X
- 1978
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 2 h
- 1978
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 2 h
Directed By: John Milius
Written By: Dennis Aaberg, John Milius
- 1978
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 2 h
- 1978
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 2 h
Big Wednesday
54
7.6
Where to Watch
Directed By: John Milius
Written By: Dennis Aaberg, John Milius
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
54
50% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
40% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
10% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
54
50% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
40% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
10% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Maybe in the end it's just an exuberant collection of great scenes – but what Big Wednesday has is heart.
A rubber stamp wouldn’t do for John Milius. So he took a sledgehammer and pounded Important all over Big Wednesday. This film about three Malibu surfers in the 1960s has been branded major statement and it’s got Big Ideas about adolescence, friendship and the 1960s.
Milius can be faulted for reviving a number of ostensibly dead macho myths, but in the context of the subculture his film deftly re-creates, they take on the aura of eternal values. The breathtaking surfing footage, rather than the slightly stunted characters, makes his most eloquent argument.
All this, along with the tremulous romanticism, might seem unbearably portentous were it not for some lovely comic moments - notably, Busey in the draft-dodging scenes - and the sheer exhilaration of the surfing footage.
Big Wednesday is American writer-director John Milius' attempt to use surfing as a metaphor for life. It doesn't work. [27 June 1978]
The movie often seems even more uneventful than material like this need make it, and Mr. Milius's attention to his actors focuses more closely on their pectorals than on their performances.
Although Brown (Endless Summer) captured the beauty and fun of his favorite sport in his "surfumentaries," Milius, whose work always seems underlain with weighty symbolic intent, infuses Big Wednesday with heavy-handed philosophy and all-around stupidity.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 5 User Ratings
7.6
80% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
20% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 5 User Ratings
7.6
80% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
20% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Awards
Awards of the Japanese Academy
• 1 Nomination
International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA)
• 1 Nomination
