Purely Joyful Movie!

Fantastic!

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.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Claude Codgen, Bob Purvey, and Mary Lou McGinnis are a trio of eager and intrepid young surfers who form a group called the Surf Corps so they can travel all over the world in search of fun, thrills, and waves. Their eventful and adventurous odyssey takes them to such exotic far-flung places as Portugal (lousy waves and freezing cold water), Morocco, Ceylon (they ride elephants to their destination), India, Hong Kong, Japan (where our engaging protagonists ride man-made waves in a funky giant indoor pool), and, finally, Hawaii, in which the incredibly immense waves at Waimean prove to be an especially daunting and exciting challenge to surmount.Director Gene McCabe vividly captures the infectiously breezy'n'easy carefree vibe of the late 1960's while keeping the compact narrative zipping along at a constant brisk pace and maintaining a likable lighthearted tone throughout. The breathtaking vibrant color cinematography by Jim Freeman, Greg MacGillivray, and Michael D. Margulies delivers a wondrous wealth of spectacular surfing footage as well as striking shots of the assorted colorful globe-trotting locations. The supremely catchy'n'groovy score by Stu Phillips and several bouncy songs by Dino, Desi, and Billy both hit the right-on swinging spot. The presence of a few lovely bikini-clad honeys provides some delicious additional eye candy. A sunny delight.

Although it didn't receive anything in the way of attention as did "The Endless Summer" from 1966, this globe-trotting surfing documentary has its own modest rewards, not the least of which is the swirling, curling cinematography by the three credited cameramen (Jim Freeman, Greg MacGillivray, and Michael D. Margulies). Two young male surfers and a female counterpart, suntanned and bright-eyed in the best American tradition, take a self-confessed low-budget surfing tour of the world, with stops in Portugal, Morocco, Ceylon, India, Hong Kong, Japan and Hawaii. The initial comedic set-up is corny (most likely intentionally so, but silly nevertheless), and the color tinting on some of the early footage is irritating, however this 80-minute pleasure is full of wondrous shots of surfers and the sea. The trio (sort of a "Jules and Jim" without the sex) encounter puny waves in Hong Kong, indoor surfing in Japan, and thunderous waves (and bikini babes) in Hawaii. Everywhere these kids go they seem to attract excitement and happiness, and the cameras capture all the contagious joy (the whole movie is a vicarious thrill). We are visually engaged in the sport of surfing without understanding the training and discipline involved--and yet, when the local kids attempt to emulate the grown-ups on their surfboards and plop right back into the ocean, everyone has a good laugh and tries again. The fact that "Follow Me" doesn't take itself at all seriously is part of its scruffy charm. **1/2 from ****