GO FOR IT is an extremely dated 'extreme sports' documentary that seems to entirely consist of grainy old footage showing champion surfers and skateboarders doing their thing. I suppose if you're a fan of surfing or skateboarding you might get a kick out of this old-time stuff, but then again you probably enjoy the modern-day technology and techniques which leaves this kind of material in the doldrums. I found it repetitive and extremely dull, enlivened perhaps only by some suitably dramatic music that nonetheless does nothing to make any of it remotely exciting.
6 Reviews
What a cosmic trip!
seafirecoral12 July 2006
"This flick is a must have for those who need that seventies stoke. What an amazing time it was back then.Cheap gas,unridden waves, earthy-mellow chicks, and most of all the perpetual spirit of adventure.This movie is rich in color and sound from start to finish. Waves sequences highlighting Larry Bertlemann,Shaun Tomson,Gerry Lopez, and many others will blow your mind. All the footage is rare and one of a kind. What makes this flick is the wild combination of sports. Original Z-boyz skate footage will stoke you beyond belief. Tony Alva,Jay Adams, and the infamous Bertlemann rip in the pool sequences and free ride scenes. Don't forget to crank the tunes, pull up some shag rug and gather the crew for this one cause it truly is a non-stop energy freedom trip man..." T. Barker / Santa Monica Canyon
great shots, inspiring
ethylester1 March 2004
This film is quite inspiring, as the title suggests. It features mostly young people doing outdoor sports. These sports are very similar in that they all require balance, shifting of weight, and are singular person activities.
Featured sports are surfboarding, skateboarding, downhill skiing, hang gliding and body surfing. The other review on here mentions race car driving, which is actually not featured.
The surfboarding shots are amazingly well done. The water looks so fresh and clean and the tube shots are very awe inspiring. The male and female surfers are all very good at what they do. However, the female ones don't seem to care that their bikini bottoms show a lot of crack! Why care about your butt when you're surfing? I wouldn't either!
The skateboarding segments are pretty cool because they feature kids in California who would skate in in-ground, waterless pools, drainage ditches or really anywhere that was paved. Not like today, where skateboarders are prohibited everywhere you look. There were segments where the skaters would do obstacle courses, skate down giant paved hills or double (?) skateboard (two skateboards, two people, sitting down and holding onto each other) down the parking garage starting from the top. Many kids skated barefoot!
The fashions of skaters back then were a whole lot different than they are now. Shirtless, ripped jeans or cutoffs, barefoot, long bleach blond stringy hair and the tannest of white person skin you will ever see are what the majority of these early teenage skate punks looked like. An occasional afro on the non-whites, but always fearless looking.
There is very little talking in this film. Instead, most of it is vibrantly colorful and well-framed shots of these sports accompanied by great motivating and original music. Surf style music, psychedelic guitars, and inspiring rock ballads add excitement to the scenes. One surfer is interviewed throughout and he doesn't talk very much.
If you look closely during the ending skateboarding competition, if I'm not mistaken, you can see Peter Fonda standing in the crowd of onlookers with a huge smile on his face. They close up on him, and I'm 99% sure it is Peter Fonda in sunglasses, though it's not mentioned in the credits.
There is even a koala in Australia watching a surfing competition! It seems to be really into the whole thing while it sits on a beach blanket and then climbs a beach umbrella.
I recommend this film to anyone who even remotely likes any of these sports. It will make you get up off your behind, grab your board and GO FOR IT!
Featured sports are surfboarding, skateboarding, downhill skiing, hang gliding and body surfing. The other review on here mentions race car driving, which is actually not featured.
The surfboarding shots are amazingly well done. The water looks so fresh and clean and the tube shots are very awe inspiring. The male and female surfers are all very good at what they do. However, the female ones don't seem to care that their bikini bottoms show a lot of crack! Why care about your butt when you're surfing? I wouldn't either!
The skateboarding segments are pretty cool because they feature kids in California who would skate in in-ground, waterless pools, drainage ditches or really anywhere that was paved. Not like today, where skateboarders are prohibited everywhere you look. There were segments where the skaters would do obstacle courses, skate down giant paved hills or double (?) skateboard (two skateboards, two people, sitting down and holding onto each other) down the parking garage starting from the top. Many kids skated barefoot!
The fashions of skaters back then were a whole lot different than they are now. Shirtless, ripped jeans or cutoffs, barefoot, long bleach blond stringy hair and the tannest of white person skin you will ever see are what the majority of these early teenage skate punks looked like. An occasional afro on the non-whites, but always fearless looking.
There is very little talking in this film. Instead, most of it is vibrantly colorful and well-framed shots of these sports accompanied by great motivating and original music. Surf style music, psychedelic guitars, and inspiring rock ballads add excitement to the scenes. One surfer is interviewed throughout and he doesn't talk very much.
If you look closely during the ending skateboarding competition, if I'm not mistaken, you can see Peter Fonda standing in the crowd of onlookers with a huge smile on his face. They close up on him, and I'm 99% sure it is Peter Fonda in sunglasses, though it's not mentioned in the credits.
There is even a koala in Australia watching a surfing competition! It seems to be really into the whole thing while it sits on a beach blanket and then climbs a beach umbrella.
I recommend this film to anyone who even remotely likes any of these sports. It will make you get up off your behind, grab your board and GO FOR IT!
My introduction to... surfing
standp2 July 2003
I saw this movie when I was nine, in a double feature with the original "Gone in Sixty Seconds." It was a sort of montage documentary about skateboarding, car racing, skiing, etc., things considered extreme individual sports at the time. I remember two scenes very vividly - one was a skateboarder going down a steep hill and doing a fake body slam into a car (there was a goofy sound effect, then you saw him embedded in a person-shaped dent in a VW), and then there was a sequence with young women surfing topless. I just don't have enough good things to say about that particular scene. I'd like to thank the makers of this movie for inspiring a nine-year old boy and instilling in me a love of fine cinema and photography.
Thank you
paulrapp129 July 2013
Go For It was a love from my heart way before extreme games. It was a pioneer that inspired many copies including Dogtown. The title became part of the language. I worked on many important films but this one was a real challenge with camera work that was not yet invented. It still holds up many years later to entertain and enjoy. ABC Wide world asked me to show them how I did some shots. When I directed Fonzie jumping the shark in Happy Days I used the same techniques that I did with Go For It. I shot the shark jump in 16mm and blew it to 35mm. The music was a great deal of fun and I particularly liked the love ballad that was put over the hang gliding scene. It was my understanding that it got quite a few votes from the academy. Paul Rapp
I saw it when it first came out, I own the movie, I love it, I recommend it!!
cb_dwight30 October 2013
Paul Rapp is an amazing cinematographer. I am a bodysurfer (had three sequences in the movie) and I got to watch him at his work at Pipeline and off the wall on Oahu. He captures the essence of the participants experience, whether it be surfing, hang gliding, skateboarding, cliff jumping, bodysurfing, snow skying. It is a classic. Every time I watch it it takes me back to the 1970/1980s when many of the sports that are mainstream now were in their infancy. I believe that "Go For It" became the one of template for future extreme sports documentaries. It is a great baseline to see how the sports have evolved and how the extreme sports filming industry has evolved. It is a movie that all outdoor sports enthusiasts will enjoy.
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