Riding Giants
Stacy Peralta
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Plot Summary
From acclaimed director Stacy Peralta comes Riding Giants, the story of big wave surfing. Breaking the mold of traditional documentary filmmaking, Riding Giants uses its dynamic, cross-generational approach to profile the lives and times of the intrepid surfers who over the decades have dedicated themselves to finding and successfully challenging the biggest waves on earth. We meet Greg Noll, the pioneer, whose relentless push into Hawaii's big surf in the late 1950s earned him the nickname "The Bull." There's Jeff Clark, Northern California's lone frontiersman, who, after discovering the massive waves of Maverick's near San Francisco, rode there alone for over a decade. And finally Hawaii's Laird Hamilton, the prototypical "extreme" surfer, a rare breed of athlete/innovator considered as the best big wave rider who ever waxed a board. Through a fast-paced combination of mediums that include classic archival photography, spectacular movie footage - both current and vintage - and contemporary interviews with the sport's greatest surfers, experts and storytellers, Riding Giants captures the rich visual history of one of the most dramatic athletic adventures of our time. -- Sam George, Global Editor SURFER Magazine
Movie Reviews from Rotten Tomatoes
TOMATOMETER
93%- Reviews Counted: 95
- Fresh: 88
- Rotten: 7
- Average Rating: 7.5/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: Peralta has a knack for taking a niche sport and drawing out its universal appeal.
Fresh: By the end, you're numb from the waves of information crashing down on your head but you're also worn out and happy, unexpectedly touched by the story of men who climbed the highest mountain around.
Fresh: Before seeing Riding Giants, my ideas about surfing were formed by the Gidget movies, Endless Summer, the Beach Boys, Elvis and lots of TV commercials. ... Riding Giants is about altogether another reality.
Fresh: This is vicarious cinema at its best.
Customer Reviews
Great documentary
This is such a great surf movie. Makes me want to go out and learn to surf. Very inspiring. Another good documentry to check out is about the Paskowitz family. Can't remember what the title of it was. But it's another great movie.
Best documentary ever made!!
I've watched Riding Giants many, many, many times, and it never gets old. I had the dvd, but it was all scratched up and tossed it last month. So happy to see itunes is selling this awesome film. I am not a surfer. I live in the mid-west, but this documentary inspires me to be more and it reminds me to push the limits. Truly one of my top five films ever made.
Riding Giants
The best surf movie, the best documentary, and one of the best cinemagraphic movies ever made. This may not be a classic yet, but it will go down as the finest surf movie ever made. Stacey Peralta does is again!!
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- $9.99
- Genre: Documentary
- Released: 2005
- © 2004 Setsuna LLC, Forever Films and StudioCanal. All Rights Reserved.

