blippster Dogtown and Z-Boys is a documentary about the Zephyr Skateboarding Team, and their influence on skateboarding. It also focuses on the history of skateboarding. It was directed by Stacy Peralta, a member of the original Zephyr Team, and was written by Stacy Peralta and Craig Stecyk, another member of the team. The documentary stars the members of the Zephyr Team and is narrated by Sean Penn.The documentary talks about the beginning of skateboarding, and how it evolved from surfing. It discusses skateboarding's popularity in the late 60s and the 70s, its decline in the 80s and its 'rebirth' in the 90s. Skateboarding was introduced in Dogtown, the nickname of the poor side of Santa Monica, California. The Zephyr Team originated from the Zephyr Surf Shop, which manufactured the first modern skateboards. The documentary mainly consists of the original Zephyr Team members talking about the past in the Zephyr Team, the competitions they won, and their popularity and prestige. It focuses on three particular members of the team; Peralta, Tony Alva, and Jay Adams, three virtuosos of skateboarding, and probably the best three members of the team.The interviews in the documentary were usually voices over archival footage from Dogtown in the late 60s and 70s. Very rarely to you actually see the people being interviewed, but when you do, they are shown in black and white, while the archival footage was in colour. I think Stacy Peralta used this technique to show that the documentary was about the past (i.e. the Glory Days of the Zephyr Team) and not the present. The documentary is very fast paced, in that we often see clips of impressive skateboarding over up-beat music of the era (such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie), and the interviews tend to be quick and to the point. Knowing nothing about skateboarding (i.e. not even knowing how to ride one straight along the ground) I was very surprised that I found this documentary so interesting. The reason is that this doco was more about the Zephyr Team than the actual sport of skateboarding, so while I couldn't relate to skateboarding, I could relate to the boys in the team. Because it was made by actual members of the team, it gives it a little more depth and authenticity.All in all, I would have to say this is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. It gave me a whole new insight, not just into the Zephyr Team, but into skateboarding as a whole. For those who love skateboarding, I can only imagine how it must be even more interesting. Seven and a half stars out of ten.

aash-2 My son, an avid skateboarder, sat me down and made me watch this with him. As I love documentaries, it didn't take a whole lot of pressure on his part. The whole amazing story of it all - a bunch of dirt-poor kids drift together and end up creating something revolutionary out of thin air - well, more out of some wood, wheels and lack of waves to surf - it just floored me. It still does. I didn't think I would enjoy it the way I did, nor did I think I would tear up watching Stacey Peralta tear up over the fate of Jay Adams. And just watching Jay Adams himself.....the sheer genius of the kid skating and the shrug of the adult remembering. I watched it again last night for what has to be the 10th time and I still get goosebumps watching him fly down the hill with Jimi Hendrix's "Freedom" playing in the background. And I teared up, again. Not too many movies have the same impact with me after several viewings. Brilliant.

bob the moo Documentary looking back at the influential role that the Zephyr surfing group had on the development of skateboarding as more than just a passing fade and the effect they had on shaping and defining the skating world and culture.It seems a bit petty to point out but it is hard to watch this film without the little voice in my head reminding me that this film was made by the very people it is about. I'm not paralleling the two but imagine I made a film about the impact on IMDb culture of user "bob the moo" and had people I know gush about me and them. Now before you start sending me abuse please read on because I am not saying the two are the same – just that you need to keep in mine that this is about the same people who made it. The difference between this and me doing my own is staggering though. Firstly the fact is that this group did have influence and cultural importance and so what if it is some of their own that ending up making the film – somebody was going to so why not them. Anyway the other main difference is that this film is actually very good as it moves slickly through the period, capturing the essence of the lives as I goes.The film benefits greatly from having a huge amount of film and photographs of the people so that we are not just hearing about abstract memories but actually seeing them for ourselves. The editing is quite intense at time but it suits the people and the period as it is rather freewheeling and disrespectful towards convention. It also benefits from having almost all the protagonists as the contributors rather than having celebs who were aware of the action etc and don't have much of value to say. The only film star involved is Sean Penn, who narrates the film with a rather dull tone of voice and a script that is a bit too heavy for its own good; it is sparingly used though and at one point he stumbles over a word and it is left in – which I thought was a nice touch and suited the style of everything else.Overall then this is an interesting and energetic documentary. I'm not a surfer or a skater but yet I found it totally engaging, which speaks volumes about the quality of the material , the delivery and the total structure of the film. Well worth a look as it is fun and informative.

hankhanks12345 This is a pretty good documentary. I'm not a skateboarder, I don't particularly like skateboarding or skateboard culture. But somehow for about 2 hours this movie made me interested in the subject.I wouldn't call it the most intriguing film of all time, but for some reason when those guys were talking about how they started their skateboard clubs and were skating in those empty Southern California pools, I was interested.I should also add that the music in this film was pretty good too. I don't sit around yearning to hear more 70s rock bands, but it seemed appropriate for what they were talking about.