity, the characters find that their friendship is still alive because of a common love. Don't try and make too much sense of this review. This isn't a restaurant review. I can't explain the feeling nor would I expect the 95% of America that doesn't live near a surf-able wave to get it...just watch the movie.

The surfing sequences are what make this movie, some of the waves on Big Wednesday at the end look too huge and powerful to be real, and the sight of these men standing at the foot of them on their puny little boards, battling to outrun the awesome power of the water crashing down, is real heart-gripping stuff. The tale of a group of friends drifting through the sixties and seventies, getting into scrapes, having parties, trying to avoid Vietnam and doing all that stuff sixties movies live for, is well enough done, though the script gets a bit cliche-heavy at some points. The episodic format, a series of brief snapshots taken from various moments over a spread of ten years or so, helps capture the rambling nature of these people's lives, and gives an insight on how much things change and yet stay the same between a gang of old friends as the times move on and the world turns. Katt fares well as the narrator and core, as is Stringfellow Hawk as the former champ surfer, and Busey gives his normal crazy shouty brilliance, but the surf takes the honours.

Best surf movie made, great story and great cast , a must see for surfers and non surfers 10 out of 10.

It's the summer of 1962. Matt Johnson (Jan-Michael Vincent) is the ace surfer. Leroy Smith (Gary Busey) is "The Masochist". Jack Barlow (William Katt) is the fresh-faced straight arrow. These and others surf the west coast and party the nights away. In 1965, the three friends get their draft notice.

It's an interesting surf movie. It's not one of the iconic ones but it's better than most. Of the three friends, I would have thought that Leroy would be the one going off the deep end. The drama isn't that high. I expected Jack to die. In the end, the movie is left with Matt reclaiming his throne one last time. It's interesting to see the old boards. There is some poignancy in the three friends. It would be nice for the drama to be tighter.

What is it about Big Wednesday that inspires so much affection? I won't repeat the many tributes that have been made here, and yes, I was a surfer, and yes, this is in my top five of all time movies, and yes, I watch it about once every eighteen months.

But something others don't seem to mention much is the perfect score that Basil Poledouris wrote for the movie, sound which echoes and complements the action throughout, and reminds me strongly of artists and music of the time like Jack Nitzches "Lonely Surfer", and "Beyond the Break". Not, for heaven's sake, the Beach Boys or Jan and Dean.

But isn't that a big part of good movies? When music, image and story all combine? (Discuss)

The other four of my five are "Andrei Rublev", "If..." "The Piano" "Journey to the Center of the Earth"

"Big Wednesday" is one of those coming-of-age slash nostalgia trips that was all the rage back in the '70s and '80s, like "American Graffiti", "The Last Picture Show", "Stand By Me", and on TV, "The Wonder Years" and "Happy Days". These flicks and shows showed people coming of age in some bygone era, probably when the producers were kids.

This one is about a trio of surfers in the '60s. Its episodic narrative lurches from '62 to '68 and is bookended by lengthy surfing scenes, with a soundtrack that hardly seems to fit.

There are apparently three surfers in the movie. The main character is played by that epitome of wasted youth and talent, Jan-Michael Vincent, before his alcoholism cost him his career, his neck, his vocal chords, his right foot and his left eye. The other one is played by Gary Busey, proving that he could do crazy on screen as well as everyone even before his brain injury. The last one I can't remember.

The film is curiously disjointed. Maybe it's because of the episodic structure, or because the surfing scenes seem to overwhelm the action on the shore like a tall wave. I think there might have been some good characterisation in there somewhere, but "Big Wednesday" just never comes together.

This is a great film. I won't say that everyone would like it, because there is always someone who will hate it. But I love this movie and cannot imagine hating it. I watch it again and again, mostly for Jack who is wonderful in his personality and development. I can't rate this highly enough. The surfing scenes are spectacular, and watching the characters slowly mature and try to cope with life as an adult is always worth watching. Seeing Matt in particular struggle with his unwanted hero status and seeing his friends grow up, move away or die is really something to see. What he would have done without the capable, beautiful, indefatigable Peggy is anyone's guess. However, I must say that you either get it or you don't.

Big Wednesday has major weaknesses as a coming of age film which are made up for by some excellent surfing scenes, particularly towards the end. The plot, or whatever passes for a plot is trite and contrived - quite direction-less. Ideas and coming of age memories of the script writers seem to have been banded together with poor sense of characterization. The idea of showing a character aging by having a ridiculous mustache doesn't show a lot of maturity.

However, surfing is at the soul of this film. The last 20 minutes are so good that even those not familiar with the sport would be intrigued. I can understand this being a cult favorite for surfers. The Vietnam drafting section was also something I hadn't seen in a film before and I found it educational.

Where I grew up on the east coast of South Africa, surfing was a pretty big deal and Big Wednesday was often mentioned by the many surfer freaks that went to my high school. But this is not a surfing movie.

Surfing is just a backdrop to the real story - the transience of time and in particular, the golden days of youth.

What the film is really about, and what elevates it to a much higher level, is how time just slips away. What I believe Milius attempted to do with BW was to capture the magnificence of a certain time in HIS life when everything just hung together beautifully, suspended for what seems like forever.

And like so many great pieces of art, in the process he made something that contains a universal truth -- that everyone longs for the intensity of their youth -- and I believe that holds the key to its enduring appeal.

For many people this magical stretching of time is most profoundly felt when they are young, say around 18 or 19 years old. Which is the age the main cast happens to be. They are young, restless and facing a very uncertain future due to the Vietnam War.

For these reasons they do their best to prolong the magic of that particular time and place for as long as possible.

Now this theme has been the subject of countless movies, but few have created them with as much humour and sheer truthfulness as Big Wednesday. Even though the principal cast members, like Jan Michael Vincent and Gary Busey, never really went on to do anything major (although Gary created any number of memorable character roles) in THIS movie they just work together beautifully.

If you've ever seen another film which attempts to create the same mood as this, by the name of Fandango, you might understand what I'm getting at. Fandango has everything that BW has - the humour, the ensemble cast, the looming Vietnam War - but it doesn't capture the magic as well as BW.

Why this is exactly is hard to say because Fandango is pretty darn good in itself. But BW just creates such a sublime portrait of those mad times in your life... expressing sentiments and a yearning that are near impossible to put into words. It's a true cult classic, yet if anything, still underappreciated.

And yeah, the surfing is pretty good too.

This coming-of-age buddy film was considered to be a guaranteed sure-fire commercial success on release. It was probably because it combined elements of two of the decade's biggest films, American Graffiti and Jaws. It even led George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and, the director of this film, John Milius to each share a percentage point of their latest movies, namely Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Big Wednesday. Needless to say, those first two raked in the cash and Big Wednesday went on to be something of a major flop. Seemingly, George Lucas is still annoyed about this!

It's a film which has garnered a cult rep over the years and is now regarded as a great movie by many people, particularly the surfer sect. But to be honest, while I am pleased for the renaissance of this film, I don't find it too hard to understand why it received a lukewarm and limited audience. Its story centres on a trio of Californian surfers played by Jan-Michael Vincent (the most talented but most troubled), William Katt (the most responsible), and Gary Busey (the loose cannon). The story is about their lives over the course of 15 years or so, from the innocence of the early 60's to the more cynical mid 70's. The lives of the characters mirrors the rapid social changes of the 60's in particular, with the Vietnam War a major player in the background. I thought the characters weren't especially interesting on the whole, even if there are good actors involved such as William Katt. Fortunately, there wasn't TOO much babble about the call of the ocean and the mystical nature of surfing, although the bearded character called Bear was getting dangerously close to trying my patience with nonsensical surf talk but luckily the authorities condemned the pier his house was located on and he was kicked out! On a far more positive note were the surfing scenes, which were very well shot and pleasingly cinematic, with some very impressive looking surf action. So, all-in-all, this one seemed a bit limited on the drama front but it gets over the line with its surf action and era detail.

A movie about surf, friendship and the hardness in growing up.

The movie has great surf pictures, great surfers (Gerry Lopez himself), it has a beautiful script and was very well directed.

I think this movie is already a classic for surfers and non-surfers... ;-)

I watch the movie in VHS long ago, and i´m waiting for the DVD (next month)

Gary Busey's career high as the insane "Masochist" with the irrisistable quote "More Beer!". Okay, this is a little patchy, but it's beautifully shot and has that old fashioned innocence that most modern teen films lack. The surfing rules and the leading trio is well played. Oh and I forgot to mention, the entire narration is by none other than Elm street's Fred Kreuger, a.k.a Robert Englund, which just makes it uber-cool in my minds eye; but I am biased. A great feel-good movie from when movies still felt pretty good.

This is the anti-Beach Blanket Bingo. The message is you CAN'T stay young and irresponsible and surfing-obsessed for your whole life.

Big Wednesday starts out looking like a dramatic version of the famed surfing documentary Endless Summer, with its big waves and young, carefree surfers. But life intervenes, with Vietnam and simply the passage of time turning the surfers into embittered middle-aged has-beens. They reunite to surf giant, once-every-seven year waves and try to rediscover what it was about surfing that so fired their imaginations when they were younger. It all manages to be dramatically compelling without being mawkish.

Makes a fine companion piece to any other surfing movie.