Tony Alva Movies

The true story of the kids who created modern skateboard culture is recreated in this drama. In the early '70s, skateboards were seen as a fad of the 1960s that had all but died out, but in a rough-and-tumble Venice, CA, community known as "Dogtown," that was about to change. Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk), Stacy Peralta (John Robinson), and Jay Adams (Emile Hirsch) were three guys who liked to surf the rugged beaches around Venice and hung out at the Zephyr Surf Shop, a store run by Skip Engblom (Heath Ledger) that stocked gear for adventurous surfers and skateboarders. With the advent of new urethane wheels that connected with concrete in a way old metal and rubber wheels could not, Tony, Stacy, and Jay began exploring ways to translate radical surf style to skateboarding, and the guys invented a new way to skate inside the smooth, round surfaces of empty pools, employing vertical moves and edge flips that added a new and dramatic spin to skating. It didn't take long for word to spread about the wild new style of the Z-Boys, and they quickly became local celebrities, and later nationwide skating stars, though sudden fame took its toll on these young men. The true story of Lords of Dogtown was previously the basis of the acclaimed documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, directed by former Z-Boy Stacy Peralta, who like Tony Alva served as a consultant on this project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the mid-'70s, skateboarding was widely seen as a fad of the 1960s that had all but died out, except for a handful of committed fans in California. But that began to change with the emerge of the Z-Boys, a team of teenaged skateboarders who emerged from a decaying urban community in Santa Monica, CA. Hard-core surfers who sought to translate the hot-dogging stunts of world-class wave riders onto their skateboards began hanging out at the Zephyr Productions Surf Shop, a store that stocked top-grade equipment for local surfers and skaters, and with the help of the store's owner Jeff Ho, twelve of the skaters organized themselves into a team to compete at local skate events. Soon the radical moves and scruffy-streetwise style of the Zephyr Skate Team -- the Z-Boys for short -- upended public preconceptions of skateboarding as a sport and a lifestyle, and the wild style of Z-Boy skaters such as Tony Alva, Jim Muir, and Jay Adams made them celebrities who blazed the trail for the extreme sports movement. But while the Z-Boys' success brought them a measure of fame and fortune -- lucrative endorsement contracts, deals to manufacture their own custom skateboards, and even movie roles (Tony Alva starred opposite Leif Garrett in Skateboard, while Z-Boy Stacy Peralta was top-billed in Freewheelin') -- their fame proved to be fleeting, and several of the Z-Boys fell prey to drugs, crime, and ego. Dogtown and Z-Boys is a documentary by former Z-Boy Stacy Peralta that chronicles the glory days of the Z-Boys through footage of the skaters in their prime and interviews with the pioneers of the Southern California skate scene. Rock musicians and noted skate enthusiasts Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins, and Jeff Ament also appear to discuss the importance of the Z-Boys' legacy; Sean Penn narrates. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This lively actioner was made to cash in on the skateboard mania of the mid 1970s. It is the story of a Hollywood agent who finds himself in deep trouble with a powerful bookie. Now he must come up with the cash he owes or face certain death. To make a fast buck, he creates a team of exceptionally talented skateboarders and enters them in a downhill race. If they win, they will get $20,000. Meanwhile, an evil gangster tries to persuade the agent and his team to deliberately lose. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide