Free and Easy (1967)
By Andreas Linnell
Featuring Midget Farrelly, Leroy Achoi, Bill Fury, Ricky Grigg, Fred Hemmings, Felipe Pomar, Greg Noll, Miki Dora, Herbie Fletcher, David Nuuhiwa, Joyce Hoffman, Billy Hamilton, José Angel, Butch Van Artsdalen, Jackie Eberly, Nat Young, Rusty Miller, Jock Sutherland, Corky Carroll, Steve Biggler, Mark Martinson, Johnny Fain, Micky Muñoz & Mike Doyle. Directed by Greg MacGillivray & Jim Freeman
Free and Easy was released straight into the summer of love with all its free-wheeling decadence and inner-space discoveries, but was filmed and produced in the years prior and as such it’s a largely innocent and fun-loving affair. All the expected elements are in place: Johnny Fain, Micky Muñoz and Miki Dora at picture-perfect Malibu, David Nuuhiwa parked on the nose in a brilliant study of style and catlike balance, the riotous mayhem of a summer swell at the Wedge in Newport, and of course, Hawaii in all it’s glory. It’s a simple life lived in nothing but shorts, climbing palm trees for coconuts and discovering perfect uncrowded waves just around the corner. Only a few years later surfers would realize this fleeting dream lost and go back to the countryside en masse, desperately holding on to something that was clearly slipping away.
A sure sign that a seismic change was fast approaching is found in the psychedelic post-production techniques. Colorful monotones and double exposure are widely used to great effect, and an inversion of colors and experimental overlays separates the two parts of the film in a classic intermission. This feeling of balancing on the edge of impending change is further accentuated by Nat Young at the 1966 world championships on a 9’4” board he’d named Sam, sharply cutting back and driving around sections with unparalleled aggression and determination in clear contrast to the smooth, catlike cross-steps of Herbie Fletcher, David Nuuhiwa and Bill Hamilton. But it’s only a premonition of things to come for now and MacGillivray/Freeman stay firmly on course.
Free and easy is described as both an attitude and a lifestyle. Much like in Dale Davis’ opus The Golden Breed, it’s an attribute of surfers and their way of life: “A surfer accepts failure and flows with the tide, for his life is dictated by the sun, the tide and the surf,” the narrator croons and concludes, “surfers live the life they love”. It’s a bit like talking to somebody who refers to himself in the third person; a little odd but strangely endearing. And while Free and Easy is undeniably a little rough around the edges it clearly points the way to bigger and better things. Not only would MacGillivray/Freeman go on to release one of the most popular surf movies of all time, 5 Summer Stories, but would also create a cinematographic legacy that would last until today. Anyone who has ever been to an iMax theatre has likely seen a movie produced by MacGillivray/Freeman, a production name kept intact although Jim Freeman sadly passed away in a helicopter accident many years ago.
In Free and Easy, Greg and Jim takes turns on the mic with occasionally awkward, off-the-cuff narration, peppered with dry wit and corny jokes. Not quite living up to the pitch-perfect delivery of Bruce Brown, but still doing a good job and lending an absolute surf movie identity to the film; Thomas Campbell would use this legacy of peculiar live narration to his advantage as he nasally narrated his debut The Seedling, which sparked the rebirth of the surf movie, some thirty years later. Campbell also pinched another traditional constituent in sixties surf movies – the skit. In Free and Easy it comes in the form of The Great Race, filled with gags, rudimentary trick-filming, car crashes, explosions and fun-filled mayhem, brilliantly wrapped up by a suave Miki Dora in the end. It’s not winning any Academy Awards but it certainly lends an undeniable charm to the experience.
David Nuuhiwa’s virgin rides at Pipeline with Jock Sutherland
Other highlights includes Jock Sutherland on the nose, suspended in space and clearly heralding an immediate future as one of surfing’s premiere cosmonauts, known to night-surf huge Waimea on acid, as well as great rides by Herbie Fletcher and local legend Buddy Boy Kaohe at Honolua Bay in Maui. We’re treated to David Nuuhiwa’s first attempt at riding Pipeline, which he does with great aplomb and style, and get to follow Bill Fury and Herbie Fletcher to the volcanic north coast of Maui, where they surf a newly discovered spot called Windmills. Somewhat ominously they declare that “Windmills is located in the most desolate section of Maui, and because of its difficult location, Windmill will never be crowded with surfers of tourists”. If only somebody had kindly requested they knock on wood.
We are also treated to the obligatory waves of consequence at big Waimea with the resulting horrific wipeouts. One lasting legacy is that of the late hellman José Angel, here doing backflips while teetering on the lip of a twenty foot wave. His antics are rivalled only forty years later by Bruce Irons who fearlessly claimed a perfect 100 score in The Eddie of 2004 by pulling into a standing kamikaze closeout barrel in the ferocious Waimea shore break.
Jose Angel backflips off the lip of a 20 foot wave at Waimea bay
The end sequence is a trip to Hanalei Bay on Kauai by Mark Martinson and Billy Hamilton who find parting waves at a newly discovered spot called Whispering Sands, reminiscent of the perfectly shaped little tubes of Bruce’s Beauties in The Endless Summer. And as they trim along the emerald, ruler-edged waves in tropical isolation and perfection, the narration hammers home the point once again: “surfers live the life they love.”
And while it’s corny as hell, you know it’s true. Δ
Free and Easy is available on DVD.
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