Christy by Request — Big Wednesday

My father moved to Los Angeles from the Bronx in 1965. He was 23, and enraptured by the romantic notion of surf culture his beloved Beach Boys personified at their early peak. He and my mom were living in a little apartment a block from the sand in the low-key beach town of Playa del Rey when they married in 1969 and had me three years later.

“Big Wednesday” depicts the lifestyle that lured my dad across the country in vivid, vibrant ways. I don’t know whether he ever saw it — even though he saw a million movies in his lifetime and was a major influence on the career path I’d eventually take — but I can imagine he would have loved it. I’d never seen it myself before it came up as this week’s random Christy by Request pick, the suggestion of Twitter follower @Darb_Relsek (which I’m assuming is Brad Kesler spelled backward …?) in North Carolina. But now, I’m so glad I did. It made me nostalgic — in all the best ways — for a time I never even knew myself.

Director John Milius’ 1978 film is obviously extremely personal; it was inspired by his own experiences surfing in Malibu with his friends in the evolving and volatile America of the 1960s. The affection he has for these characters and the intimate way he and co-writer Dennis Aaberg (a journalist and fellow surfer) portray them are clear from the very start. It didn’t get great reviews when it came out, which must have stung. But looking back at the strong, young cast, the evocative sense of time and place and the thrilling ocean imagery, “Big Wednesday” certainly deserves a spot among the pantheon of classic surfing films like “Point Break,” “The Endless Summer” and “Step Into Liquid.”

Spanning from 1962 to 1974, “Big Wednesday” follows three friends as they surf, party and eventually settle down within a tumultuous period in our nation’s history. Jan-Michael Vincent stars as Matt Johnson, a troubled but legendary surfer among the locals at Malibu’s Surfrider Beach. Gary Busey is Leroy Smith, the charismatic Oklahoman who goes by the nickname “Masochist.” And a pre-“Greatest American Hero” William Katt plays Jack Barlow, the baby-faced good guy.

Robert Englund — who would go on to become a legend in his own right as Freddy Krueger — sets the tone for us as our narrator, describing the insularity and intense camaraderie of this crew: “My friends and I would sleep in our cars, and the smell of the offshore wind would often wake us.” It sounds like paradise, but we know it can’t last. It also seems a lot more peaceful than the movies Milius would become known for in the ’80s, “Conan the Barbarian” and “Red Dawn.”

Working with cinematographer Bruce Surtees, who collaborated frequently with Clint Eastwood, Milius immerses us in the natural beauty and easy vibes of early-’60s beach culture: the waves, the hammocks and bonfires, the deep orange sunsets and the moonlight on the pier. These guys are rebels who live by their own code and don’t want to conform to societal expectations, from starting a food fight for the hell of it at their favorite diner to trashing Jack’s house when a group of random guys crash their party. Their big kahuna is Bear (Sam Melville), a veteran surfer turned board maker who has maintained his chill demeanor after all these years.

The soundtrack of wall-to-wall hits from the era — ranging from Ray Charles to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons to The Shirelles — adds to the movie’s immersive mood. But change is on the horizon. The pier is being torn down. Jack gets drafted. Matt’s kinda-sorta girlfriend Peggy (Lee Purcell) announces she’s pregnant — during a road trip to Tijuana, while holding a cigarette and sipping on a can of Olympia beer. As for Matt himself, it’s clear that his drinking has become a serious problem. We are witnessing the last blast of carefree fun before the Vietnam War upends everything for these guys and their friends, which Milius doesn’t oversimplify.

“Big Wednesday” sags a bit in the middle as Matt, Leroy and Jack go their separate ways and struggle to achieve some sense of stability. Even their favorite roadside diner, where they’d head for burgers and Cokes after a long day of riding waves, has turned into a hippie-centric vegetarian cafe with incense on the tables and a Jimi Hendrix poster on the wall. Depicting their loss of innocence against the backdrop of a similar national disillusionment injects some realism into the film’s reverie, but it also saps much of its energy and momentum.

But “The Great Swell” in the spring of 1974 reunites the three friends and allows them to relive the joy of their youth. The 15-foot waves on that Wednesday of the film’s title offer glory but also tremendous danger. Most people know well enough to stay out of them, as evidenced by the starkly dramatic shots of surfers and onlookers standing at the edge of the bluff above Surfrider Beach, staring in awe at the water’s power. Broken boards wash ashore. Rescue helicopters pluck stranded surfers from the water. Milius wisely relies on the rhythm and roar of the pounding surf to create a musicality and put us in the midst of the fury.

One of the film’s poignant final shots — of the three friends walking with their arms around each other — echoes an image from their happier days at the start. They’ve gone on a journey, and we’ve joined them every step of the way.