POV Shorts II: Bruce Brown, Part One

Bruce Brown aw-shucks his way through every interview he’s ever sat for. He leaves it for others to list his accomplishments and influence. If you’ve read the Bruce features in TSJ, you know the bullet points: Oscar-nominated director of The Endless Summer; commercial sword fisherman; pillar of the apocryphal Dana Point Mafia. And, like a tagline from a Dos Equis commercial, Steve McQueen was his desert racing wingman. Quietly dwelling in a hidden arroyo near Santa Barbara (and in striking distance of his favorite ranchland surf spot) Brown spends his days with family and his collection of motorized hobby projects. For this episode of POV, filmmaker Chris Malloy—no slouch himself in the surf-and-turf arts—sits a spell with the legendary lensman. Discussion turns quickly from the predictable and into the details of early bootstraps surf filmmaking. Charming, self-effacing, and as real as they come, we hope you enjoy this two-part portrait of the master. For more on Bruce: Mr. Rohloff's Neighborhood by Paul Gross Dad's House by Dana Brown Framing the Prodigal by Dan Duane