The harder they come, the harder they fall -- this film shows, in raw, gripping detail, that even skater dudes can't resist the life of the rich and famous. It's more poignant than hard-core, and gives us a portrait of a life run over by the whims of the entertainment industry.
The harder they come, the harder they fall -- this film shows, in raw, gripping detail, that even skater dudes can't resist the life of the rich and famous. It's more poignant than hard-core, and gives us a portrait of a life run over by the whims of the entertainment industry.
As a teenager growing up in the mid-'70s, Mark "Gator" Rogowski became a passionate skateboarder. With time, he became quite good on a deck and, by the early '80s, his skills on the vertical ramp, combined with his cocky charm and surfer-dude good looks, helped to make him one of the top professionals on the skating circuit. Between endorsement deals and performance fees, he was earning more than a hundred-thousand dollars per year by the time he was 18. Not surprisingly, Rogowski soon found
himself living a fast-lane lifestyle, partying all night, and dating supermodels. But when the popularity of ramp skating fell in favor of street skating, Gator found his career going into a skid. Over several years, he struggled to get his demons under control, trying, with no real success, to reinvent himself and regain his place in the public eye. In 1991, the bottom finally fell out of Rogowski's life: At the age of 24, he found himself behind bars, confessing to rape and murder charges . Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator is a documentary which chronicles Rogowski's personal successes and private failures. The film includes interviews with fellow skating legends Tony Hawk, Stacy Peralta, and Jason Jessee. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
It's fascinating to see the process by which skateboarding, in all its concrete grittiness, was transformed into a mainstream activity of consumer cool.
By focusing on the self-immolation of the thoroughly despicable skateboarding star Mark "Gator" Rogowski, Stoked makes us all question the eternal chase for popularity and acceptance that takes up so much of daily life.
You can see why Stickler was drawn to the charismatic Gator, but his story is so extreme (he is serving life for murder) that it effectively unbalances the project.
Unlike Stacy Peralta's romantically nostalgic '70s skate-umentary Dogtown & Z Boys, Stickler delves into the dirty details, even showing the decomposed remains of his victim.
Gator the rise and fall of Gator is just one of those documentaries that even if you arent into the subject matter will keep your fall attention from the first shot to the last this documentary follows the story of 80's vert skater Mark *gator* Rogowski who let fame and drugs spiral his life out of control untill the
fateful day when he was convicted of murdering his a girl he knew of course as with most documentary's ull see interviews by the people that knew him and stuff from gator himself really worth a watch
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