Dogtown and Z-Boys
Dogtown and Z-Boys
PG-13 | 18 January 2001 (USA)
Dogtown and Z-Boys Trailers

This award-winning, thrilling story is about a group of discarded kids who revolutionized skateboarding and shaped the attitude and culture of modern day extreme sports. Featuring old skool skating footage, exclusive interviews and a blistering rock soundtrack, DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS captures the rise of the Zephyr skateboarding team from Venice's Dogtown, a tough "locals only" beach with a legacy of outlaw surfing.

Reviews
SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
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.
Blake (TimeForChillie) Dog Town and Z-Boys, 6/10, 23rd best of 2001 164th in the 2000's, 525th all time I've been enjoying a high number of documentaries lately, and this one certainly has plenty to enjoy. It's shot beautifully, flows very nicely, and at least for me the subject mater was pretty interesting. I think this movie might have been ranked more highly had I not already seen Lords of Dogtown, which tells pretty much the same story in a non-documentary foremat. I enjoyed Lords of Dogtown quite a bit more purely based on the fact that its just more fun to watch. If documentaries are your thing I'd say go with this, otherwise just stick with Lords of Dogtown. Unless your a big skating fan, or like me you've got time on your hands, than you might as well watch them both.
Lee Eisenberg When you think about it, "Dogtown and Z-Boys" is the sort of movie that can only make sense to skateboarding fans. Since I don't know anything about skateboarding, the movie barely made sense to me. Obviously, Sean Penn as the narrator will catch anyone's attention (as will the "Charlie's Angels" scene), but other than that, non-fans will probably be confused.I should say that it wasn't a bad documentary. It's just that people who don't know much about skateboarding won't really be able to relate to it. So watch it if you can relate.This just might be a form of "dogged" determination.