The Endless Summer

The Endless Summer is a 1966 American surf documentary film directed, produced, edited and narrated by Bruce Brown. The film follows surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August on a surfing trip around the world. Despite the balmy mediterranean climate of their native California, cold ocean currents make local beaches inhospitable during the winter, without later, modern wetsuits. They travel to the coasts of Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Senegal (Dakar), Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa in a quest for new surf spots while introducing locals to the sport along the way.

The narrative presentation eases from the stiff, formal documentary of the 1950s and early 1960s to a more casual, fun-loving and personal style filled with sly humor, honed from six years of live narration. The film's surf rock soundtrack was provided by The Sandals, and the theme song was written by Gaston Georis and John Blakeley of the Sandals; Theme From "The Endless Summer" has since become one of the best known film themes in the surf movie genre.

In 1994, it was followed by the sequel The Endless Summer II. In 2000, Dana Brown, compiled The Endless Summer Revisited, later directing Step into Liquid, in 2003, documenting tow-in surfing.