| Surfwise: The Amazing True Odyssey of the Paskowitz Family |
| Front Cover |
Actor |
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| Sonia Darrin |
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| Chris Owens |
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| Rabbit Kekai |
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| Sunny Garcia |
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| Andy Irons |
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| Movie Details |
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| Language |
English |
| Audience Rating |
R (Restricted) |
| Running Time |
1 hr 33 mins |
| Country |
USA |
| Color |
Color |
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| Plot |
| American history is filled with legendary characters who turned their backs on society, snubbing its conventions and opting for a simple, contemplative life. Like Thoreau. Kerouac. And.. Paskowitz? Well, actually, yeah. Surfwise, director Doug Pray’s 2007 documentary, tells the decidedly offbeat tale of Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz. Now in his mid-80s, the guy who calls himself "one of the few dumb Jewish doctors" was once on a big-time career track; a Stanford-educated physician, he was the head of the American Medical Association in Hawaii, an expert surfer, and a strong, handsome man who often donated his services and was asked to consider a run for governor of that state. But more than 50 years ago, Paskowitz and his third wife, Juliette (his previous marriages had failed due to his own "sexual ignorance"), essentially chucked it all for the sake of family, surfing, and precious little else. They had nine children, all but one of them boys, and the entire brood lived in a 24-foot camper, traveling constantly. Money? There was precious little of that (although years later the family generated some income by establishing a popular surf camp near San Diego). Food? They managed, with Paskowitz enforcing a strict organic regimen. School? "Education be damned," Doc said, and not one of the children ever attended classes regularly. To outsiders, it was an idyllic life; "we were not attached to the physical world at all," says one of the (now middle-aged) kids today. But the downside was deep. Crammed into their tiny space, the children watched and listened as their parents noisily made love every single night (not a great thing for the kids’ own later sex lives). Driven--and sometimes abused--by their ultra-controlling, narcissistic dad, they became excellent surfers but were ill-prepared for adult life when finally, in their 20s, some of them began to leave "home." Remarkably, they all seem relatively (so to speak) fine now, with real jobs in surfing, music, and the film business and a fairly clear perspective on their strange upbringing ("Don’t do anything a gorilla wouldn’t do" was one of Doc’s mantras). Extras include outtakes, commentary, surfing footage, and more. --Sam Graham |
| Personal Details |
| Seen It |
Yes |
| Index |
2005 |
| Collection Status |
In Collection |
| Purchase Date |
9/7/2008 |
| Condition |
Good - Used |
| Store |
HollywoodVideo |
| Links |
Amazon US
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| Product Details |
| Format |
DVD |
| Region |
Region 1 |
| Screen Ratio |
1.78:1 |
| UPC (Barcode) |
876964000932 |
| Release Date |
7/29/2008 |
| Subtitles |
Spanish |
| Nr of Disks/Tapes |
1 |
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