Lords of Dogtown

Infobox Film | name = Lords of Dogtown


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Catherine Hardwicke
producer = John Linson
writer = Stacy Peralta
starring = John Robinson
Emile Hirsch
Victor Rasuk
Michael Angarano
Heath Ledger
Rebecca De Mornay
Nikki Reed
music = Mark Mothersbaugh
cinematography = Elliot Davis
editing = Nancy Richardson
distributor = Columbia Pictures
TriStar Pictures
released = June 3, 2005 (USA)
runtime = 107 minutes
country = United States
Germany
language = English
Spanish
budget = $25,000,000 (estimated)
preceded_by =
followed_by =
imdb_id = 0355702

"Lords of Dogtown" is an American film from 2005 from both Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, written by Stacy Peralta. The film is based on the story of "The Z-Boys", an influential group of skateboarders who revolutionized the sport. The movie is dedicated to the memory of comedian Mitch Hedberg, who appears in the movie but died before the film was released.

Tagline : "They came from nothing to change everything."

Plot

In 1970s Venice Beach, surfers Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, and Jay Adams enjoy the life of skating and surfing the pier with board designer Skip Engblom and the other locals. One day, Skip orders polyurethane wheels for the skateboards in his shop, Zephyr Skate Shop. Teenager Sid, a friend of the boys who works in the same shop, invites Tony, Jay, Stacy and the other locals to test the new wheels. After witnessing what the boys could now do with the wheels, Skip decides to put together a skate team, the Z-Boys. The team proves to be a success; winning many contests, Stacy, Jay, and Tony gain popularity from locals across Venice.

After a time, the pier stops sporting waves for them to surf on. A stop of rain drys out the land, so no swimming pools can be filled. Using this opportunity, the Z-Boys start to ditch Skip's scheduled practice and sneak into people's swimming pools to skate in. After winning many major contests, Stacy, Jay, and Tony start getting noticed by major skating companies looking to take the boys from Skip. The Z-Boys become famous, appearing in various magazines. One night, Skip throws a party at his shop to celebrate the success of the team. A company owner, Topper Burks, enters the party and secretly bribes with Tony that Skip is holding him back, and that it's time to make him famous world wide. Tony accepts his offer and leaves the team. Jay leaves the team as well, looking to make more money so his mom could pay the rent on their apartment. Stacy is the last to leave, as he begins getting offers to skate as well as to appear in T.V. Skip, sad yet angry, decides to ultimately shut down the Zephyr Skate Team.

The 3 boys become rich and famous. Their lives have changed: they are now skating for money rather than passion as they did before. Things start going out of control; while at a major skating championship that they all take part in, Tony gets into a fight with another skater in the middle of the stadium, and gets knocked out, temporarily ending his career. Jay leaves his company after they come to be cheap on him. Stacy ends up winning the compitition.

Back in Venice, the pier that the Z-Boys use to surf by burns down, which affects them all. Sid develops a brain tumor, and has surgery to get it removed, which gives him brain cancer. Stacy, Tony, and Jay all go over to visit Sid. Stacy reveals that he is leaving his company to start his own. Sid's father had finally emptied their pool for them to skate in. The Stacy, Tony, and Jay skate the pool and push Sid on his wheel chair, referencing all the good times they had before they became a skate team.

Closing cards reveal that Tony Alva went on to be very successful skater; it's stated that he still sneaks into backyard pools, while Stacy Peralta started Powell Peralta, a modern popular skating company that included a 14-year-old Tony Hawk as part of its team. Jay was successful too, known as the 'spark that started the flame'. Sid later died of brain cancer. His fathers pool was kept empty and is known as the DogBowl.

oundtrack

The movie's soundtrack ("") features songs by Black Sabbath, David Bowie, T.Rex, Jimi Hendrix, and Iggy Pop, among others, as well as a cover of The Clash's "Death or Glory" by Social Distortion. [cite web
url = http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00097DX44/
title = Amazon.com: Lords of Dogtown: Music: Original Soundtrack
accessdate = 2007-03-26]

Cameo appearances in the film

*Cheyne Magnusson
*Brandon McDonough
*Chris Chaput
*Jay Adams - Party scene. Pays Emile Hirsch for beer
*Tony Alva - Party scene. Says he wants to move to Oregon and become a farmer
*Tony Hawk - Neil Armstrong who asks to try Stacy's skateboard but ironically falls on his back.
*Stacy Peralta - Director in Charlie's Angels scene
*Skip Engblom - Fires a gun to start a race
*Mitch Hedberg - Urethane Wheels Guy
*Lance Mountain - UK Policeman
*Rise Against - Black Flag
*Eric West
*America Ferrera - Thunder Monkey
*Johnny Knoxville - Topper Burks
*Alexis Arquette - Street scene. Asks Victor Rasuk if he's a good pirate or a bad pirate.
*Eddie Cahill - Takes Stacy Peralta under his wing
*Christian Hosoi - Skateboard promoter
*Chad Fernandez - Reef Ryan
*John Hansen - Jay Adams stunt surfer
*Diego Polidura - Calabazo
*Heath Ledger- Skip

References

External links

* [http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/lordsofdogtown/ Official site]
*imdb title|id=0355702|title=Lords of Dogtown