Big Wednesday

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Scott R @ScottR Nov 25, 2025 A unique film that took on surfer culture and counter Vietnam. However, it lost my interest and felt forced. Saw on TCM. See more

Wayne K @WayneKelso Jul 7, 2025 When we think of John Milius’ films, we tend to think of gung-ho machismo, fervent patriotism or some combination of the 2. But Big Wednesday, one of the biggest financial disappointments of his career, not about any of these things. As a man who loves surfing and who was ineligible for the Vietnam draft himself, it’s easily his most autobiographical. It deals mostly with the theme of male friendship and all the things that come along in life that challenge it. There’s such a strong bond built up between our 3 leads and the emotional moments are given a lot of space to breath, rather than just being cut down for the purposes of moving on as quickly as possible. It’s a film that respects its audience and their need to connect with characters, not undercutting the emotionality of a scene out of a fear that viewers are uncomfortable with it. The climactic surfing scenes goes on a bit long, but the director was so passionate about the sport that he likely would have had it be twice as long if he could. The movie works because its full of people you care about and events that make sense and are dealt with organically. It might have been largely ignored back in its day, but it’s a film I have no problem recommending now. Just make sure you have a few tissues handy. See more

David M @DavidH99 May 5, 2025 Accurately depicts Southern California surfing scene during the 1960s and 1970s. Even the Tijuana trip was an accurate experience, although many surfers continued south to Ensenada, and rural Baja surf spots, bypassing Tijuana. I was a college student in Los Angeles in the mid 1960s, and surfed through the 1970s-80s, so the movie for me depicted the reality of that time. Many of us tried the same tricks to get out of being drafted, and actually made it until the draft lottery in 1969 where if we were assigned a number higher than 190, we were not drafted. It is easy to see that the movie only resonated with the surf culture, specifically the Los Angeles surf scene. Favorite line: "No one surfs forever." See more

Dave S @RT68722908 Nov 3, 2024 Spanning a 12-year period starting in 1962, Big Wednesday is the story of three friends (Gary Busey, Jan-Michael Vincent, William Kaat), all of them surfers and each of them trying to navigate their way from their teen years into early adulthood. Their story is told by bookending life events with surf footage, which turns out to be both a blessing and a curse. Some of the surf footage is spectacular, but the constant montages eventually feel repetitive and suck the narrative flow out of the movie. On the other hand, some of the life events are nicely handled and touchingly nostalgic, but many feel either pointless or idiotic, including a lengthy house party brawl and a moronic attempt to dodge the draft at the induction center. It’s by no means a bad film, but by the time things wrap up you may find that you couldn’t care less about any of the characters or their circumstances. See more

CodyZamboni Z @CodyZamboni Aug 26, 2024 Surprisingly nostalgic and emotional, a tale of friendship, spanning 14 years, bonding around surfing, Lot of solid surf footage, Nice use of Hawaiian music, See more

C.C. R @RT15486748 Mar 31, 2024 Best movie! A classic! See more

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Big Wednesday

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