SnoopyStyle In 1975, Craig Stecyk wrote a series of articles about Zephyr Skateboard Team and an area of California called Dogtown. It's a rundown seedy seaside area where former amusement parks had fallen into ruins. In 1972, Jeff Ho, Skip Engblom, and Craig Stecyk set up a surf shop in Dogtown. They were the rebels of the surfing culture and gathered a group of hungry local kids. Then new wheels allow the kids to skateboard while the waves are down.The style is functional to edgy rock indie. Sean Penn is giving a flat performance as the narrator. The best part of this is watching from people on the inside who were there at the time. It's a fascinating piece of popular culture in a fascinating place. It's an interesting doc for not just surfers and skateboarders.

zepandzap For those of us who are old enough to remember the impact on the sport, &,know of what we speak...these guys re-energized the sport.I'd been f'ing around on a skateboard since I was about 7 or 8.But when I picked up my first issue of Skateboarder mag I was turned on to a whole new way of riding.And these guys were the first wave of vertical/surf style riders. The only thing was that all we had to go on were photos.So we had to figure out how to get to the point of having that one wheel on the coping...and then how to get back down without losing it.We weren't able to see the whole completed move.We never even knew if THEY were really pulling off some of that stuff.To watch this & be able to SEE them riding was still a rush for me LONG after I'd given up riding.In retrospect,it's easy to view them as being bitter.But when you put aside all of the personality issues...These guys did for skating what Zeppelin did for Rock.And you can only fully appreciate that if you were there.For TRUE skate fans...this is a history lesson.

aash-2 My son, an avid skateboarder, sat me down and made me watch this with him. As I love documentaries, it didn't take a whole lot of pressure on his part. The whole amazing story of it all - a bunch of dirt-poor kids drift together and end up creating something revolutionary out of thin air - well, more out of some wood, wheels and lack of waves to surf - it just floored me. It still does. I didn't think I would enjoy it the way I did, nor did I think I would tear up watching Stacey Peralta tear up over the fate of Jay Adams. And just watching Jay Adams himself.....the sheer genius of the kid skating and the shrug of the adult remembering. I watched it again last night for what has to be the 10th time and I still get goosebumps watching him fly down the hill with Jimi Hendrix's "Freedom" playing in the background. And I teared up, again. Not too many movies have the same impact with me after several viewings. Brilliant.

billandkim Actually, I have more a question, than a comment. I loved Z-Boys, and The Lords of Dogtown. Saw Lords first, then the doc, and while I loved the story, I am curious as to why in the movie, Sid was an important character, but in the documentary, he wasn't part of the team, and only merely mentioned as just some kid they knew. Does anyone know the story on that? The story of these boys was amazing. I never experienced the skateboarding craze where I grew up, but my kids have enjoyed it. What I have seen in local skate parks is what these boys had invented. I never knew that. When the film showed the competition, and Z-Boys did their thing, they put to shame the others in competition.