Category Archive: In The Movies
Even E.T. has Skateboard Connection
One of the actors/operators of the E.T. suit is Matthew De Merrit who was 12 years old at the time the movie was filmed. He was born with no legs and still uses a skateboard to get around, although it looks like he may have graduated to electric version these days. The photo above right is from the L.A. 40th anniversary screening in 2022.
The Hulkster Skateboarding in a Bad Movie
Consummate wrestling showman and lousy, racist human being Hulk Hogan died on July 24, 2025. In 1991 he made the movie Suburban Commando which has a few skateboarding scenes in it and features a skateboard in the poster art. The Hulk starred as an intergalactic warrior who had to take some down time on earth. He has a run in with kids on skateboards and he Wilsons it pretty comically. Somehow he becomes an expert skateboarder at some point in the plot after acquiring a 6 wheel battle skateboard. I’ve only seen a few clips from the movie so I don’t know how prominently it features, but the stunts are over the top, with lots of cut scenes showing a double doing crazy flips in the air, and shots from the knees down only. This movie seems like it would fall into he “so-bad-it’s-good” category. Notice the generic Powell Peralta board in the stills.
Les Bidasses en Vadrouille avec Martin Circus
Les Bidasses en Vadrouille is French movie made in 1979, and was the first of several starring the French band band Martin Circus. The title translates to “The Soldiers on the Move,”and it looks like they were “soldiers” in at least three titles. Here’s a translation of the plot synopsis: After the big maneuvers, four young soldiers, René, Sylvain, Gérard and Alain, arrive at the end of their military service and take a two hundred kilometer ride with a latest model AM17 assault tank nicknamed “the Invincible” in order to reach their base. Forced to clean the machine, the soldiers will cause panic in a market and involuntarily commit a hold-up. Part of this zany journey involves an extended skateboard (planche de skate) sequence. – Thanks to Doc Skaterock for the tip
Historical Inaccuracies in Air
Outrage! I just watched the movie Air, and and enjoyed it quite a bit except for a glaring historical accuracy. No, I’m not talking about combining real-life people into one character for the sake of the plot, nor imagined dialog. Instead, I’m talking about the real important stuff, the skateboarding! The scene happens early (about 14 mins) in the movie, and 40 year old sneaker designer Peter Moore is seen skateboarding in the parking lot of Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. He’s on a somewhat era appropriate skateboard doing kickflips in 1984!
Scott Starr R.I.P.
Friend of the site and undervalued hero of the skateboarding and surfboarding historical community, Scott Starr passed away some time this month. Scott put a tremendous amount of effort and his own money into collecting and preserving old skateboarding and surfing films, which included having them professionally digitized when his finances permitted. His numerous accounts on Youtube wouldn’t last long due to obscure, questionable or pointless copyright claims. The only thing that seemed to matter to him was preserving these films and TV appearances, some of them dating back to the 60’s. I used to email him fairly regularly about things I’d seen or heard about, and he was a willing fountain of knowledge. I also bought a handful of 60’s era comic books from him that featured skateboarding content, you can find many of these on S&A. Scott had some health and anxiety issues he battled with, keeping him out of the public eye and probably contributing to that fact that he is not more widely known to later generations of skateboarders. I consider him an important person in the lexicon skateboarding in popular culture. I don’t know that there is anyone else out there doing the kind of…
Whatzit Man
These are movie posters from the 1992 movie Encino Man, or “California Man” as they called it in France. I’m not sure what the Thai translation is. I’m not sure if Brenden Frazier actually rides a skateboard in the movie, and I’m not about to go watch it and find out. A quick search for Pauly Shore on a skateboard turns up one animated gif that may be from the movie, who knows. Quality stuff right here on Skate and Annoy. I kid you not. – Thanks to Claude Queyrel for the tip.
Decades late, still in demand. Thrashin’ Action Figures.
Holy #$%&!! It’s Thrashin’ action figures (!!!) flying under the radar, as seen on the Dagger Skates instagram page as coming soon! No other information out there, but Hook and Cory Webster look great. Wannabe Ramp Locals and Daggers alike demand answers. Will there be: Action eyebrows for the Eddie Reategui figure? Hook’s sister Velvet, AKA Sherilyn Fenn? Cabriolet sports car accessory? Red Hot Chili Peppers club scene playset? The possibilities are endless. Yes these are ridiculous possibilities, but I would BUY THEM ALL. UPDATE: Looks like these are from Kalaka Toys.
Tony Hawk Pops
Tony Hawk is becoming a Funko Pop. Should be any day now… He also makes an appearance in the documentary Making Fun: The Story of Funko. You can find it on Netflix. Tony’s short but interesting part starts at the 1:08 mark. That’s hours and minutes. – Thanks to Boy at SkateMalaysia.com for the tip.
Behind the Scenes at Skateboard, the Movie
Alright, we’ve got special behind the scenes access to Skateboard, the movie, courtesy of this July, 1977 edition of Wild World of Skateboarding magazine. The article seems hastily written, and does not really offer much behind the scenes action outside of some photos from the set. However, it’s got lots of poorly written press release action. It also offers an interesting glimpse of the state of skateboarding at the time, such as the lack of “established rules of Downhill in organized competition due to the infancy of skateboarding as a spectator sport.” Apparently, all the competitions in the film were staged. I haven’t seen it in a very long time, but I recall as a kid I thought this was a sort of hybrid of documentary and drama. The tone of the article is amusing in retrospect, as it treats the movie as, well, a film and not the kitsch time capsule it turned out to be. Pics and full article text after the jump.
Joe Strummer Says the word “Skateboard”
It’s Joe Strummer hanging out in an unidentified West London skatepark (UPDATE: It’s Meanwhile Gardens) during an interview that took place some time between 1988 and 1991. Footage from the same interview also appears in the 2007 Joe Strummer documentary The Future is Unwritten, which I haven’t actually seen yet, but maybe it lists the source in the credits. This particular digitization is pretty rough. If anyone finds clearer footage and can identify the source please let me know.











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