John Milius’s deep-dish surfing pic travels the ‘60s (and beyond) as Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt & Gary Busey compare chiseled chests and life’s disappointments as they ride, ride, ride out their golden youth and stare at what lies ahead. It’s one of those cult films, often out of circulation (because of song rights?), that gains cachet from being unavailable. Not that it’s bad, just less than meets the eye. But oh!, what an eyeful! Especially in buff buds of beachy, blonde, California beefcake. The story may cover more than a decade, but apparently, muscle definition is forever. As the years pass, the three go their semi-separate ways, but manage to circle back for major ocean swells, culminating after Vincent touches bottom; Katt returns from ‘Nam with a little mustache; and man-child Busey turns semi-pro wave hunter, for the mightiest Pacific cresting of their lives. The story stays empty enough so you can fill in your own meanings, and is cleverly organized by seasons on the shore, with pit-stops for fightin’, screwin’, drinkin’, Vietnamin’ and endless self-mythologizin’. What a sentimental lot they all turn out to be.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: These lives weren’t only unfulfilled on screen: Milius with only four features in front of him; Busey, possibly the most talented, long more punchline than actor; Katt fading into inconsequential tv; Vincent’s personal demons derailing his career.
DOUBLE-BILL: Milius’s film was buried by another 1978 film on manly virtues and a threesome unhinged by the ‘60s & Vietnam, Michael Cimino's THE DEER HUNTER. And while WEDNESDAY may not be all it’s cracked up to be, compared to the Cimino . . .
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