Big Wednesday
- Director: John Milius
- Writer: John Milius; Dennis Aaberg
- Producer: Tamara Asseyev; Buzz Feitshans
CGiii Comment
The surfers' life - tans, muscles and floppy blonde hair.
This is an interesting film for the genre and time - entertaining for some, offensive to the overly sensitive.
The whole idea of pretending to be gay in order to avoid the draft has been done - frequently - but, in the macho-world of the surfer - it does present a refreshingly new perspective - or is that just California?
Definitely one for the curious.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Matt Johnson, Jack Barlow, and Leroy Smith are three young California surfers in the 1960s. At first reveling in the carefree life of beaches, girls, and waves, they eventually must face the fact that the world is changing, becoming more complex, less answerable by simple solutions. Ultimately the Vietnam war interrupts their idyll, leaving them to wonder if they will survive until "Big Wednesday," the mythical day when the greatest, cleanest, most transcendent wave of all will come.
Cast & Characters
Jan-Michael Vincent as Matt Johnson;
William Katt as Jack Barlow;
Gary Busey as Leroy Smith;
Patti D'Arbanville as Sally Jacobson;
Lee Purcell as Peggy Gordon;
Sam Melville as Bear;
Darrell Fetty as Jim 'Waxer' King;
Gerry Lopez as Himself;
Hank Worden as 'Shopping Cart';
Joe Spinell as Army Psychologist;
Steve Kanaly as Jacobson - Sally's Husband;
Barbara Hale as Mrs. Barlow;
Fran Ryan as Lucy;
Dennis Aaberg as Slick;
Reb Brown as Enforcer