BIG WEDNESDAY (1978)

written by John Milius & Dennis Aaberg

directed by John Milius

starring: Jan-Michael Vincent, Gary Busey, and William Katt

"If everybody had an ocean across the USA, then everybody'd be surfin' like Cali-for-ni-a".

Thus spoke The Beach Boys.

Writer/director John Milius' (Dillinger, The Wind and the Lion, and Farewell to the King) third directorial effort is a rite-of-passage/coming-of-age story that tells the tale of three young men, bonded by true friendship and surfing, and of a mythic wave, known as “Big Wednesday”, that comes only once in a generation.  But, in the final analysis, it is a treatise on entering manhood, in the guise of a nostalgic journey back to, and a reflection of, the 1960s.

Jan-Michael Vincent (Defiance, The Mechanic, and White Line Fever) stars as Matt Johnson, the legend of The Point, a popular surfing spot near Malibu, in this unabashedly epic-like, modern day Greek legend.  Along with William Katt (Butch & Sundance: The Early Years and First Love) and Gary Busey (The Buddy Holly Story, Point Break, and Straight Time) as Jack Barlow and Leroy "The Masochist" Smith, respectively, Big Wednesday is the story of their relationship with each other and of their relationship with “Bear”, a former champion surfer and their mentor, who now designs/shapes boards for them. 

Throughout the course of the film, Bear watches over Matt, Jack, and Leroy, dispensing words of wisdom and presaging the day when the "big wave” will come - the day that they can draw the line and distinguish themselves from other surfers and, more importantly, from other men.

Told by an unseen narrator, in a series of "chapters", which are introduced by a "swell" - the benchmark of each era, he wistfully chronicles the film's 12-year story.

Beginning in 1962, with the South Swell, Matt, Jack, and Leroy have graduated from high school and have no future plans other than partying and surfing.  On a weekend trip down to Tijuana, Mexico, Matt learns that his girlfriend is pregnant and realizes that his future has been decided for him. 

1965 is introduced by the North Swell, and with the war in Vietnam in full swing -- a defining moment in their generation and a defining moment within the film -- Matt, Jack, and Leroy receive their induction notices.  And while, Matt and Leroy do their damnedest to avoid the draft, Jack enlists and proudly dons the uniform of the Green Berets.

Finally, in 1968, introduced by the West Swell, Jack returns from the war and attempts to rejoin the life and friends he left behind, but true to the words of Thomas Mann, he can never really go home again.  It’s not so much that his world has changed, but rather, his friends have changed and, ultimately, Jack has changed. 

During these six years they weather personal crises and suffer through the loss of friends and the loss of the their way.  Matt, Jack, and Leroy meet one last time to honor the memory of their friend who died in the war -- and go their separate ways.

The film ends in 1974, with the Great Swell (the “Big Wednesday”), the wave that Bear had prophesied would be coming since 1950. And under the watchful eye of their former mentor, Matt, Jack, and Leroy reunite at The Point and fulfill their destiny.

With an equally epic-like score by Basil Poledouris, and homages to the westerns of both John Ford and Sam Peckinpah, John Milius, who has a cameo as a Tijuana barker offering to sell our heroes some "reefer", has created an accurate recreation of -- complete with Hot Rods and "Woodies" -- and a sentimental tribute to, his own youth and to the way of the warrior.

“Catch a wave and you're sitting on top of the world”.

[originally published in VMag - June 1998]