Main Cast: Tony Hawk, Stacy Peralta, Henry Rollins, Sean Penn
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
In the mid-'70s, skateboarding was widely seen as a fad of the 1960s that had all but died out, except for a handful of committed fans in California. But that began to change with the emerge of the Z-Boys, a team of teenaged skateboarders who emerged from a decaying urban community in Santa Monica, CA. Hard-core surfers who sought to translate the hot-dogging stunts of world-class wave riders onto their skateboards began hanging out at the Zephyr Productions Surf Shop, a store that stocked top-grade equipment for local surfers and skaters, and with the help of the store's owner Jeff Ho, twelve of the skaters organized themselves into a team to compete at local skate events. Soon the radical moves and scruffy-streetwise style of the Zephyr Skate Team -- the Z-Boys for short -- upended public preconceptions of skateboarding as a sport and a lifestyle, and the wild style of Z-Boy skaters such as Tony Alva, Jim Muir, and Jay Adams made them celebrities who blazed the trail for the extreme sports movement. But while the Z-Boys' success brought them a measure of fame and fortune -- lucrative endorsement contracts, deals to manufacture their own custom skateboards, and even movie roles (Tony Alva starred opposite Leif Garrett in Skateboard, while Z-Boy Stacy Peralta was top-billed in Freewheelin') -- their fame proved to be fleeting, and several of the Z-Boys fell prey to drugs, crime, and ego. Dogtown and Z-Boys is a documentary by former Z-Boy Stacy Peralta that chronicles the glory days of the Z-Boys through footage of the skaters in their prime and interviews with the pioneers of the Southern California skate scene. Rock musicians and noted skate enthusiasts Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins, and Jeff Ament also appear to discuss the importance of the Z-Boys' legacy; Sean Penn narrates. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Funded by the Vans shoe company, Dogtown and Z-Boys is most effective as a nostalgic look back at the stylish Southern California lifestyle of the '70s. However, as a documentary it is fails to address any pressing questions the viewer might have about the subject. The interviews with the aging original members mostly consist of overblown hero worship and a wistful recollection of their wilder youth. Filmed with MTV-style rapid cuts and quick camera movements with archival footage, it offers plenty of praise but doesn't go deep enough into the psyche of these dominating personalities. This is particularly evident in the case of Jay Adams, who apparently landed in jail for an undisclosed reason after refusing to sell out. His tributary segment suggests that he may have died, then he shows up on camera to offer some cryptic commentary which is screaming for an explanation. Also missing is any kind of critical angle or cultural analysis to supplement the simple presentation. Dogtown and Z-Boys is filled with excellent music from the era (Black Sabbath, T. Rex, Iggy Pop) and skating fans will be pleased to see all the stylish vintage footage of their favorite legends, but those looking for an in-depth documentary may be disappointed to be left with so many questions. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Tony Alva; Jeff Ament; Tony Hawk; Stacy Peralta; Henry Rollins; Glen E. Friedman; C.R. Stecyk; Jeff Ho; Zephyr Skateboard Team; Jay Adams; Bob Biniak; Paul Constantineau; Shogu Kubo; Jim Muir; Peggy Oki; Nathan Pratt; Wentzle Ruml; Alan Sarlo; Skip Engblom
Credit
Debra McCulloch - Associate Producer, Christine Triano - Associate Producer, Ozzie Ausband - Consultant/advisor, Ray Flores - Consultant/advisor, Kathleen Wooley - Coordinator, Stephen Nemeth - Co-producer, Glen E. Friedman - Co-producer, Daniel Ostroff - Co-producer, Stacy Peralta - Director, Paul Crowder - Editor, John Nicoland - Editor, Scott Juergens - Editor, Scott Weibel - Editor, Jay Wilson - Executive Producer, Terry Wilson - Composer (Music Score), Stacy Peralta - Musical Direction/Supervision, Debra MacCulloch - Musical Direction/Supervision, Marc Reiter - Musical Direction/Supervision, John Armstrong - Camera Operator, Hunter Mahers - Camera Operator, C.R. Stecyk - Production Designer, Sohrab M. Modi - Cinematographer, Peter Pilafian - Cinematographer, Paul Atukin - Cinematographer, Kevin Roberts - Cinematographer, Agi Orsi - Producer, Alan Barker - Recording, Paul Hackner - Recording, Derrick Quarles - Recording, Robert Davis Oh - Recording, Cyrus Faryar - Recording, Omar H. Crook - Singer, Stacy Peralta - Screenwriter, C.R. Stecyk - Screenwriter, Terry Wilson - Music Editor, Joe Milner - Re-Recording Mixer, David McRell - Re-Recording Mixer, Dane A. Davis - Supervising Sound Editor, Eddie Kim - Supervising Sound Editor, John Nicoland - Visual Effects, Blind Visual Propaganda Inc. - Title Design
When you picture a bunch of skater kids, you figure they'll be listening to punk rock, but back in the early to mid-'70s, when California surf rats first began to turn skateboarding into something wilder than simple sidewalk surfing, punk rock didn't really exist yet. So what were pioneering skaters listening to while they were first figuring out how to do stunts on ramps or in empty swimming pools? Dogtown and Z-Boys is a documentary on the Santa Monica-based Zephyr Skate Team (aka "The Z-Boys"), who turned skateboarding upside down in the 1970s, and this soundtrack album attempts to capture a typical skater's soundtrack before the Ramones came along and changed everything. And if you hung out with the kids who smoked a lot of pot and preferred cruising the main drag while swilling cheap beer to going to the football game back in the mid-'70s, this will sound a lot like what you heard pouring out of any number of eight-track players; the soundtrack to Dogtown and Z-Boys offers a lot of meat-and-potatoes hard rock from the period, heavy on arena-ready boogie (Joe Walsh, both solo and with the James Gang, and ZZ Top), guitar heroics (Jimi Hendrix and Ted Nugent), and made-to-order teenage rebellion (Thin Lizzy and Alice Cooper). The closest thing to an odd touch here is the presence of T. Rex and Iggy & the Stooges (though one should remember both were big in L.A. without meaning much to the rest of America) and Rod Stewart (whose "Maggie May," fine as it is, just doesn't fit the hard rock mold of the rest of the disc). In short, if you're a teenager looking for skate sounds, you might want to stick with Blink-182, but if you're in your early to mid-forties and want a ride down memory lane, turn on the black light, fire up the bong, and slap this into the CD player -- it's the next best thing to watching Dazed and Confused again. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
Using a mix of film of the Zephyr skateboard team shot in the 1970s by Craig Stecyk and more recent interviews, the documentary tells the story of a group of teenage surfer/skateboarders and their influence on the history of skateboarding (and to a lesser extent surfing) culture. It is narrated by Sean Penn and directed by Stacy Peralta.
Much of the archival footage used in the film came from teenagers who wanted to be a part of the Z-Boys group but were not good enough skateboarders so they got to be a part of the Z-Boys group by filming and photographing them.
The film's $400,000 budget was financed by Vans, Inc., whose skateboarding shoes Stacy Peralta had been paid to endorse during his days as a professional skateboarder.[1]
Dogtown is the nickname of a portion of "the Santa Monica, California area that Pacific Ocean Park bridge[s].[2] Jeff Ho's shop was on the corner of Bay and Main, right next to where the Horizons West shop founded by Z-Boy Nathan Pratt currently exists.
The Z-Boy story was also made into a feature film, Lords of Dogtown, in late 2005.
