Big Wednesday
| Big Wednesday | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John Milius |
| Produced by | Buzz Feitshans |
| Written by | John Milius Dennis Aaberg Joel Chernoff |
| Narrated by | Robert Englund |
| Starring | Jan-Michael Vincent William Katt Gary Busey Lee Purcell Darrell Fetty |
| Music by | Basil Poledouris |
| Cinematography | Bruce Surtees |
| Editing by | Carroll Timothy O'Meara Robert L. Wolfe |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | May 1978 (United States) |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $11,000,000 |
| Box office | $4.5 million[1] |
Big Wednesday (1978) is an American coming of age film directed by John Milius. Milius co-wrote Big Wednesday with Denny Aaberg, and it is loosely based on their own experiences at Malibu and a short story Aaberg had published in a 1974 Surfer Magazine entitled "No Pants Mance."[2] The picture stars Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt and Gary Busey as California surfers facing life and the Vietnam War against the backdrop of their love of surfing.
Although initially a critical and commercial flop, the film has found a cult audience in the years since its release.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film tells the story of three young friends whose passion in life is surfing. The friends include: Matt (Jan-Michael Vincent), a self-destructive type who has a devil-may-care attitude; Jack Barlowe (William Katt), the calm and responsible one of the bunch; and Leroy "The Masochist" Smith (Gary Busey), whose nickname tells a lot about his personality.
Their surfing lives are traced from the summer of 1962 to their attempts of dodging the Vietnam War draft in 1965 (including faking insanity, homosexuality, and all manner of medical ailments), and to the end of their innocence in 1968 when one of their friends is killed in Vietnam. The three make the difficult transition to adulthood with parties, surf trips, marriage, and the war.
The friends reunite years later, after Barlowe has served time in Vietnam, for the "Great Swell of '74." With this reunion, the transitions in their lives becomes the end point of what the 1960s meant to so many as they see that the times have changed, and what was once a time of innocence is forever gone.
[edit] Cast
- Jan-Michael Vincent as Matt Johnson
- William Katt as Jack Barlowe
- Gary Busey as Leroy "The Masochist" Smith
- Patti D'Arbanville as Sally
- Lee Purcell as Peggy Gordon
- Sam Melville as Bear
- Celia Kaye as the Bear's bride
- Darrell Fetty as Waxer
- Gerry Lopez as Himself
- Hank Worden as Shopping Cart
- Joe Spinell as Psychologist
- Steve Kanaly as Sally's Husband
- Barbara Hale as Mrs. Barlow
- Fran Ryan as Lucy
- Dennis Aaberg as Slick
- Reb Brown as Enforcer
- Arthur Rosenberg as Official
- Janet Julian as Party girl
- Charlene Tilton as Party girl
- Frank McRae as Sergeant
- Perry Lang as Tall kid
- Michael Talbott as Hog
- Robert Englund as Narrator, Fly
- Keith Davis as Ostrich
[edit] Production
Raised in Southern California, Milius made Big Wednesday as an homage to the time he spent in Malibu during his youth. Milius and his friends George Lucas and Steven Spielberg famously agreed to exchange a percentage point of Big Wednesday, Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind prior to the release of the three films throughout 1977-78. Spielberg in particular was certain that Big Wednesday was going to be a box office hit, opining it was like "American Graffiti meets Jaws", two of the decade's most successful films.[3]
[edit] Filming locations
The surfing scenes used in the finale to Big Wednesday were not filmed in California, where the film is set. The filming of large surf conditions used in Big Wednesday were actually done at the famous Sunset Beach, located at Pupukea, Hawaii.
Other locations include: El Paso, Texas; Hollister Ranch, Santa Barbara; Surfrider Beach, Malibu; Ventura, California (all in the United States), El Salvador.
[edit] Distribution
The film premiered in wide release in the United States on May 26, 1978.
The picture was screened at various film festivals, including: the Davao City Film Festival, Philippines; the Turin Film Festival, Italy; and others.
[edit] Reception
[edit] Critical response
Janet Maslin, film critic for The New York Times, did not like the screenplay nor the performances of the actors and wrote, "The surprise is not that Mr. Milius has made such a resoundingly awful film, but rather that he's made a bland one...the movie often seems even more uneventful than material like this need make it, and Mr. Milius's attention to his actors focuses more closely on their pectorals than on their performances. He encourages such stiffness in his players that Barbara Hale, for instance, is quite unconvincing as Mr. Katt's mother. This is a faux pas of no mean eminence; after all, Miss Hale actually is Mr. Katt's mother."[4]
Dave Kehr, writing for the Chicago Reader, was not as dismissive of the film, writing, "John Milius's paean to the art and discipline of hot dog surfing is marred by pushy philosophizing and a fair number of overripe lines, but its sincerity is deep and seductive...Milius can be faulted for reviving a number of ostensibly dead macho myths, but in the context of the subculture his film deftly re-creates, they take on the aura of eternal values. The breathtaking surfing footage, rather than the slightly stunted characters, makes his most eloquent argument."[5]
The staff at Variety wrote, "A rubber stamp wouldn't do for John Milius. So he took a sledgehammer and pounded Important all over Big Wednesday. This film about three Malibu surfers in the 1960s has been branded major statement and it's got Big Ideas about adolescence, friendship and the 1960s."[6]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 63% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on eight reviews."[7]
[edit] Box Office
Big Wednesday was a box office flop upon its release, and was quickly pulled from theatres after taking only $4.5 million.[1] Despite this, the film slowly found new life via television and the home video market. By the late 1990s, it was considered a cult classic and a 20th Anniversary screening (which included cast and crewmembers) took place at the Newport Film Festival in 1998.[1]
[edit] Awards
Nominations
- Awards of the Japanese Academy: Award of the Japanese Academy Best Foreign Language Film; 1980.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Warshaw, Matt (2005). The Encyclopedia of Surfing. Orlando, Florida, US: Harcourt. ISBN 978-0156-03251-3.
- ^ New York Surf Film Festival. Press release, August 6, 2008. Last accessed: December 1, 2009.
- ^ Deadline.com (May 12, 2010)
- ^ Maslin, Janet. The New York Times, film review, "Big Wednesday Gets Caught in Some Rough Surf: Buddyhood of Surfing," July 28, 1978.
- ^ Kehr, Dave. Chicago Reader, film review, 1996-2007. Last accessed: March 18, 2008.
- ^ Variety, film review, December 31, 1977. Last accessed: January 30, 2011.
- ^ Big Wednesday at Rotten Tomatoes. Last accessed: February 27, 2011.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Big Wednesday |
- Big Wednesday at the Internet Movie Database
- Big Wednesday film review at Surfline web site
- Big Wednesday trailer at You Tube
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