Other Titles • Lords of Dogtown (2005) • American Knights
Synopses for Lords of Dogtown (2005)
1.
The tough, gritty streets of “Dogtown” in Venice, California didn’t look like much to outsiders, but to a handful of teenage surfers (Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva and Jay Adams) in the 1970s they were the hard, winding, sloping inspiration for a revolutionary style of skateboarding. Transferring the aggressive wave-riding moves to concrete from their death-defying surfing skills at the Pacific Ocean Park pier, the Z-Boys – mostly kids with rough home lives and rougher attitudes – became sensations, local legends. They were freestyle wizards on urethane wheels, turning empty pools into arenas of wild, beautiful athleticism, the genesis of today’s “extreme sports.” Skating competitions didn’t know what to make of them, girls threw themselves at them, and suddenly marketers and promoters wanted to grab a piece of them and what was fast becoming a worldwide counterculture phenomenon. But would the friendships of this tightly knit group last as a teenage pastime turned into big business, and energetic personalities became out-of-control celebrities?
(18 votes)
2.
Anyone who grew up in Southern California will talk with both nostalgia and frustration about the periodic summers of drought in which the oppressive heat is exacerbated by a shortage of its antidote--fresh water. In 1975, a clan of scruffy, rebellious teens found a way to turn this dearth to their advantage, using the sloping bowl of empty suburban swimming pools to create a new underground sport--skateboarding. The development, explosion, and corporate co-opting of this now ubiquitous sport was the subject of Stacy Peralta's acclaimed 2002 documentary, DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS. Peralta, one of the original skaters who came to be known as the "Z-Boys," has penned this dramatized account of his own story, a kinetic and gripping tale with dramatic turns reflective of the extreme crests and falls of those concrete waves.
When a shipment of polyurethane wheels arrives at Venice Beach's Zephyr surf shop, the proprietor, Skip (Heath Ledger), puts together a team of roughly a dozen local layabouts to try his new idea. At lightning speed, the three most talented become international stars, infusing sexuality, danger, and punk rock into a sport formerly associated with kneesocks and lite pop. LORDS OF DOGTOWN principally follows these three as they deal with sudden fame and fortune. Stacy (John Robinson) is the elegant, responsible beauty. Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk) is a frizzy-haired heartthrob with an overblown ego and penchant for pugilism. And Jay (Emile Hirsch), arguably the most compelling of the leads, supports his drug-addicted mother and is too cynical to be lured by the temptations of corporate vultures. Director Catherine Hardwicke, who fused gritty documentary techniques and high teen drama to great acclaim in her first feature, THIRTEEN, perfects that style here. The combination of a pulsating punk rock soundtrack, dynamic skateboarding sequences, and a gripping narrative combine in a forceful sweep that keeps viewers glued to the screen.
(15 votes)
3.
Lords of Dogtown captures the sheer kinetic joy of skateboarding like no other movie (except, perhaps, Dogtown and Z Boys, a documentary about the very skateboarders this movie depicts). Set in the mid-1970s in Venice, CA--a.k.a. Dogtown--the movie starts with three young aspiring surfers turned skateboarders: Stacy (John Robinson, Elephant), Jay (Emile Hirsch, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys), and Tony (Victor Rasuk, Raising Victor Vargas). When alpha-stoner Skip (Heath Ledger, A Knight's Tale) recognizes the potential of skateboarding as a new sport, his surf shop becomes the center of the boys' universe. They swiftly rise as skateboarding stars and find their brotherhood threatened by sex, money, fame, and ego--it's a common enough story, but director Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen) has a gift for capturing the raw messiness of life. Lords of Dogtown seems to unfold haphazardly, yet every scene moves the increasingly dizzy rise (or fall) of each skater forward with headlong momentum. The excellent cast includes Rebecca De Mornay (Risky Business), Johnny Knoxville (Jackass: The Movie), and Nikki Reed (Thirteen). Lords of Dogtown, written by skater Stacy Peralta (and based on his own life), both celebrates the excitement of testosterone-fueled recklessness and quietly reflects on the cost of getting what you want. --Bret Fetzer
(14 votes)
4.
Two Hit Movies. One Low Price.Lords Of Dogtown: Unrated Extended Cut Lords Of Dogtown tells the radical true story behind three teenage surfers from Venice Beach, California, who took skateboarding to the extreme and changed the world of sports forever.
Dogtown & Z-Boys: Deluxe Edition Meet the Z-Boys - a group of brash street kids form Venice, California's though Dogtown neighborhood, who revolutionized skateboarding with an aggressive in-your-face style that shredded the competition and totally influenced today's extreme sports.
Narrated by Sean Penn and featuring old-school skating footage, a blistering soundtrack and riveting interviews with skateboarding icons Tony Alva, Jay Adams and Tony Hawk, this award-winning documentary is an historic, no-holds-barred, behind-the-scenes look at the birth of a cultural phenomenon, and the inspiration for the thrilling feature film Lords Of Dogtown.
(14 votes)
5.
Based On The True Story Of The Legendary Z-BoysLords Of Dogtown tells the radical true story behind three teenage surfers from Venice Beach, California, who took skateboarding to the extreme and changed the world of sports forever.
(13 votes)
Mooviees.com is not the official site for this film.
All editorial views and opinions expressed here are for entertainment purposes only.
Movie Database
In Theaters
