Educational Media Reviews Online

This documentary follows professional surfers Mike Gee and Landon Earll as they surf two areas of Bixby Ranch near Santa Barbara, California, a private ranch that fronts the Pacific Ocean. From their pre-dawn exit from Los Angeles, to their first view of water they have never surfed before, to carrying their surf boards to the beach, to their catching the last wave of the day: a breath-taking glance into the soul of surfing. It’s easy to see that time spent surfing amounts to the best hours of the day. Rick Way intersperses the wave-riding ballets of Gee and Earll with historical footage and a narrative that places surfing in a category with the equally transcendent adventures of bullfighting and solo flight. It is difficult. It is dangerous. It is beautiful. It’s probably addicting. Heed the message on the container: “WARNING: If you do not own a surfboard before viewing this video, you will afterward.”

The video of Gee and Earll was shot in a single day at Bixby Ranch. Writer/director Rick Way paid Bixby Ranch Company $ 2000 to give his subjects access to the surf. Bill Macdonald made the most of his opportunity to film the extraordinary grace of Gee and Earll as they became one with the ocean that special day. The original music is up to the topic and the narration by Luke Franco suits the mood of the video throughout. Ray had great foresight in including a sequence showing a “gremmie,” or novice surfer, making attempts to get up on his board on a wave … over, and over, and over, and over again … lest the viewer imagine that Mike Gee’s seemingly effortless riding of the waves implies anything other than his mastery of the impossible. There really is magic in Gee’s and Earll’s instinctive reaction, adjusting their feet, changing their balance to compensate for the most subtle of changes in a unique wave they ride. Although they try to tell the viewer what they experience, one can only speculate about their euphoria, contentment and sense of accomplishment as they try to turn each wave into the perfect ride.

It’s a little difficult to describe how Best Hours of the Day best fits into a library collection or would best fit the curriculum. The video is more than an overview of a sport. It says a lot about what makes a surfer and what is important to a surfer’s life. Regarding body control, conditioning, balance, grace and endurance, the video would support classes on physiology or related to dance. The package is a poem, a fine example of what cinematography can do, and very reasonably priced.