Bustin' Down the Door

Narrated by actor Edward Norton, Bustin' Down the Door is an irresistible combination of fairly obscure ’70s surf culture neo-history manned by heroes from the earliest days and some of the most breathtaking film footage of these extraordinary men (mostly) taming the ocean with not much more than short-shorts and fiberglass boards. It is also the story of how a group of expatriate surfers from Australia and South Africa conquered the waves of the infamous North Shore of Hawaii with reckless abandon and the long-awaited recognition of their groundbreaking accomplishments. The raw box office returns here will be slight. This is a fan film that most will find on DVD.

Which is a shame, given the nature of much of this material. It ranges in medium from Super-8 to 35mm film and includes of some of the most extraordinary surf footage seen since Bruce Brown’s early Endless Summer films. In addition to the surfing, we also have the stories of Wayne “Rabbit” Barthololmew, Peter Townend, Mark Richards, Ian Cairns and Shaun and Michal Tomson, along with a number of present-day surfing icons who pay homage to these forefathers of the sport, all of which is fairly interesting, even if one has never heard any of them (which was the case with this critic). Apparently, surfing communities are exclusive, even closed, and the local wave masters of the North Shore did not immediately embrace the sudden appearance of several brash young surfers from the other side of the world.

Surfers, however, are nothing if not respectful of talent, and these interlopers were talented, as evidenced by the many titles they took in those heady days. What they did not take away from the sport is a great deal of money or worldwide fame. This film may go some small way toward addressing at least one of those discrepancies.

Distributor: Screen Media
Cast: Edward Norton, Wayne “Rabbit” Barthololmew, Peter Townend, Mark Richards, Ian Cairns, Shaun Tomson and Michal Tomson
Director: Jeremy Gosch
Screenwriters: Jeremy Gosch, Monika Gosch, Robert Traill and Shaun Tomson
Producers: Monika Gosch, Shaun Tomson and Robert Traill
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 95 mins
Rating: Unrated
Release date: July 25 LA