While Bruce Brown had been making films about surfing since the late 1950s, The Endless Summer was his first film to receive a nationwide release; it was also the first serious cinematic look at the sport to click with a mass audience. In his narration, Brown muses that if someone had enough time and money, they could literally follow the summer around the globe, and so Brown and two of his surfing buddies, Robert August and Mike Henson, decide to do just that. With their surfboards as luggage, August and Henson travel from one coastline to the next, trying the waves in Hawaii, Africa, Australia, Tahiti, and a number of other nations where most folks had never even seen a surfboard before. Along the way, August and Henson learn a lot about people around the world, and grow up a bit while they search for the elusive perfect wave. The Endless Summer also features a great surf-rock score by The Sandals.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide