Bustin' Down the Door entertainingly captures surfing's last great hoorah of no-holds-barred radicalism.
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07/25/08
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Bustin' Down the Door (2008)
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:26
Rotten:8
Average Rating:6.2/10
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Genre: Sports/Recreation
Theatrical Release:Jun 27, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: BUSTIN’ DOWN THE DOOR chronicles a tumultuous two-year period of competitive and cultural clashes in the mid-Seventies in surfing's Mecca - Hawaii's North Shore of Oahu - as a small crew of... [More]
Starring: Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew, Ian Cairns, Mark Richards, Shaun Tomson
Director: Jeremy Gosch
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Reviews for Bustin' Down the Door
Top CriticOnce or twice – making it all worthwhile – an interviewee touchingly chokes up at his own memories, and brims with sudden tears.
09/04/09
Although you’d expect moist eyes from bitter, fading stars desperately trying to scrawl their names in the history books, the film avoids this indignity with engaging characters, an informative narrative and tons of awe-inspiring archive footage.
09/04/09
The documentary celebrates the athleticism and creativity of the sport's unsung Nureyevs and Nijinskys.
09/04/09
Clearly designed to give credit where it's due, this film spotlights the guys who broke new ground to create modern surfing. But while it's an important, interesting document, it's rather too detailed for non-surfers.
09/04/09
Includes of some of the most extraordinary surf footage seen since Bruce Brown’s early Endless Summer films.
06/27/08
What makes Bustin' Down the Door so appealing is that it's not about sports but rather about the passion and dedication of some bronzed, mop-haired kids on a mission to become legitimate against all odds
02/12/09
The vintage surf footage packs some thumping wipeouts and there’s fresh relish in the sidestory of local Hawaiian surfers handing out beatings to their gnarly foreign invaders.
09/04/09
Packed with awesome footage and revealing interviews, it's one to bust down the cinema doors to catch.
09/04/09
[Bustin’ Down the Door] will leave surf junkies and novices alike longing to get their feet wet.
07/24/08
Perfectly captures the bittersweet moment when the once-free sport of surfing became the big money phenomenon that it is today.
01/14/09
An instructive story.
09/07/09
The film tries to tell us that money hasn't spoiled the fun, but I was much more curious about the black shorts than the Quicksilver brand board shorts.
08/01/08
Top CriticYou'll learn more about the pathos of hanging ten from Surf's Up.
07/25/08
Fuelled by nostalgic anecdotes rather than insightful comment, the film really comes alive in the superb archive footage.
09/04/09
The characters aren’t quite as charismatic as the Z-Boys and the editing isn’t as abrasively cool, but it does give a glimpse of how an outsider lifestyle evolved into a multibillion-dollar business.
09/04/09
This impressive sports doc finds enough drama in the situation to involve a wider audience, since the archive footage of these chaps gliding through waves the size of a house is quite something.
09/04/09
With verve, style and a fine sense of the human side of surf culture, Jeremy Gosch makes a terrific splash with his debut doc.
07/23/08
Top CriticHappily, the filmmaker, Jeremy Gosch, puts his wide-eyed narrative together with an easy touch. With its amazing wall-to-wall footage of oceanic derring-do Bustin' Down the Door plays like visual air-conditioning.
07/25/08
Top CriticWill likely be of interest to surfers and surfing fans only.
07/24/08
Latest News for Bustin' Down the Door
July 24, 2008:
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