Golden Breed

"Golden Breed Opens at the Beverly Canon," Los Angeles Times

"The Golden Breed" (at the Beverly Canon) is a competently made, informative surfing film that will appeal mainly to aficionados. If it lacks the style and simplicity that made "The Endless Summer" such a phenomenal success, it avoids the cornball antics of "Surfari."

In 87 minutes young filmmaker Dale Davis makes a serious yet entertaining attempt to present the world's finest surfers in action and to describe the various techniques they employ. He also interviewed about half a dozen of the 26 surfing stars seen in the film.

Aware that both surfers and waves, no matter how dramatic in themselves, begin to look pretty much like one another after a while, Davis achieves variety (but not gimmickry) with an array of camera devices, and shows his subjects in other sports, such as skiing, parachuting, and motorcycling. A bright score by Mike Curb helps offset Davis' narrative, which, while admirably comprehensive, tends toward the dry National Geographic vein.

Among those surfers who stand out are the heavy-set, powerful Greg Noll, the versatile Butch Van Artsdalen, obstreperous Mickey Dora and the equally impressive Fred Hemmings and Steve Doyle. In interviews most of them reveal far more interest in the how than in the why of what they're doing. Noll could be speaking for all of them when he says simply "It's the challenge!"