Freewheelin' (1976) Movie Script
1
(spirited music)
- [Camille] Wherever
there's a hill and concrete,
skaters will ride it
till they have it wired.
The speeds are amazing,
up to 50 miles an hour.
They call it freewheelin'.
I got the sun on my shoulders
I got the wind on my side
Feels like I could fly on forever
When I take you out on a ride
Down the road, it's a beautiful feeling
The day is still so new
Oh, watch me shine
I feel so fine
Just rolling with you
- Sometimes when I think about
all the things we did this past year,
it's almost like a dream.
We had so much fun,
but everything went by so quickly,
and there I was watching
Stacy get on the plane,
and I was really happy for him
because he'd finally
gotten what he wanted,
and now he was really on his way.
We really had a lot of fun together,
going places to skateboard and surf
and meeting all the best skateboarders.
I suppose before I met Stacy,
I really didn't know
much about skateboarding.
I just thought it was something
that little kids did,
but you can't be around
Stacy very long before
you learn everything there
is to know about skating.
He'd always be talking about it,
poles, slalom, downhill,
tubes, sun wading, pumping,
and all the freestyle tricks.
I guess by now I know as
much about it as anyone.
It's funny how we met, Stacy and I.
He had this job working in a restaurant,
and every day he'd have to skateboard home
and get dressed real quick for work.
Got a job in the city
Well, it's so dull, it's a crime
How can people look so unhappy
And tell me what to do
- [Camille] He wasn't real happy about it.
Even then, he was looking for a way out,
and I guess I was too.
I was going with an older guy.
He used to take me places,
fancy restaurants and that kind of thing.
- Can we get some water here?
- Sure, here you go.
(restaurant employees chatter)
(gentle instrumental music)
- [Camille] I really didn't
notice him right off,
not until we left,
and then I didn't even dream
I'd ever see him again.
But life's funny that way.
It was the very next day, a Saturday.
We'd gone for a drive in
the hills behind Malibu.
It was really nice to get out of the city.
Suddenly there he was again,
skateboarding with some friends.
I'll take a chance on a dream
I think we can ride on together
Nothing's gonna come in between
Looking down the road
It's a beautiful feeling
The day is still so new
- [Camille] My friend was really mad.
"Damn kids," he said, and I had to laugh
'cause I was one of 'em too.
(car horn honks)
Rolling with you
Rolling with you
I'm just rolling with you
Rolling with you
I'm just rolling with you
Rolling with you, just rolling with you
Rolling with you, just rolling with you
Rolling with you, just rolling with you
- [Camille] It was pretty funny.
There was Stacy skating around
and the car wouldn't run.
Stacy didn't say anything,
he didn't have to,
but we were both laughing behind our eyes
like we were looking across
two different worlds at each other,
and I could tell Stacy
wanted out of his too.
Anyway, that's how it happened.
Skateboard meets sports
car, and the skateboard won.
- [Boyfriend] Come on, let's go.
Baby, we don't have all day.
(gentle instrumental music)
- I guess I knew I'd see
him again, but not so soon.
The very next Monday at
school, there he was,
trying to get his homework
done before class.
(gentle music)
Hi.
- Hi, how you doing?
- Oh, pretty good, what you doing?
- Some geometry work.
- [Camille] Stacy loves
bank riding best of all.
The drop is so steep.
He comes down off the
lip with so much speed,
and then he cranks back in to it.
Wow, I could watch him all day.
It's so much like surfing.
Like most California skateboarders,
Stacy started out riding waves.
I guess that's why skateboarding
had to begin here in California.
What do you do when the surf's flat?
(vibrant guitar music)
But then skateboarding turned
into a whole new thing by itself.
It took the wave inland for everybody.
Skateboarding was getting big real fast,
and some of the guys were
already turning professional,
but Stacy was still going to
school and there was his job.
And sure, he didn't like any of it much.
What he really wanted to do was skate,
travel to other places,
but he didn't know how to go about it.
Everybody knew how hot he was though.
He was already Junior
Men's Slalom Champion.
And at the World Contest,
he had beaten everybody, even the pros.
So when the movie people
started looking around
for the right person to do the film,
I guess it was only natural
they heard about Stacy.
- Okay, I just, we were little
kids, me and my friends,
a couple of our older
friends started surfing,
and they started skateboarding as well,
and they got us into skateboarding.
And it was really hot, but after a while,
it got to be sort of a drag.
Skateboarding with those clay wheels,
you could get pretty messed up.
So we were sort of out of it
until the Cadillac Wheel came out
and then we really got into it
pretty heavily skating banks
and you know, they were
good for everything
'cause they grip so well.
And then I was on the Zephyr surf team
and they started a skateboard team.
So everybody was stoked
and I really got into it.
And some friends of mine from an old team
a long time ago taught me all my tricks.
(vibrant guitar music)
- [Camille] Stacy and his friends took
a lot of weekend trips together.
California's such a big place
and there was still deserted beaches
with fantastic waves and no surfers,
empty hills to ride,
spots that you can have all to yourself,
but you've got to go out and find them.
- Hey, Tom.
- Hey.
- [Stacy] Let's go man, ready to go?
Got your junk?
- Yeah.
- [Stacy] Need any help?
You taking this?
- Yeah.
- [Stacy] Where we going?
- Let's go the T bowl first.
- [Stacy] All right.
Is that big giant bowl?
- Yeah.
- Right on, skating safari.
Let's go, let's be on it.
- [Camille] They took a weekend safari
up the coast to San Francisco.
Stacy and two friends
that he rides with a lot,
Kenny Means and Tom Sims.
They stopped off here and
there, wherever it looked good.
(water flows in distance)
- Yeah, it's pretty good.
- Oh, it's cold too.
- Not bad.
- Did we get all those things of water?
Give me the water.
- Hand me your stuff, Tom.
- [Camille] They're really good friends,
but they all ride differently.
Even their equipment's different.
Tom rides a big board,
like the big wave surfers,
and he makes skating look a
lot like riding a big wave.
Kenny's the only guy around
who rides roller skates like this.
His style's really radical.
He's been doing it a long time,
13 years, and he's really hot.
(adventurous music)
- [Stacy] What happened, Tom?
- Well, I hit a rock down there
and it snapped the axle clean.
Even though they're heat-treated axles,
I think it was just too
much, too much torque for it.
But I'll have to stick
a new truck on there,
another stick.
(spirited piano music)
- [Camille] The further
you go up the coast
away from LA, the more
beautiful the countryside gets.
(adventurous music)
Feels so good to be on the road
Not a care anywhere too slow me down
- [Tom] I guess the main reason I ride
a longer board is 'cause I've always lived
in really hilly areas
with lots of mountains,
back in New England and
now in Santa Barbara.
And so I ride a longer board
so I can maintain
control at higher speeds.
Alive, alive
Alive, alive
There's no place that I'd rather be
It's all so clear when
I'm here, no city streets
Just the greens and
yellows of summertime
I've got my friends
here to keep me in line
It makes me feel free and alive
- [Camille] A friend of Tom's owned
a private ranch further up north.
It's a genuine California paradise,
long rolling hills right down to the sea.
They knew they'd have it all to themselves
without any cars, the perfect place
to get in some high speed runs.
(adventurous music)
- [Kenny] I guess I've
gone over 50 miles an hour.
It's sorta scary, but with my feet apart,
I got more control than a skateboard.
The only thing is if something goes wrong,
I can't jump off.
- [Tom] When you get going over 50,
that longer board really
feels nice and stable
and you can concentrate more on the wind
hitting your face and the scenery going by
than worrying about the
front truck slaloming.
It's a peaceful
feeling being on the road
Never knowing where I'm
going till I get there
Always running where
I'm going till I get there
Always living today
It makes me feel free
- [Camille] They started off
towards San Francisco again,
but they only got a
few miles down the road
when they saw them, just
what they were looking for,
perfect waves and nobody out.
Tom, Kenny, and Stacy,
they were really stoked.
The waves were really pumping through.
They watched a few and decided to go out,
but Stacy suddenly realized
he had forgotten his wet suit.
The water was so cold, 45
degrees, and he couldn't go out.
Alive, alive
Alive, alive
Got the sun on my shoulders
I got the wind on my side
Feels like I could fly on forever
When I take you out on a ride
And down the road
it's a beautiful feeling
The day's still so new
Oh, watch me shine, I feel so fine
Just rolling with you
Got a job in the city
Well, it's so dull it's a crime
- [Stacy] Hey Kenny, let
me use your wet suit.
- [Camille] The sun was almost going down.
Just time for one more wave.
And then it came, the best wave
of the day and Stacy got it.
Day or night I feel all right
Just rolling with you
Everybody's so busy traveling
All that I haven't done
I just want to roll on forever
On the road in the sun
- [Camille] Tom and Stacy
didn't stay out very long.
Even with wet suits,
the water was freezing
and they took off skating
to get warmed up again.
I think we can ride on together
And nothing's gonna come in between
Looking down the road
it's a beautiful feeling
The day is still so new
Oh, watch me shine, I feel so fine
Just rolling with you
Rolling with you, just a rolling
Rolling with you, just a rolling
Rolling with you, just a rolling
Rolling with you, just a rolling
- [Camille] Early next morning, off again,
and by noon they got to San Francisco.
The first thing they did was skate down
to have a look at the
famous Golden Gate Bridge.
(playful instrumental music)
San Francisco's built on steep
hills surrounding the bay.
But off Lombard Street, the
grade was almost too much.
(eclectic jazz music)
People really seem fascinated
by the explorers from the south land.
They couldn't believe Tom and his jumps.
(crowd exclaims amazement)
It's a long way back up hill,
so they rode the cable cars.
And the drivers let them ride
for free with their skateboards.
(uptempo jazz music)
Exploring the city, they
found this old marble palace,
really beautiful.
The marble floors were so
smooth to skate on, like ice.
They roared down the corridors
and their wheels echoed.
It was weird though, like skating in
an old Greek tomb or something,
with statues everywhere.
- Oh, I don't know, it's frightening.
I used to be a good skier
and a good surfer, and good everything,
but now that I'm older, I'm a scared shit.
I don't know why I lost my courage.
- Put your foot on there and take off.
- All right, hold me.
- I'll hold you, okay.
- Okay, okay!
(crowd cheers)
Yeah, I love it!
- [Camille] The city,
really beautiful at night.
They rode the subways and
skated around into Chinatown.
(eclectic blues music)
While Stacy and the guys were
up exploring San Francisco,
I went to a contest in Laguna Beach.
This feeling's unreal
Got to feeling my skateboard and fly
Got a new set of wheels
And you know that riding gets me high
Baby, cruising's so
hot here in the summer
It's a skateboarder's dream coming true
I'm loving the feeling freewheelin'
Now baby, with you
And we'll take and we'll drive
Take a look from the top of this hill
It's a beautiful ride down the side
If you don't take a spill
Oh, but we're gonna fly
Down side and back side
My board's gonna carry us through
'Cause I'm loving that feeling
Freewheelin' now baby with you
Love the feeling baby
We're freewheelin'
- [Camille] Roller skaters couldn't really
skate the streets before,
but the new urethane wheel opens up
a whole new world of
outdoor roller skating.
It's just a beginning.
With that weird stance of his,
Kenny has a lot of stability
and he can slow himself down with 360s.
At high speeds, he really does have
better control than the skateboarders.
It's like he's got
wheels right on his feet.
(adventurous rock music)
- I got into it about, oh a year ago,
and some of my neighbors
started skateboarding
down at the school.
They told me just take my
skateboard down there with 'em,
so I went down and I
could ride it all right
and it was really fun,
but I just started thinking
if I could ride skates on the hill.
And I took it down one day
and I tried it and it
worked, and I don't know,
I was just kinda stumbling
around a little bit.
And it took me about four months
until I started really getting
to where I'm getting better,
till I started traveling
around to other places.
(adventurous rock music)
My balance like, it's different.
The top of my body from about the waist up
is mostly leaning forward,
like I don't know it feels
kinda like a front side
bottom turn in a way.
It gets different all the time,
but the top wave, see it's just like,
and it's a lot like surfing.
(lively music)
- [Camille] Stacy finally
got back from San Francisco.
It seemed like he had been gone forever.
After that we stuck pretty close together,
like we were both on the same wave
and we were riding it together.
Got the sun on my shoulders
I got the wind on my side
Feels like I could fly on forever
When I take you out on a ride
And down the road
it's a beautiful feeling
The day is still so new
Oh, watch me shine, I feel so fine
Just rolling with you
- Let's start it, it's
gonna start at 15 after,
15 after one and it's five
after right now, 10 minutes.
- [Stacy] What's gonna be
the giant slalom that's off?
- The giant slalom, the cones are,
the slalom is gonna be just a bang out,
bam, bam, bam, real tight
cones, maybe four feet away.
This thing is just real long turns.
It requires a different board,
sometimes different wheels and stuff.
On your mark, get set, go.
- [Camille] Every Sunday,
there's a skateboard
contest at La Costa.
The skaters organize
it themselves for fun.
First, the giant slalom and
then the straight cone course.
- [Man] All right, all right.
- 24.2 for Vince Turner.
(spirited music)
(crowd cheers)
- [Camille] Stacy's slalom
style is really different.
It's all in the way he shifts his weight
back and forth on the ball
of his rear foot for control.
He cuts closer to the cones than anyone.
In the giant slalom, Stacy had
the fastest time of the day.
But just by knocking over one cone,
the corrected time put
him back to third place.
- Man, I got so messed up on that.
- You got to start pumping in the middle.
I haven't been doing it either.
You could pump this course--
- Man, the wheel just
goes (imitates laboring).
- I know it.
Wait till you see Danny.
- [Camille] Danny Trailer
won the giant slalom,
skating really smooth
and without knocking over
a single cone.
- [Henry] That's it, right
there, pump it, pump it.
He did it, good time right there.
I'm afraid to start down.
I got no amount.
(adventurous rock music)
- [Walkie Talkie Voiceover]
The two best scores
of the third run for Stacy Peralta at 20,
I'm sorry, he got back
in second with a 23.3,
and first was Danny Trailer with a 23.1.
- [Walkie Talkie Voiceover]
Well, we only three runs,
a second run of three for Danny Trailer.
Okay, you wave your hand.
Danny?
- [Line Judge] Racer ready.
On your mark, get set, go.
(adventurous rock music)
- Oh, he's got it.
(crowd cheers)
It's pretty neat, I'm just waiting
for the straight cone slalom
so I can just start gyrating.
- [Interviewer] What's gyrating?
- Just pumping your board fast.
And that's really the main
thing I'm looking for.
This is sorta gnarly.
You can't really get the good grip
with any kind of wheels.
- Get set, go.
(spirited music)
(crowd applauds and cheers)
- [Bobby] What was that time, please?
- [Walkie Talkie
Voiceover] 23.1, that's it.
- 23.1, who's up?
- [Interviewer] How'd
you get into gyrating?
How'd you figure that out?
- Just when I started skateboarding.
That's all I knew is
like me and my friends
used to skate these banks
and I was like the first one
that could make it to the top of the bank
by throwing and shifting my weight.
And it worked and so I
just started doing that
on the ground in front of my house.
I played like this wall was a wave
and I would just like gyrate below it
and then cut back into this driveway
and do the full burdle-man.
And just keep doing it
and it got me so I can know how
to pump my skateboard really far
and get a lotta speed just on flat ground.
- The top five guys are gonna take
three runs in the final.
- [Walkie Talkie Voiceover] Henry?
- [Henry] Yeah?
- [Walkie Talkie Voiceover]
How many seconds do we
take off for a knock over of cone?
- On this course it's a 10th
of a second, one little notch.
- Are you ready, racer?
On your mark, get set, go.
- [Camille] The straight
cone slalom is even faster.
The cones are so close together,
there's no time at all
for conscious control.
It's all reflex.
You get a rhythm going
and if it's just right,
you make it without
knocking over any cones.
(vibrant harmonica music)
Bobby's a professional skier.
A lot of skiers are
getting into skateboarding,
but Bobby's one of the first.
He's got a totally different style.
The other guys are surfers mostly
and they skate with their
feet spread further apart,
the surfing stance.
But Bobby skates like a skier
with his feet together and parallel.
(lively harmonica music)
- All right, yeah!
Woo hoo, okay, here we go, man.
- [Walkie Talkie Voiceover]
Yeah, 7.2 for Tom Ryan.
- Without checking him through.
- I am ready.
Okay.
(crowd cheers)
- Time, seven, one, ow-hoo!
Seven, one, man, unreal.
- [Interviewer] What'd you win, man?
- A big bundle.
- [Interviewer] Let's see the money, man.
Hey man, this way.
(crowd cheers)
- For you.
- All right, we did it last week,
but hey, it was a good race.
It was real tight, but we
know it was all right, right?
- I was watching our styles and it's like,
we're into a totally
different trip in a way
'cause like I'm sorta like,
and with gyrating, you can
like almost pump up a hill.
But he's quicker in a tight cone thing,
'cause he can just go (imitates vibrating)
and I'm more of getting the power.
See like in a down hill,
you know what I mean?
- Exactly what you mean.
- In a down hill you can just shoot.
And in a flat, I can pick up speed
'cause it's you know, it's
pumping, and you're shooting.
How do you get your rhythm
and your body moving
in the direction, like at La Costa,
you were just parallel and
just going, boom, boom, boom.
You were going so fast,
I couldn't get over it.
- The only way you can
make a course that tight,
at that kind of a speed,
is to have total concentration
and you're watching
absolutely in front of you.
And if you're watching that
far ahead at the course,
you can adjust much faster
with a parallel stance.
You have both feet
working much more together
and counter punching from
stepping to one to the other one.
- [Stacy] You mean
you're moving your feet?
- [Bobby] Actually you're un-weighting
from one to the other one,
just like you'd be
doing if you were skiing
a powder bowl, riding parallel
is identical to skiing.
It's really a summer skiing.
- [Camille] Watching Bobby
skiing the slalom course
was really neat, just like his skating.
(lively jazz music)
This guy on a single ski would have made
a good skateboarder,
he really had it down.
Skiers are really getting out there,
free-falling, doing incredible things,
but they're not the only ones.
Soaring, hang-gliding,
surfing, skateboarding,
they're all really getting out there.
It's a new age, the space age.
Equipment keeps getting
better all the time
and the barriers get pushed
back further and further.
There's a new freedom
and that's what all these
sports have in common.
They're completely natural, no motors.
The force of gravity is all you've got
and that's what it comes
down to, controlled falling.
(lively jazz music)
And the new equipment,
especially in skateboarding,
has less drag, less friction,
so you go faster and faster,
until you're weightless, you're free.
(dramatic percussion music)
The freestyle was like a ballet,
another direction for skating.
(spirited percussion music)
(lively jazz music)
(adventurous rock music)
Down at the lake, they were ice boarding.
It reminded me a lot of skate
sailing down at Bay Street.
On windy days, they really get up speed,
up to 30 miles an hour tacking
across the parking lots.
(spirited music)
Stacy took the movie crew down
to a local skateboard factory
to see how the boards were made.
- [Interviewer] Why is the skateboarding
suddenly reemerging,
the wheels are rolling?
- Well, 99% of the reason is the wheels.
I mean there's no two ways about it.
If the urethane wheel
hadn't been developed
and hadn't been put on a skateboard,
you know we'd be riding the
same type of skateboards
that we rode 10 years ago.
And obviously that wasn't
what people wanted.
- All I can take claim to is introducing
the urethane wheel to skateboarders.
Urethane wheels developed
10 or 15 years ago
for use in roller rinks on rental skates,
and for that reason that the people
that were making 'em never had
the conception to
introduce to skateboarding.
I think that they didn't
realize the market potential
and they didn't realize the interest
that was always there for the sport.
I just happened to go with friends
to a place that wheels,
where roller rinks were being made.
And after talking to the
manufacturer for a little bit,
decided that when I was financially ready,
I'd try to introduce the
wheel to skateboarders.
Once past the novice
stage of roller skating,
you desire a speed rather than control.
The wheels are being made
hard so they would roll fast,
whereas the skateboarder
controls the speed
by how long he goes
straight down a hill, say,
and therefore the hardness
was not necessary for speed,
but by softening the wheel up,
I gave the skateboarder what he lacked
with the old composition
wheels which was traction.
- Stace, dinner's almost ready.
- [Stacy] Okay.
- Hey, what about the homework?
- Oh, that's almost done.
I'm sick of that stuff.
It's really, doesn't make sense.
I don't know, I wanna do something else.
I don't like school that much.
I'm beginning to, shoot,
what's the matter with being
a professional skateboarder
or something, you know?
There's other guys that have done it.
Thought I'd try something like that.
- [Camille] Russ Howell is the most
successful skateboard pro.
He won five out of the first
eight contests this year.
And last year alone, Russ made
over $20,000 skateboarding.
- I started skateboarding in contests
competitively probably in February
when some students of mine
that I was teaching in a local
park, a recreation center,
you know, had pushed me into a contest
and I thought, well wow,
I'm too old for that
'cause I mean after all, at being 26,
you're at the grandpa
level taking Geritol.
So they pushed me in, I won it.
And I was finding that I really was
getting a lot of enjoyment
out of competitive skating.
You meet a lotta great
people and have a good time.
And then the second contest
was the Del Mar Nationals
that Bahne and Cadillac co-sponsored.
I won the first place in
senior men's freestyle there
and then strung out a chain
of five victories in a row.
And out of 12 competitions
I took eight first place.
Probably now I'm the
highest paid skateboarder
and really digging it.
I enjoy competitive skating.
(uptempo jazz music)
I'd let to get it adapted
in to schools systems.
I think it really has a good place
because they tried to teach
snow skiing in school,
but they don't have the facilities.
A lot of schools don't have snow,
so you can teach snow
skiing on skateboards,
you can teach gymnastics,
which really holds the
attention span of young kids,
the surfing style, all kinds of things.
Kids really dig skateboarding.
The kids that I've worked with,
God, they just learn so much
more quickly on a skateboard.
Things that would normally take
a lotta time anywhere else.
I want it put into school classes
when I get to be a PE teacher.
I try to incorporate different styles.
I think that if skateboarding's
going to become recognized as a sport,
we're gonna have to give up
many of our previous conceived
limitations on styling.
And I tried to introduce
a ballet-like gesture
and also a tai chi-type routine.
(rhythmic oriental music)
I think skateboarding is an
individual form of expression.
It can be an art form.
When performed with grace, continuity,
fluidity, whatever the
term you want to choose,
it's something that an individual
can get out and say, hey, this is me,
this is what's inside of me
and now I put it into a
physical expression type thing
and people can say, hey,
look at what he's doing.
You know, this is his makeup,
this is his character.
I can get out, I can do tai chi,
I can do gymnastics, I can do surfing,
snow skiing, whatever the
individual wants to express,
he can do it on a skateboard,
and I think this really,
it benefits him physically,
it benefits him mentally,
and it also benefits him spiritually.
- [Camille] Like all
California skateboarders,
Russ is into surfing.
And one night a really good
surf film came to town.
So of course, he had to see it.
He skated over to pick up his girlfriend.
(adventurous music)
(audience applauds)
(meditative music)
- [Narrator] Our story starts
in the beautiful islands of Hawaii.
Spectacular volcanic peaks contrast
with lush cane and pineapple fields,
providing a scenic paradise
for visiting tourists.
Yet the beauty of tranquil inland valleys
and hidden coves provides only a backdrop
for another group of visitors
who return here each winter.
These surfers have the fluid drive
to answer the challenge
of the biggest and best
surfing waves in the whole world
on the north shores of Hawaii.
(adventurous rock music)
(audience applauds and cheers)
(spirited music)
- [Camille] Most kids skate
just for the fun of it.
But as skateboarding gets bigger,
even some of the younger kids
are turning professional.
Stevie Monahan is the youngest skate.
- Jim Mahoney took me to make a movie
called Kenny and Company.
Producer asked him if I could
go off the back of a car.
Then he asked me and I
said, "I don't know."
I tried it once and I fell.
And then I thought it wasn't that hard,
so I tried it again and I fell.
The third time I made it.
I like to do jumps, off tables and stuff.
And just to win contests 'cause
I think it's pretty radical.
Every time I go to a different contest,
there's different judges and they,
I guess they like it and they
give me high points for it.
- [Camille] Desiree Von
Essen is another pro.
She's on the same
skateboard team with Stevie
and she does a great two board trick
called a double daffy,
better than anybody.
(adventurous instrumental music)
- [Stevie] My favorite
trick's I think going
off the back of a car, it's pretty fun,
or doing off the lips and waves.
When I say waves, I really mean banks.
- [Camille] Stevie's hometown is Ventura,
up the coast from LA.
And the city built the first playground
designed especially for
skateboarding, a skateboard park.
(adventurous music)
(rhythmic suspenseful music)
Skateboarding is more than just a sport.
Like skiing is in some places,
it's also a means of transportation.
Stevie skates to and
from school every day,
so he's got his hometown streets wired.
Stacy took Bobby to the Escondido Bowl.
This was one of the ultimate
rides in skateboarding
and probably the closest to surfing.
But Bobby, the professional skier,
had trouble riding the bowl at first.
His feet together skiing
stance is okay for slalom,
but this was totally different.
He had to change to
Stacy's surfing stance.
Once he learned that, he
was really starting to fly.
(adventurous rock music)
- These guys are just smoking.
This is a whole new aspect of racing.
I think I'm gonna try Stacy's stance in it
with more of a open drawn out,
bowing type trip and a parallel
consistent, look at that!
What an experience.
- This is the best.
- Hey, this is really a
new trip for me, I love it.
It opens up more doors
than I ever imagined.
It's like the first time
you break a mogul field
and you're just bursting
through the moguls going Ooo!
(adventurous rock music)
- This is the hottest thing
I've ridden in so long.
That's like, it's like, (exhales rapidly)
I'm trying to put so much energy
in it 'cause I get so
stoked, I get so anxious,
it's like this is it.
It's like you feed off of it.
And like you can just
throw all your weight
and just feel woo.
And you just hit it and you throw down,
and you throw up, and you
just got so much speed.
It's like in certain
other things I can surf
and like you throw your arm
and you go that direction,
and like your arm goes and then you meet
the direction in which your arm goes.
And you get so much speed off it that way,
you know, weight shifting.
It's just incredible.
(spirited instrumental music)
- [Camille] Where was it?
- Escondido.
There's a thing called the Reservoir
or the bird bath or something.
- Where do they get the names?
- I don't know.
But it sure was a neat place.
He was just learning how to ride it
and he was going crazy.
Look at him.
Wow, those guys get
radical and they're crazy.
- I'd be scared to death.
- They're fun.
That guy was so radical,
I can't even believe it.
- [Camille] As the film went along,
the movie people wanted
us to see the footage.
We were really stoked.
Unbelievably hot, Stacy said he'd never
put so much energy into riding a place.
His stomach got all twisted into knots.
Your wheels hit the tiles.
They're 12 feet up from
the bottom of the pool.
(techno music)
And when your wheels hit,
they make this loud click,
and you're weightless, completely vertical
to the side of the pool.
It's only an instant, but
it seems like forever.
Getting vertical is just about the best.
That weightless feeling,
like you're in orbit.
That's what skateboarding's
getting into now.
- Skateboarding the swimming pool
is a lot like surfing a wave.
Only that the wave is not
moving in a swimming pool.
You have to use your own torque
and ability to pump to get up the wall.
It gets steep rather quick,
so you have to torque off the top
and drop straight down to make it.
(eclectic jazz music)
The first one that I ever hit the tile,
that was about the hardest thing,
the most psychological thing because
every time you feel the tile,
you naturally just want to jump off.
(eclectic jazz music)
- Oh man, it was so tight.
The bowl was so tight,
like you get headaches.
- Really?
- You hit it so, I swear you turn so fast.
It's just, God, and just
when you get up there,
you don't know what, it's
just that you're weightless.
It's really weird, you throw your weight--
- [Tom] Checking at your height or else
you know you won't even make it,
you have to get weightless
to catch your board and come back down.
- [Stacy] The only other thing like it
is this place I went to last
week called the Pipeline.
It's this 15 foot granite pipe
that goes over a quarter of a
mile back into the mountain.
Like just to get there,
you have to cross a 20 foot
deep pit on an old log.
This guy Waldo was really radical.
He got so high, that he got
past the vertical plane.
(uptempo jazz music)
- [Camille] They were
holding the world record
speed runs for the
Guinness Book of Records.
It's so dangerous, only
a few skateboarders
will even attempt it.
A lot of others showed up to watch them.
Guy Grundy is the one who took the record.
The heavy armor's necessary too.
Leather jackets, crash helmets,
and knee and elbow pads and steel boots.
The extra long boards were for stability.
At 50 miles per hour, only one little
mistake and it's all over.
Gary Hitchcock.
(starting gun fires)
(dramatic techno music)
(adventurous music)
(sirens blare)
(starting gun fires)
Guy Grundy set an official world's record
of 50.1 miles per hour.
(rhythmic band music)
Stacy and I met whenever we could.
We went everywhere together,
but I could tell he was getting restless.
Weekend trips weren't enough,
he wanted to skate
more, to surf new spots,
but there was always school
and his job at the
restaurant, that was hopeless.
We talked about it a lot.
He still didn't know what he was gonna do.
But he had to do something,
break free somehow.
I guess we both knew that.
Every free moment, Stacy was skating,
but only the hotspots now.
He was skating harder than ever.
We took a trip back to the Escondido Bowl.
Tom Sims and Mike Weed both
had already turned pro.
They were really radical.
(spirited piano music)
Suddenly, a kid on a bike showed up.
He was really ripping.
Stacy was stoked, he used to ride
a motocross bike when he was younger.
He talked to the kid and found out
they were holding races just
a few miles down the coast.
- [PA Announcer] Your
front wheel must be against
the gate to start the race.
No re-starts, absolutely not.
- First call, pedal drive!
- [Camille] These kids were pretty young,
but really going for it.
It's another incredible sport.
(vibrant rock music)
And they think skateboarding is dangerous.
(adventurous rock music)
- [PA Announcer] Michael Farley,
he's gonna take another flag.
(gentle piano music)
- [Camille] I hadn't even realized it,
but a whole year had gone
by since we'd been together.
Skateboarding was really getting big,
spreading across the country
and around the world.
It was a whole new wave
and Stacy really wanted to ride it.
Word had gotten around
about how good he was,
and he'd gotten offers to
join some of the big teams.
But what he really
wanted to do was travel,
any place where there was
hills and empty beaches.
I saw it wouldn't be long now.
The movie people were
really into skateboarding.
They were so stoked,
they brought in a specially
made camera worth $10,000,
so fast it can stop a
rifle bullet in midair.
They ran it at full
speed to show everything
that's going on in the pool rims.
(hypnotic music)
(phone rings)
- Hello?
- [Operator] Stacy Peralta, please.
Sydney, Australia, calling.
- Yeah, this is him.
- [Operator] Go ahead, please.
- [John] Stacy, this is John Otto
from Golden Bridge
Sportswear in Australia.
How are you doing, mate?
- Oh, hi.
- [John] We've been hearing all sorts
of things about you down here.
So what Golden Bridge would like to do,
is to fly you down here
to Aussie for six months,
do some skateboard exhibitions,
TV interviews, all that sort of thing.
- Unreal, that's so hot.
- [John] The trip is on us.
First class all the way.
You're a bloody pro now.
We've already got you scheduled on telly,
so get here as soon as you can.
- Um, I got a passport.
Let's see, do I need a visa
or something like that?
- [John] Our agents in LA will take care
of everything if you're in.
Tickets, accommodation, everything.
Leave it all to us.
You just sit back and
enjoy the ride, okay mate?
- All right, that's so hot.
- [John] Well, we'll be
waiting for you at the airport.
- All right, hey thank you very much.
Okay, bye.
Woo!
(gentle piano music)
- [Camille] So it finally
happened, Stacy's dream.
And he wasn't too unhappy
telling his boss about it.
- Mr. Clark, I quit.
(gentle rock music)
Hi, I'm going to Australia.
And I'd like to drop all my classes.
- Okay.
- 'Cause I'm gonna be
leaving the country in a week.
- Just fill this card out.
- All right.
Hello.
- [Camille] How are you?
- I'm all right, I just quit school
to go to Australia.
I'm gonna be doing exhibitions
and judging skateboard contests
and showing them the safety stuff
involved in skateboarding.
And I'll be leaving about in a week.
- That soon?
- [Stacy] Yeah, and I'll
be gone for three months.
I'll walk you to your car.
Time's come for us to part
And think of living as it was
Into the future we
must cross, must cross
I'd like to go with you
And I'd like to go with you
You say I'm harder than a wall
A marble chapter about to fall
I love you dearer
than them all, them all
So let me stay with you
So let me stay with you
And as we walked into the day
The sky's blue had turned to gray
I might have not been
clear to say, to say
I never looked away
I never looked away
And though I'm feeling you inside
My life is rolling with the tide
I'd like to see it be an open ride
Along with you
Going along with you
This feeling's unreal
Got to feeling my skateboard and fly
Got a new set of wheels
And you know that riding gets me high
Baby, cruising's so
hot here in the summer
It's a skateboarder's dream coming true
I'm loving the feeling freewheelin'
Now baby, with you
And we'll take and we'll drive
Take a look from the top of this hill
It's a beautiful ride down the side
If you don't take a spill
Oh, but we're gonna fly
Down side and back side
My board's gonna carry us through
'Cause I'm loving the feeling
Freewheelin' now baby with you, you
Love the feeling, baby
We're freewheelin', baby
Love the feeling, baby
We're freewheelin', baby
(spirited music)
- [Camille] Wherever
there's a hill and concrete,
skaters will ride it
till they have it wired.
The speeds are amazing,
up to 50 miles an hour.
They call it freewheelin'.
I got the sun on my shoulders
I got the wind on my side
Feels like I could fly on forever
When I take you out on a ride
Down the road, it's a beautiful feeling
The day is still so new
Oh, watch me shine
I feel so fine
Just rolling with you
- Sometimes when I think about
all the things we did this past year,
it's almost like a dream.
We had so much fun,
but everything went by so quickly,
and there I was watching
Stacy get on the plane,
and I was really happy for him
because he'd finally
gotten what he wanted,
and now he was really on his way.
We really had a lot of fun together,
going places to skateboard and surf
and meeting all the best skateboarders.
I suppose before I met Stacy,
I really didn't know
much about skateboarding.
I just thought it was something
that little kids did,
but you can't be around
Stacy very long before
you learn everything there
is to know about skating.
He'd always be talking about it,
poles, slalom, downhill,
tubes, sun wading, pumping,
and all the freestyle tricks.
I guess by now I know as
much about it as anyone.
It's funny how we met, Stacy and I.
He had this job working in a restaurant,
and every day he'd have to skateboard home
and get dressed real quick for work.
Got a job in the city
Well, it's so dull, it's a crime
How can people look so unhappy
And tell me what to do
- [Camille] He wasn't real happy about it.
Even then, he was looking for a way out,
and I guess I was too.
I was going with an older guy.
He used to take me places,
fancy restaurants and that kind of thing.
- Can we get some water here?
- Sure, here you go.
(restaurant employees chatter)
(gentle instrumental music)
- [Camille] I really didn't
notice him right off,
not until we left,
and then I didn't even dream
I'd ever see him again.
But life's funny that way.
It was the very next day, a Saturday.
We'd gone for a drive in
the hills behind Malibu.
It was really nice to get out of the city.
Suddenly there he was again,
skateboarding with some friends.
I'll take a chance on a dream
I think we can ride on together
Nothing's gonna come in between
Looking down the road
It's a beautiful feeling
The day is still so new
- [Camille] My friend was really mad.
"Damn kids," he said, and I had to laugh
'cause I was one of 'em too.
(car horn honks)
Rolling with you
Rolling with you
I'm just rolling with you
Rolling with you
I'm just rolling with you
Rolling with you, just rolling with you
Rolling with you, just rolling with you
Rolling with you, just rolling with you
- [Camille] It was pretty funny.
There was Stacy skating around
and the car wouldn't run.
Stacy didn't say anything,
he didn't have to,
but we were both laughing behind our eyes
like we were looking across
two different worlds at each other,
and I could tell Stacy
wanted out of his too.
Anyway, that's how it happened.
Skateboard meets sports
car, and the skateboard won.
- [Boyfriend] Come on, let's go.
Baby, we don't have all day.
(gentle instrumental music)
- I guess I knew I'd see
him again, but not so soon.
The very next Monday at
school, there he was,
trying to get his homework
done before class.
(gentle music)
Hi.
- Hi, how you doing?
- Oh, pretty good, what you doing?
- Some geometry work.
- [Camille] Stacy loves
bank riding best of all.
The drop is so steep.
He comes down off the
lip with so much speed,
and then he cranks back in to it.
Wow, I could watch him all day.
It's so much like surfing.
Like most California skateboarders,
Stacy started out riding waves.
I guess that's why skateboarding
had to begin here in California.
What do you do when the surf's flat?
(vibrant guitar music)
But then skateboarding turned
into a whole new thing by itself.
It took the wave inland for everybody.
Skateboarding was getting big real fast,
and some of the guys were
already turning professional,
but Stacy was still going to
school and there was his job.
And sure, he didn't like any of it much.
What he really wanted to do was skate,
travel to other places,
but he didn't know how to go about it.
Everybody knew how hot he was though.
He was already Junior
Men's Slalom Champion.
And at the World Contest,
he had beaten everybody, even the pros.
So when the movie people
started looking around
for the right person to do the film,
I guess it was only natural
they heard about Stacy.
- Okay, I just, we were little
kids, me and my friends,
a couple of our older
friends started surfing,
and they started skateboarding as well,
and they got us into skateboarding.
And it was really hot, but after a while,
it got to be sort of a drag.
Skateboarding with those clay wheels,
you could get pretty messed up.
So we were sort of out of it
until the Cadillac Wheel came out
and then we really got into it
pretty heavily skating banks
and you know, they were
good for everything
'cause they grip so well.
And then I was on the Zephyr surf team
and they started a skateboard team.
So everybody was stoked
and I really got into it.
And some friends of mine from an old team
a long time ago taught me all my tricks.
(vibrant guitar music)
- [Camille] Stacy and his friends took
a lot of weekend trips together.
California's such a big place
and there was still deserted beaches
with fantastic waves and no surfers,
empty hills to ride,
spots that you can have all to yourself,
but you've got to go out and find them.
- Hey, Tom.
- Hey.
- [Stacy] Let's go man, ready to go?
Got your junk?
- Yeah.
- [Stacy] Need any help?
You taking this?
- Yeah.
- [Stacy] Where we going?
- Let's go the T bowl first.
- [Stacy] All right.
Is that big giant bowl?
- Yeah.
- Right on, skating safari.
Let's go, let's be on it.
- [Camille] They took a weekend safari
up the coast to San Francisco.
Stacy and two friends
that he rides with a lot,
Kenny Means and Tom Sims.
They stopped off here and
there, wherever it looked good.
(water flows in distance)
- Yeah, it's pretty good.
- Oh, it's cold too.
- Not bad.
- Did we get all those things of water?
Give me the water.
- Hand me your stuff, Tom.
- [Camille] They're really good friends,
but they all ride differently.
Even their equipment's different.
Tom rides a big board,
like the big wave surfers,
and he makes skating look a
lot like riding a big wave.
Kenny's the only guy around
who rides roller skates like this.
His style's really radical.
He's been doing it a long time,
13 years, and he's really hot.
(adventurous music)
- [Stacy] What happened, Tom?
- Well, I hit a rock down there
and it snapped the axle clean.
Even though they're heat-treated axles,
I think it was just too
much, too much torque for it.
But I'll have to stick
a new truck on there,
another stick.
(spirited piano music)
- [Camille] The further
you go up the coast
away from LA, the more
beautiful the countryside gets.
(adventurous music)
Feels so good to be on the road
Not a care anywhere too slow me down
- [Tom] I guess the main reason I ride
a longer board is 'cause I've always lived
in really hilly areas
with lots of mountains,
back in New England and
now in Santa Barbara.
And so I ride a longer board
so I can maintain
control at higher speeds.
Alive, alive
Alive, alive
There's no place that I'd rather be
It's all so clear when
I'm here, no city streets
Just the greens and
yellows of summertime
I've got my friends
here to keep me in line
It makes me feel free and alive
- [Camille] A friend of Tom's owned
a private ranch further up north.
It's a genuine California paradise,
long rolling hills right down to the sea.
They knew they'd have it all to themselves
without any cars, the perfect place
to get in some high speed runs.
(adventurous music)
- [Kenny] I guess I've
gone over 50 miles an hour.
It's sorta scary, but with my feet apart,
I got more control than a skateboard.
The only thing is if something goes wrong,
I can't jump off.
- [Tom] When you get going over 50,
that longer board really
feels nice and stable
and you can concentrate more on the wind
hitting your face and the scenery going by
than worrying about the
front truck slaloming.
It's a peaceful
feeling being on the road
Never knowing where I'm
going till I get there
Always running where
I'm going till I get there
Always living today
It makes me feel free
- [Camille] They started off
towards San Francisco again,
but they only got a
few miles down the road
when they saw them, just
what they were looking for,
perfect waves and nobody out.
Tom, Kenny, and Stacy,
they were really stoked.
The waves were really pumping through.
They watched a few and decided to go out,
but Stacy suddenly realized
he had forgotten his wet suit.
The water was so cold, 45
degrees, and he couldn't go out.
Alive, alive
Alive, alive
Got the sun on my shoulders
I got the wind on my side
Feels like I could fly on forever
When I take you out on a ride
And down the road
it's a beautiful feeling
The day's still so new
Oh, watch me shine, I feel so fine
Just rolling with you
Got a job in the city
Well, it's so dull it's a crime
- [Stacy] Hey Kenny, let
me use your wet suit.
- [Camille] The sun was almost going down.
Just time for one more wave.
And then it came, the best wave
of the day and Stacy got it.
Day or night I feel all right
Just rolling with you
Everybody's so busy traveling
All that I haven't done
I just want to roll on forever
On the road in the sun
- [Camille] Tom and Stacy
didn't stay out very long.
Even with wet suits,
the water was freezing
and they took off skating
to get warmed up again.
I think we can ride on together
And nothing's gonna come in between
Looking down the road
it's a beautiful feeling
The day is still so new
Oh, watch me shine, I feel so fine
Just rolling with you
Rolling with you, just a rolling
Rolling with you, just a rolling
Rolling with you, just a rolling
Rolling with you, just a rolling
- [Camille] Early next morning, off again,
and by noon they got to San Francisco.
The first thing they did was skate down
to have a look at the
famous Golden Gate Bridge.
(playful instrumental music)
San Francisco's built on steep
hills surrounding the bay.
But off Lombard Street, the
grade was almost too much.
(eclectic jazz music)
People really seem fascinated
by the explorers from the south land.
They couldn't believe Tom and his jumps.
(crowd exclaims amazement)
It's a long way back up hill,
so they rode the cable cars.
And the drivers let them ride
for free with their skateboards.
(uptempo jazz music)
Exploring the city, they
found this old marble palace,
really beautiful.
The marble floors were so
smooth to skate on, like ice.
They roared down the corridors
and their wheels echoed.
It was weird though, like skating in
an old Greek tomb or something,
with statues everywhere.
- Oh, I don't know, it's frightening.
I used to be a good skier
and a good surfer, and good everything,
but now that I'm older, I'm a scared shit.
I don't know why I lost my courage.
- Put your foot on there and take off.
- All right, hold me.
- I'll hold you, okay.
- Okay, okay!
(crowd cheers)
Yeah, I love it!
- [Camille] The city,
really beautiful at night.
They rode the subways and
skated around into Chinatown.
(eclectic blues music)
While Stacy and the guys were
up exploring San Francisco,
I went to a contest in Laguna Beach.
This feeling's unreal
Got to feeling my skateboard and fly
Got a new set of wheels
And you know that riding gets me high
Baby, cruising's so
hot here in the summer
It's a skateboarder's dream coming true
I'm loving the feeling freewheelin'
Now baby, with you
And we'll take and we'll drive
Take a look from the top of this hill
It's a beautiful ride down the side
If you don't take a spill
Oh, but we're gonna fly
Down side and back side
My board's gonna carry us through
'Cause I'm loving that feeling
Freewheelin' now baby with you
Love the feeling baby
We're freewheelin'
- [Camille] Roller skaters couldn't really
skate the streets before,
but the new urethane wheel opens up
a whole new world of
outdoor roller skating.
It's just a beginning.
With that weird stance of his,
Kenny has a lot of stability
and he can slow himself down with 360s.
At high speeds, he really does have
better control than the skateboarders.
It's like he's got
wheels right on his feet.
(adventurous rock music)
- I got into it about, oh a year ago,
and some of my neighbors
started skateboarding
down at the school.
They told me just take my
skateboard down there with 'em,
so I went down and I
could ride it all right
and it was really fun,
but I just started thinking
if I could ride skates on the hill.
And I took it down one day
and I tried it and it
worked, and I don't know,
I was just kinda stumbling
around a little bit.
And it took me about four months
until I started really getting
to where I'm getting better,
till I started traveling
around to other places.
(adventurous rock music)
My balance like, it's different.
The top of my body from about the waist up
is mostly leaning forward,
like I don't know it feels
kinda like a front side
bottom turn in a way.
It gets different all the time,
but the top wave, see it's just like,
and it's a lot like surfing.
(lively music)
- [Camille] Stacy finally
got back from San Francisco.
It seemed like he had been gone forever.
After that we stuck pretty close together,
like we were both on the same wave
and we were riding it together.
Got the sun on my shoulders
I got the wind on my side
Feels like I could fly on forever
When I take you out on a ride
And down the road
it's a beautiful feeling
The day is still so new
Oh, watch me shine, I feel so fine
Just rolling with you
- Let's start it, it's
gonna start at 15 after,
15 after one and it's five
after right now, 10 minutes.
- [Stacy] What's gonna be
the giant slalom that's off?
- The giant slalom, the cones are,
the slalom is gonna be just a bang out,
bam, bam, bam, real tight
cones, maybe four feet away.
This thing is just real long turns.
It requires a different board,
sometimes different wheels and stuff.
On your mark, get set, go.
- [Camille] Every Sunday,
there's a skateboard
contest at La Costa.
The skaters organize
it themselves for fun.
First, the giant slalom and
then the straight cone course.
- [Man] All right, all right.
- 24.2 for Vince Turner.
(spirited music)
(crowd cheers)
- [Camille] Stacy's slalom
style is really different.
It's all in the way he shifts his weight
back and forth on the ball
of his rear foot for control.
He cuts closer to the cones than anyone.
In the giant slalom, Stacy had
the fastest time of the day.
But just by knocking over one cone,
the corrected time put
him back to third place.
- Man, I got so messed up on that.
- You got to start pumping in the middle.
I haven't been doing it either.
You could pump this course--
- Man, the wheel just
goes (imitates laboring).
- I know it.
Wait till you see Danny.
- [Camille] Danny Trailer
won the giant slalom,
skating really smooth
and without knocking over
a single cone.
- [Henry] That's it, right
there, pump it, pump it.
He did it, good time right there.
I'm afraid to start down.
I got no amount.
(adventurous rock music)
- [Walkie Talkie Voiceover]
The two best scores
of the third run for Stacy Peralta at 20,
I'm sorry, he got back
in second with a 23.3,
and first was Danny Trailer with a 23.1.
- [Walkie Talkie Voiceover]
Well, we only three runs,
a second run of three for Danny Trailer.
Okay, you wave your hand.
Danny?
- [Line Judge] Racer ready.
On your mark, get set, go.
(adventurous rock music)
- Oh, he's got it.
(crowd cheers)
It's pretty neat, I'm just waiting
for the straight cone slalom
so I can just start gyrating.
- [Interviewer] What's gyrating?
- Just pumping your board fast.
And that's really the main
thing I'm looking for.
This is sorta gnarly.
You can't really get the good grip
with any kind of wheels.
- Get set, go.
(spirited music)
(crowd applauds and cheers)
- [Bobby] What was that time, please?
- [Walkie Talkie
Voiceover] 23.1, that's it.
- 23.1, who's up?
- [Interviewer] How'd
you get into gyrating?
How'd you figure that out?
- Just when I started skateboarding.
That's all I knew is
like me and my friends
used to skate these banks
and I was like the first one
that could make it to the top of the bank
by throwing and shifting my weight.
And it worked and so I
just started doing that
on the ground in front of my house.
I played like this wall was a wave
and I would just like gyrate below it
and then cut back into this driveway
and do the full burdle-man.
And just keep doing it
and it got me so I can know how
to pump my skateboard really far
and get a lotta speed just on flat ground.
- The top five guys are gonna take
three runs in the final.
- [Walkie Talkie Voiceover] Henry?
- [Henry] Yeah?
- [Walkie Talkie Voiceover]
How many seconds do we
take off for a knock over of cone?
- On this course it's a 10th
of a second, one little notch.
- Are you ready, racer?
On your mark, get set, go.
- [Camille] The straight
cone slalom is even faster.
The cones are so close together,
there's no time at all
for conscious control.
It's all reflex.
You get a rhythm going
and if it's just right,
you make it without
knocking over any cones.
(vibrant harmonica music)
Bobby's a professional skier.
A lot of skiers are
getting into skateboarding,
but Bobby's one of the first.
He's got a totally different style.
The other guys are surfers mostly
and they skate with their
feet spread further apart,
the surfing stance.
But Bobby skates like a skier
with his feet together and parallel.
(lively harmonica music)
- All right, yeah!
Woo hoo, okay, here we go, man.
- [Walkie Talkie Voiceover]
Yeah, 7.2 for Tom Ryan.
- Without checking him through.
- I am ready.
Okay.
(crowd cheers)
- Time, seven, one, ow-hoo!
Seven, one, man, unreal.
- [Interviewer] What'd you win, man?
- A big bundle.
- [Interviewer] Let's see the money, man.
Hey man, this way.
(crowd cheers)
- For you.
- All right, we did it last week,
but hey, it was a good race.
It was real tight, but we
know it was all right, right?
- I was watching our styles and it's like,
we're into a totally
different trip in a way
'cause like I'm sorta like,
and with gyrating, you can
like almost pump up a hill.
But he's quicker in a tight cone thing,
'cause he can just go (imitates vibrating)
and I'm more of getting the power.
See like in a down hill,
you know what I mean?
- Exactly what you mean.
- In a down hill you can just shoot.
And in a flat, I can pick up speed
'cause it's you know, it's
pumping, and you're shooting.
How do you get your rhythm
and your body moving
in the direction, like at La Costa,
you were just parallel and
just going, boom, boom, boom.
You were going so fast,
I couldn't get over it.
- The only way you can
make a course that tight,
at that kind of a speed,
is to have total concentration
and you're watching
absolutely in front of you.
And if you're watching that
far ahead at the course,
you can adjust much faster
with a parallel stance.
You have both feet
working much more together
and counter punching from
stepping to one to the other one.
- [Stacy] You mean
you're moving your feet?
- [Bobby] Actually you're un-weighting
from one to the other one,
just like you'd be
doing if you were skiing
a powder bowl, riding parallel
is identical to skiing.
It's really a summer skiing.
- [Camille] Watching Bobby
skiing the slalom course
was really neat, just like his skating.
(lively jazz music)
This guy on a single ski would have made
a good skateboarder,
he really had it down.
Skiers are really getting out there,
free-falling, doing incredible things,
but they're not the only ones.
Soaring, hang-gliding,
surfing, skateboarding,
they're all really getting out there.
It's a new age, the space age.
Equipment keeps getting
better all the time
and the barriers get pushed
back further and further.
There's a new freedom
and that's what all these
sports have in common.
They're completely natural, no motors.
The force of gravity is all you've got
and that's what it comes
down to, controlled falling.
(lively jazz music)
And the new equipment,
especially in skateboarding,
has less drag, less friction,
so you go faster and faster,
until you're weightless, you're free.
(dramatic percussion music)
The freestyle was like a ballet,
another direction for skating.
(spirited percussion music)
(lively jazz music)
(adventurous rock music)
Down at the lake, they were ice boarding.
It reminded me a lot of skate
sailing down at Bay Street.
On windy days, they really get up speed,
up to 30 miles an hour tacking
across the parking lots.
(spirited music)
Stacy took the movie crew down
to a local skateboard factory
to see how the boards were made.
- [Interviewer] Why is the skateboarding
suddenly reemerging,
the wheels are rolling?
- Well, 99% of the reason is the wheels.
I mean there's no two ways about it.
If the urethane wheel
hadn't been developed
and hadn't been put on a skateboard,
you know we'd be riding the
same type of skateboards
that we rode 10 years ago.
And obviously that wasn't
what people wanted.
- All I can take claim to is introducing
the urethane wheel to skateboarders.
Urethane wheels developed
10 or 15 years ago
for use in roller rinks on rental skates,
and for that reason that the people
that were making 'em never had
the conception to
introduce to skateboarding.
I think that they didn't
realize the market potential
and they didn't realize the interest
that was always there for the sport.
I just happened to go with friends
to a place that wheels,
where roller rinks were being made.
And after talking to the
manufacturer for a little bit,
decided that when I was financially ready,
I'd try to introduce the
wheel to skateboarders.
Once past the novice
stage of roller skating,
you desire a speed rather than control.
The wheels are being made
hard so they would roll fast,
whereas the skateboarder
controls the speed
by how long he goes
straight down a hill, say,
and therefore the hardness
was not necessary for speed,
but by softening the wheel up,
I gave the skateboarder what he lacked
with the old composition
wheels which was traction.
- Stace, dinner's almost ready.
- [Stacy] Okay.
- Hey, what about the homework?
- Oh, that's almost done.
I'm sick of that stuff.
It's really, doesn't make sense.
I don't know, I wanna do something else.
I don't like school that much.
I'm beginning to, shoot,
what's the matter with being
a professional skateboarder
or something, you know?
There's other guys that have done it.
Thought I'd try something like that.
- [Camille] Russ Howell is the most
successful skateboard pro.
He won five out of the first
eight contests this year.
And last year alone, Russ made
over $20,000 skateboarding.
- I started skateboarding in contests
competitively probably in February
when some students of mine
that I was teaching in a local
park, a recreation center,
you know, had pushed me into a contest
and I thought, well wow,
I'm too old for that
'cause I mean after all, at being 26,
you're at the grandpa
level taking Geritol.
So they pushed me in, I won it.
And I was finding that I really was
getting a lot of enjoyment
out of competitive skating.
You meet a lotta great
people and have a good time.
And then the second contest
was the Del Mar Nationals
that Bahne and Cadillac co-sponsored.
I won the first place in
senior men's freestyle there
and then strung out a chain
of five victories in a row.
And out of 12 competitions
I took eight first place.
Probably now I'm the
highest paid skateboarder
and really digging it.
I enjoy competitive skating.
(uptempo jazz music)
I'd let to get it adapted
in to schools systems.
I think it really has a good place
because they tried to teach
snow skiing in school,
but they don't have the facilities.
A lot of schools don't have snow,
so you can teach snow
skiing on skateboards,
you can teach gymnastics,
which really holds the
attention span of young kids,
the surfing style, all kinds of things.
Kids really dig skateboarding.
The kids that I've worked with,
God, they just learn so much
more quickly on a skateboard.
Things that would normally take
a lotta time anywhere else.
I want it put into school classes
when I get to be a PE teacher.
I try to incorporate different styles.
I think that if skateboarding's
going to become recognized as a sport,
we're gonna have to give up
many of our previous conceived
limitations on styling.
And I tried to introduce
a ballet-like gesture
and also a tai chi-type routine.
(rhythmic oriental music)
I think skateboarding is an
individual form of expression.
It can be an art form.
When performed with grace, continuity,
fluidity, whatever the
term you want to choose,
it's something that an individual
can get out and say, hey, this is me,
this is what's inside of me
and now I put it into a
physical expression type thing
and people can say, hey,
look at what he's doing.
You know, this is his makeup,
this is his character.
I can get out, I can do tai chi,
I can do gymnastics, I can do surfing,
snow skiing, whatever the
individual wants to express,
he can do it on a skateboard,
and I think this really,
it benefits him physically,
it benefits him mentally,
and it also benefits him spiritually.
- [Camille] Like all
California skateboarders,
Russ is into surfing.
And one night a really good
surf film came to town.
So of course, he had to see it.
He skated over to pick up his girlfriend.
(adventurous music)
(audience applauds)
(meditative music)
- [Narrator] Our story starts
in the beautiful islands of Hawaii.
Spectacular volcanic peaks contrast
with lush cane and pineapple fields,
providing a scenic paradise
for visiting tourists.
Yet the beauty of tranquil inland valleys
and hidden coves provides only a backdrop
for another group of visitors
who return here each winter.
These surfers have the fluid drive
to answer the challenge
of the biggest and best
surfing waves in the whole world
on the north shores of Hawaii.
(adventurous rock music)
(audience applauds and cheers)
(spirited music)
- [Camille] Most kids skate
just for the fun of it.
But as skateboarding gets bigger,
even some of the younger kids
are turning professional.
Stevie Monahan is the youngest skate.
- Jim Mahoney took me to make a movie
called Kenny and Company.
Producer asked him if I could
go off the back of a car.
Then he asked me and I
said, "I don't know."
I tried it once and I fell.
And then I thought it wasn't that hard,
so I tried it again and I fell.
The third time I made it.
I like to do jumps, off tables and stuff.
And just to win contests 'cause
I think it's pretty radical.
Every time I go to a different contest,
there's different judges and they,
I guess they like it and they
give me high points for it.
- [Camille] Desiree Von
Essen is another pro.
She's on the same
skateboard team with Stevie
and she does a great two board trick
called a double daffy,
better than anybody.
(adventurous instrumental music)
- [Stevie] My favorite
trick's I think going
off the back of a car, it's pretty fun,
or doing off the lips and waves.
When I say waves, I really mean banks.
- [Camille] Stevie's hometown is Ventura,
up the coast from LA.
And the city built the first playground
designed especially for
skateboarding, a skateboard park.
(adventurous music)
(rhythmic suspenseful music)
Skateboarding is more than just a sport.
Like skiing is in some places,
it's also a means of transportation.
Stevie skates to and
from school every day,
so he's got his hometown streets wired.
Stacy took Bobby to the Escondido Bowl.
This was one of the ultimate
rides in skateboarding
and probably the closest to surfing.
But Bobby, the professional skier,
had trouble riding the bowl at first.
His feet together skiing
stance is okay for slalom,
but this was totally different.
He had to change to
Stacy's surfing stance.
Once he learned that, he
was really starting to fly.
(adventurous rock music)
- These guys are just smoking.
This is a whole new aspect of racing.
I think I'm gonna try Stacy's stance in it
with more of a open drawn out,
bowing type trip and a parallel
consistent, look at that!
What an experience.
- This is the best.
- Hey, this is really a
new trip for me, I love it.
It opens up more doors
than I ever imagined.
It's like the first time
you break a mogul field
and you're just bursting
through the moguls going Ooo!
(adventurous rock music)
- This is the hottest thing
I've ridden in so long.
That's like, it's like, (exhales rapidly)
I'm trying to put so much energy
in it 'cause I get so
stoked, I get so anxious,
it's like this is it.
It's like you feed off of it.
And like you can just
throw all your weight
and just feel woo.
And you just hit it and you throw down,
and you throw up, and you
just got so much speed.
It's like in certain
other things I can surf
and like you throw your arm
and you go that direction,
and like your arm goes and then you meet
the direction in which your arm goes.
And you get so much speed off it that way,
you know, weight shifting.
It's just incredible.
(spirited instrumental music)
- [Camille] Where was it?
- Escondido.
There's a thing called the Reservoir
or the bird bath or something.
- Where do they get the names?
- I don't know.
But it sure was a neat place.
He was just learning how to ride it
and he was going crazy.
Look at him.
Wow, those guys get
radical and they're crazy.
- I'd be scared to death.
- They're fun.
That guy was so radical,
I can't even believe it.
- [Camille] As the film went along,
the movie people wanted
us to see the footage.
We were really stoked.
Unbelievably hot, Stacy said he'd never
put so much energy into riding a place.
His stomach got all twisted into knots.
Your wheels hit the tiles.
They're 12 feet up from
the bottom of the pool.
(techno music)
And when your wheels hit,
they make this loud click,
and you're weightless, completely vertical
to the side of the pool.
It's only an instant, but
it seems like forever.
Getting vertical is just about the best.
That weightless feeling,
like you're in orbit.
That's what skateboarding's
getting into now.
- Skateboarding the swimming pool
is a lot like surfing a wave.
Only that the wave is not
moving in a swimming pool.
You have to use your own torque
and ability to pump to get up the wall.
It gets steep rather quick,
so you have to torque off the top
and drop straight down to make it.
(eclectic jazz music)
The first one that I ever hit the tile,
that was about the hardest thing,
the most psychological thing because
every time you feel the tile,
you naturally just want to jump off.
(eclectic jazz music)
- Oh man, it was so tight.
The bowl was so tight,
like you get headaches.
- Really?
- You hit it so, I swear you turn so fast.
It's just, God, and just
when you get up there,
you don't know what, it's
just that you're weightless.
It's really weird, you throw your weight--
- [Tom] Checking at your height or else
you know you won't even make it,
you have to get weightless
to catch your board and come back down.
- [Stacy] The only other thing like it
is this place I went to last
week called the Pipeline.
It's this 15 foot granite pipe
that goes over a quarter of a
mile back into the mountain.
Like just to get there,
you have to cross a 20 foot
deep pit on an old log.
This guy Waldo was really radical.
He got so high, that he got
past the vertical plane.
(uptempo jazz music)
- [Camille] They were
holding the world record
speed runs for the
Guinness Book of Records.
It's so dangerous, only
a few skateboarders
will even attempt it.
A lot of others showed up to watch them.
Guy Grundy is the one who took the record.
The heavy armor's necessary too.
Leather jackets, crash helmets,
and knee and elbow pads and steel boots.
The extra long boards were for stability.
At 50 miles per hour, only one little
mistake and it's all over.
Gary Hitchcock.
(starting gun fires)
(dramatic techno music)
(adventurous music)
(sirens blare)
(starting gun fires)
Guy Grundy set an official world's record
of 50.1 miles per hour.
(rhythmic band music)
Stacy and I met whenever we could.
We went everywhere together,
but I could tell he was getting restless.
Weekend trips weren't enough,
he wanted to skate
more, to surf new spots,
but there was always school
and his job at the
restaurant, that was hopeless.
We talked about it a lot.
He still didn't know what he was gonna do.
But he had to do something,
break free somehow.
I guess we both knew that.
Every free moment, Stacy was skating,
but only the hotspots now.
He was skating harder than ever.
We took a trip back to the Escondido Bowl.
Tom Sims and Mike Weed both
had already turned pro.
They were really radical.
(spirited piano music)
Suddenly, a kid on a bike showed up.
He was really ripping.
Stacy was stoked, he used to ride
a motocross bike when he was younger.
He talked to the kid and found out
they were holding races just
a few miles down the coast.
- [PA Announcer] Your
front wheel must be against
the gate to start the race.
No re-starts, absolutely not.
- First call, pedal drive!
- [Camille] These kids were pretty young,
but really going for it.
It's another incredible sport.
(vibrant rock music)
And they think skateboarding is dangerous.
(adventurous rock music)
- [PA Announcer] Michael Farley,
he's gonna take another flag.
(gentle piano music)
- [Camille] I hadn't even realized it,
but a whole year had gone
by since we'd been together.
Skateboarding was really getting big,
spreading across the country
and around the world.
It was a whole new wave
and Stacy really wanted to ride it.
Word had gotten around
about how good he was,
and he'd gotten offers to
join some of the big teams.
But what he really
wanted to do was travel,
any place where there was
hills and empty beaches.
I saw it wouldn't be long now.
The movie people were
really into skateboarding.
They were so stoked,
they brought in a specially
made camera worth $10,000,
so fast it can stop a
rifle bullet in midair.
They ran it at full
speed to show everything
that's going on in the pool rims.
(hypnotic music)
(phone rings)
- Hello?
- [Operator] Stacy Peralta, please.
Sydney, Australia, calling.
- Yeah, this is him.
- [Operator] Go ahead, please.
- [John] Stacy, this is John Otto
from Golden Bridge
Sportswear in Australia.
How are you doing, mate?
- Oh, hi.
- [John] We've been hearing all sorts
of things about you down here.
So what Golden Bridge would like to do,
is to fly you down here
to Aussie for six months,
do some skateboard exhibitions,
TV interviews, all that sort of thing.
- Unreal, that's so hot.
- [John] The trip is on us.
First class all the way.
You're a bloody pro now.
We've already got you scheduled on telly,
so get here as soon as you can.
- Um, I got a passport.
Let's see, do I need a visa
or something like that?
- [John] Our agents in LA will take care
of everything if you're in.
Tickets, accommodation, everything.
Leave it all to us.
You just sit back and
enjoy the ride, okay mate?
- All right, that's so hot.
- [John] Well, we'll be
waiting for you at the airport.
- All right, hey thank you very much.
Okay, bye.
Woo!
(gentle piano music)
- [Camille] So it finally
happened, Stacy's dream.
And he wasn't too unhappy
telling his boss about it.
- Mr. Clark, I quit.
(gentle rock music)
Hi, I'm going to Australia.
And I'd like to drop all my classes.
- Okay.
- 'Cause I'm gonna be
leaving the country in a week.
- Just fill this card out.
- All right.
Hello.
- [Camille] How are you?
- I'm all right, I just quit school
to go to Australia.
I'm gonna be doing exhibitions
and judging skateboard contests
and showing them the safety stuff
involved in skateboarding.
And I'll be leaving about in a week.
- That soon?
- [Stacy] Yeah, and I'll
be gone for three months.
I'll walk you to your car.
Time's come for us to part
And think of living as it was
Into the future we
must cross, must cross
I'd like to go with you
And I'd like to go with you
You say I'm harder than a wall
A marble chapter about to fall
I love you dearer
than them all, them all
So let me stay with you
So let me stay with you
And as we walked into the day
The sky's blue had turned to gray
I might have not been
clear to say, to say
I never looked away
I never looked away
And though I'm feeling you inside
My life is rolling with the tide
I'd like to see it be an open ride
Along with you
Going along with you
This feeling's unreal
Got to feeling my skateboard and fly
Got a new set of wheels
And you know that riding gets me high
Baby, cruising's so
hot here in the summer
It's a skateboarder's dream coming true
I'm loving the feeling freewheelin'
Now baby, with you
And we'll take and we'll drive
Take a look from the top of this hill
It's a beautiful ride down the side
If you don't take a spill
Oh, but we're gonna fly
Down side and back side
My board's gonna carry us through
'Cause I'm loving the feeling
Freewheelin' now baby with you, you
Love the feeling, baby
We're freewheelin', baby
Love the feeling, baby
We're freewheelin', baby