Surfing
Bustin’ Down the Door - Surfing Movie Review
Recently I had the pleasure of watching Bustin’ Down the Door, directed by Jeremy Gosch. The underlying current in the movie is the story of the development of surfing - the sport - versus surfing - the pastime. Bustin’ Down The Door documents the revolution in surfing that was brought on by Aussie and South African surfers in the mid-70s on Hawaii’s North Shore. The film covers the early days in the winter of 1974, where surfers Shaun Tomson, Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew, Ian Cairns, Mark Richards, Michael Tomson and Peter Townend couldn’t even get invited into the cotests of the day, scrapping it out for three “wildcard” spots at the major contests in Hawaii. They just couldn’t get any respect. But when MR got the chance to surf the wildcard at an event, placing fourth, the doors were opened for MR, Rabbit and Shaun Tomson to compete, and ulitmately was the humble beginnings of the Association of Surfing Professionals, where Rabbit Bartholomew seized upon the idea of surfing as a real sport on equal footing with football, basketball and baseball. That’s not to say the transition was smooth - in fact one could say it was a violent transition, both literally and figuratively. The Aussie and South African surfers, by all accounts, arrived on the North Shore of Hawaii intent on changing the way people surfed. And, by all accounts, they succeeded. Shaun Tomson redefined the way a tube was ridden, and led the backhand assault of Pipeline. Rabbit Bartholomew and Ian Cairns succeeded in shredding - ripping and probably dropping in - on the local Hawaiian surfers, who were not accustomed, nor pleased, to have the surfers from Oz slap them around. Indeed, by the winter of 1976, Rabbit Bartholomew and Ian Cairns were the subject of death threats and scared away from Oahu’s North Shore after Bartholomew wrote a piece of the same name as the film in Surfer magazine which was not well received by the locals.
The film itself is a fantastic odyssey and a blast from surfing’s past, allowing viewers to experience and understand more of surfing’s roots. It is a great complement to Tim Baker’s seminal book on the subject of the same name.
There are some very poignant moments in the film, such as when Rabbit Bartholomew recaps growing up in Australia without much money, and when Shaun Tomson breaks down while discussing life and some of the tragedies he has personally faced. Bustin’ Down the Door is a true surfing oddysey that every surfer needs to buy or rent.
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