Skateboarding has crossed over into the mainstream population due in large part to the humble beginnings of a group of eight teenagers in an area of Santa Monica called Dogtown. It was there that this mismatched gang of kids from broken homes formed a group known as the Zephyr Team aka Z-Boys. They rode surfboards in the morning and skateboards in the afternoon, creating a style all their own. Desperate to ride, they used guerrilla tactics such as illegally skating abandoned swimming pools in upscale Los Angeles neighborhoods. But by the mid-70s, the skateboard phenomenon had caught on, and a few of the Z-Boys were scooped up by corporate sponsors and offered large sums of money to skate on their behalf. This elevated them from freewheeling street punks to celebrity skaters; they traveled the world, showing off their cutting-edge moves. Director Stacy Peralta, one of the original Z-Boys, reunites the original crew 25 years later to hear in their own words what it was like.
Production Agi Orsi Productions; Vans Off the Wall;
Cast Names Jay Adams; Tony Alva; Jeff Ament; Bob Biniak; Steve Caballero; Paul Constantineau; 'Baby' Paul Cullen; Skip Engblom; Steve Freidman; Tony Friedkin; Glen E. Friedman; Marty Grimes; David Hackett; Tony Hawk; Allan Jeff Ho; Jeff Ho; Wes Humpston; Shogo Kubo; Joe Leahy; Ronnie Jay Leipold; Ian MacKaye; Jim Muir; Steve Olson; Stacy Peralta; Jake Phelps; Nathan Pratt; Mark Reiter; Fran Richards; Henry Rollins; Wentzle Ruml;
Box Office USD 1,293,295
Release Date 2001-01-19 (Sundance Film Festival) 2001-10-01 * (Chicago International Film Festival) 2002-04-25 (premiere) 2002-04-26 (limited)
Genres Documentary; Sport;
MPAA Rating [?] Rated PG-13 for language and some drug references.