Very well executed

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Dogtown and Z-BoysSummary: Dogtown and Z-boys is a documentary about a group of revolutionary teenagers that changed the world of surfing and skateboarding in Venice (Dogtown), California as we know it today. With their low pivotal style, they embarked on a Larry Bertlemen influenced journey that would lead to countless successes and a couple failures. After the Dogtown articles were featured in a reinstated Skateboarder Magazine, the sport was revamped and the members of the Zephyr skateboard team forgot about Jeff Ho, and looked to be on summer vacation for the rest of their lives by joining other skateboard teams that could afford to pay them like movie stars. The original Zephyr Skateboard Team put together by Jeff Ho (Zephyr Surfshop Owner) and Craig Stecyk (Photographer) included Jay Adams, Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Bob Biniak, Chris Cahill, Shogo Kubo, Paul Constantineau, Jim Muir, Peggy Oki (the only female), Nathan Pratt, Wentzle Ruml IV, Allen Sarlo, and David Ray Perry. All of the original members except Jay Adams and Chris Cahill are still well and surfing/skating. Jay Adams, at the time of the documentary, was serving time on drug related charges. Chris Cahill, at the time of the documentary, was last seen in Mexico.Themes: The themes of this documentary are kind of read-between-the-lines, but if there were a clear-cut theme it would be that even kids can spark revolutions. Other themes would include extensive partying in one's past may lead to an unfulfilling future, and by planning and being careful with one's assets a very rewarding future could be at hand.Other Works: Stacy Peralta (Writer and Director) has a fairly wide range of documentaries that he has either written, produced, or directed. Most with a common theme of surfing or skateboarding, such as Riding Giants, Sk8 TV, The Bones Brigrades, and Lords of Dogtown. He has also done films with a theme of growing up in America as a teenager, films such as: Influences: From Yesterday to Today, Crips and Bloods: Made in America, and The 70s: The Decade that Changed Television.Subjects: The subjects of Dogtown and Z-boys are the original members of the Zephyr Skateboard Team excluding Chris Cahill. Peralta included Jeff Ho and Craig Stecyk in the interviews. Other subjects were people who grew up during the 70s reading the Dogtown Articles as well as skateboard enthusiasts. Skaters from the Dogtown area, but not on the team were interviewed.Editing: The editing of this film was phenomenal in my opinion. There were scenes of the subjects talking so that the audience could see who was speaking and get a sense of the character, but would immediately cutaway to archival footage that would explain what the speaker was saying. When a song could explain the emotions of the subjects better, such as when Jay Adams' unfortunate life was a subject of talk, the song Old Man by Neil Young was played, which evokes many emotions. Sean Penn was the narrator for the film and he explained the transitions throughout the film. The film was presented chronologically from the time the Zephyr surf team was put together, to creating the skateboard team, to all of the Z-boys leaving the team to join other skate companies or create their own company. Cinematography: The film was shot in an interesting way. The film of the subjects speaking were all in black and white and all of the archival footage of the Z-Boys surfing or skating were in color. Of course the footage from the 70s was grainy, but that only enhanced the film. The interviewees were mostly shot in the same area it appears, but all were outside. All of the footage was very well-controlled even the archival footage which I found very surprising. Music: "Seasons of Wither"-Performed by Aerosmith "Toys in the Attic"-Performed by Aerosmith "Generation Landslide"- Alice Cooper "One Way Out"- Performed by The Allman Brothers "Lollipops and Roses" and "Whipped Cream"-performed by Herb Alpert "Into the Void" and "Paranoid"- performed by Black Sabbath "Godzilla"- Blue Oyster Cult "Aladdin Sane" and "Rebel Rebel"- David Bowie "Fastcars"- The Buzzcocks "Gut Feeling"- Devo "I'll Give you Money"- Peter Frampton "Funk 49"- James Gang "Ezy Rider" and "Foxy Lady" and "Freedom" and "Bold as Love"- Jimi Hendrix "Sidewalk Surfing"- Jan and Dean "Achilles Last Stand" and "Hot on for Nowhere"- Led Zeppelin "Six Underground"- The Sneaker Pimps "Surfrider"- The Lively Ones "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Motor City Madhouse" and "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang- Ted Nugent "Us and Them"- Pink Floyd "Bad Boys"- The Pretenders "Maggie May"- Rod Stewart "I Wanna be Your Dog" and "Gimme Danger"- The Stooges "Children of the Revolution"- T-Rex "Bad Reputation"- Thin Lizzy "Disco Inferno"- The Tramps "Hannah"- Rob Trower "Rocky Mountain Way"- Joe Walsh "Old Man"- Neil Young "La Grange"- ZZ TopThe music in the film make the movie. Every one of these songs contributes to what the subjects are saying and evoke emotions that would not have been called to mind otherwise.

Dogtown and Z-Boys is a documentary about the Zephyr Skateboarding Team, and their influence on skateboarding. It also focuses on the history of skateboarding. It was directed by Stacy Peralta, a member of the original Zephyr Team, and was written by Stacy Peralta and Craig Stecyk, another member of the team. The documentary stars the members of the Zephyr Team and is narrated by Sean Penn.The documentary talks about the beginning of skateboarding, and how it evolved from surfing. It discusses skateboarding's popularity in the late 60s and the 70s, its decline in the 80s and its 'rebirth' in the 90s. Skateboarding was introduced in Dogtown, the nickname of the poor side of Santa Monica, California. The Zephyr Team originated from the Zephyr Surf Shop, which manufactured the first modern skateboards. The documentary mainly consists of the original Zephyr Team members talking about the past in the Zephyr Team, the competitions they won, and their popularity and prestige. It focuses on three particular members of the team; Peralta, Tony Alva, and Jay Adams, three virtuosos of skateboarding, and probably the best three members of the team.The interviews in the documentary were usually voices over archival footage from Dogtown in the late 60s and 70s. Very rarely to you actually see the people being interviewed, but when you do, they are shown in black and white, while the archival footage was in colour. I think Stacy Peralta used this technique to show that the documentary was about the past (i.e. the Glory Days of the Zephyr Team) and not the present. The documentary is very fast paced, in that we often see clips of impressive skateboarding over up-beat music of the era (such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie), and the interviews tend to be quick and to the point. Knowing nothing about skateboarding (i.e. not even knowing how to ride one straight along the ground) I was very surprised that I found this documentary so interesting. The reason is that this doco was more about the Zephyr Team than the actual sport of skateboarding, so while I couldn't relate to skateboarding, I could relate to the boys in the team. Because it was made by actual members of the team, it gives it a little more depth and authenticity.All in all, I would have to say this is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. It gave me a whole new insight, not just into the Zephyr Team, but into skateboarding as a whole. For those who love skateboarding, I can only imagine how it must be even more interesting. Seven and a half stars out of ten.

Right there. Good, entertaining and accurate era-feel to most scenes. Enough personality variations to cover the real people around those days without story distractions from the exceptions. The credits show Peralta from Mar Vista, California.. up the hill from Venice and south of Malibu. I lived there in the Heartbreak Hotel days, pre-Beachboys, next to that surfer kid Bob Cooper up on Wasatch Avenue, where the alley was used to burn surfboards that didn't work. Old skatekey skatewheels were used on plywood cutouts to roll down sidewalk waves. Things were different in each succeeding decade as the cool innocence of the fifties broke into the Warmth of the Sun whitewater freedom and exhilaration of the electric sixties and then into the assertively innovative playtime and inventive evolutionary madness of the weird seventies. The movie gives you a piece of that kind of magic moment in time; in a place where the imaginary wave was real.. the source of culturally significant influences. And BTW, there's another movie that has a similarly American street edginess to it, and has the same genuinely unique goodness with laid back realness that helps refine that elusively eternal sense of cool.. "Two Lane Blacktop" (with one of the best examples of freesouldoit attitude in West Coast California history.. Dennis Wilson). Like Monte Hellman did with that one, thanks, SP, for being right there with this one. GWR

I must say that this has to be the best documentary I have ever seen in my life. I first say the movie at my friends house, and didn't get a chance to finish watching it. From that point on, I spent my free time trying to find the movie. I never found it, but on my birthday, my friend who knew I had the hardest time finding the movie,got it for me as present. Sean Penn does a great job of narrating the documentary. I loved how it told the story of each of the Z-Boys and the history of Dogtown. I have been to Venice and the surrounding area many times, and had never known what had taken place, until I saw the documentary. I didn't get a chance to see the actual movie, and I heard it was nowhere near what the documentary was. I don't know if I actually want to see the movie, but who knows.