In The Dog Bowl

Going back into the 70's, Stacey Peralta's movie - The Lords of Dogtown - examines the lives of the 3 boys (Tony Alva, Jay Adams and Peralta included) and their friends who created the sport that's known as skateboarding. Skateboards were already available back then but it was the exploits of these 3 fellas from Venice Beach, California that ignited the spark in the sport with the high rolls and the flips from the skate ramps.

Improvising on drained out swimming pools during the drought that hit southern CA, they made a hit out of themselves on the competition circuit and actually made it a world-wide phenomenon.

Coming from very humble and sometimes troubled backgrounds, the boys started out as budding surfers with Peralta fumbling when it came to riding the waves. Nonetheless, he made good when he took part as an independent candidate during a competition and tied with his good friend, Tony Alva for 1st place, but due to some inept officials, Alva got disqualified and Peralta won the trophy.

And then the story goes deeper into the development of each character and the splits that made them fall apart.. Alva going for fame and fortune, Peralta going for the stable life and Adams remaining as the rebel at heart. All the actors played their roles well and I went home thinking alot more about skateboarding and its history.

Go watch it. You won't regret it. Thumbs-up for this excellent movie.