North Shore (1987)

This teen adventure surfing drama is really kinda neat. In the film, a teen from Arizona (Matt Adler) travels to the islands of Hawaii to surf some big waves. He is robbed the minute he steps off the plane and has to fight off prejudice from the locals as well as some former mainlander who now think they are locals including John Philbin as "Turtle". But Philbin eventually befriends the kids as does seeming perpetual beach bum Gregory Harrison. Meanwhile, the local love interest is played by Nia Peeples and, as you can imagine, here native brothers are none to happy with her relationship with white boy Adler. Surprisingly, this archetypal "fish out of water" film works. It's not deep, but it's cute and sweet.

The film has lots of nice shots of the locale and it always looks great. Adler is a pretty nice sight too. He has ample time to be shirtless and spends some time in a hot pink wet suit. Harrison, meanwhile is at least better than Patrick Swayze. He still seems like a Moondoogie wannabee whose smoked one too many banana peels. But it doesn't matter when we see the lush tropical landscapes and the awesome surfing segments.

The most interesting aspect of the whole dang film however is the freeze frame of Peebles face with a pained expression at the epilogue of the film. This image becomes the film's final imagine and it is strangely poetic. We want to believe what Adler tells her here and her expression perfectly exemplifies her joy and her sorrow. This shot will cause you to think twice about whether this is just a silly teen surf flick or an interesting look at another culture with a sweet romance thrown in.

Note:

Directed by William Phelps. Written by Phelps, Randall Kleiser and Tim McCanlies. Cinematography by Phelps. Music by Richard Stone.

Cameos from surfers Corky Carroll, Shaun Tomson, Hans Hedemann, Mark Foo, and Derek Ho.

(Review written in 1997)

Report Card

Script: C+

Acting: B-

Cinematography\Lighting: A

Special Effects\Make Up: C

Music: C

Final Grade: B-