View source for North Shore (1987 film)

{{Short description|1987 film by William Phelps}}
{{Infobox film
| name = North Shore
| image = North shore poster.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = William Phelps
| screenplay = {{Plainlist|
* [[Tim McCanlies]]
* William Phelps
}}
| story = {{Plainlist|
* William Phelps
* [[Randal Kleiser]]
}}
| producer = [[Bill Finnegan|William Finnegan]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Matt Adler]]
* [[Nia Peeples]]
* [[John Philbin]]
* [[Gerry Lopez]]
* [[Gregory Harrison]]
}}
| cinematography = Peter Smokler
| editing = Robert Gordon
| music    = [[Richard Stone (composer)|Richard Stone]]
| studio   = Finnegan/Pinchuk Productions
| distributor = [[Universal Pictures]]
| released = {{Film date|1987|08|14}}
| runtime = 96 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget =
| gross = $3,832,228
}}
'''''North Shore''''' is a 1987 American [[action film|action]] [[drama (film and television)|drama]] [[surf film]] directed by William Phelps.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/20296/north-shore|title=North Shore|website=www.tcm.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://letterboxd.com/film/north-shore/|title=North Shore (1987)|via=letterboxd.com}}</ref> The film is about Rick Kane ([[Matt Adler]]), a young [[surfer]] from a [[wave tank]] in [[Arizona]], who heads to surf the season on the [[North Shore (Oahu)|North Shore of O{{okina}}ahu]] to see if he has the skills to cut it as a pro surfer. As he progresses on his journey, he learns the qualities he possesses are not going to pull him through alone.
==Plot==
Eighteen year-old Rick Kane has just graduated from high school. He uses his winnings from a wave tank surfing contest in his native state of [[Arizona]] to fly to Hawaii for the summer before the start of college, in order to try to become a professional surfer. He takes a plane to [[Honolulu]] with plans to stay with a surfer that he met in Arizona six months previously. He finds the friend tending bar at a seedy gentlemen's club.
At the bar Rick meets up with two pro surfers, Alex (Robbie Page) and Mark ([[Mark Occhilupo]]), and stays with them at the house of Lance Burkhart.  In the morning, he goes out surfing with Alex and Mark and realizes that surfing in the ocean is totally different to surfing in a wave tank. He is not as good as he had initially thought. They end up at Sunset Beach and tries to paddle out, not knowing how to duck dive he struggles his way out to the line-up. During this scene he gets in the way of Vince Moaloka ([[Gerry Lopez]]), who is leader of a local group named "The Hui" ("The Club"). This causes Vince to wipe out and leads to a confrontation where Rick is chased off the beach, after he realizes his stuff was stolen from the beach by another member of the Hui.
With nowhere to go, he fortuitously runs into Turtle ([[John Philbin]]). Kane also meets and falls in love with Kiani ([[Nia Peeples]]), a beautiful local girl, coincidentally the cousin of Vince, who helps him acclimate to the local culture and customs. Turtle introduces him to Chandler ([[Gregory Harrison]]), a surfboard shaper and soul surfer, who teaches Rick about soul surfing and Rick masters the art of appreciating and riding the waves.  During Rick's stay, Chandler is marveled at Rick's talent for art and he then designs a new graphic for Chandler.
The film's antagonist is Lance Burkhart ([[Laird Hamilton]]), a famous, top-ranked surfer whose competitive and materialistic values conflict with the spiritual teachings of Chandler ("You still have a single-fin-mentality").  The film climaxes with a surf contest on the [[Banzai Pipeline]] as Rick ends up competing against Lance in a duel of skills and beliefs. During the final round, Lance cheats by pulling on Rick's leash, causing him to wipeout. Chandler, initially hostile towards competitive surfing, is outraged, but Rick reminds him that it wasn't about winning, but going the distance.
As Rick prepares to leave for college in New York, he thanks Chandler for his friendship and lessons. While waiting for his flight, Rick is greeted by Turtle and Kiani. He shares a goodbye kiss with Kiani, and Turtle shows Rick a newspaper catching Lance in the act, who was disqualified. Rick promises to come back to the North Shore.
==Cast==
{{castlist|
*[[Matt Adler]] as Rick Kane
*[[Gregory Harrison]] as Chandler
*[[Nia Peeples]] as Kiani
*[[John Philbin]] as Turtle
*[[Gerry Lopez]] as Vince Moaloka
*[[Laird Hamilton]] as Lance Burkhart
*Robbie Page as Alex Rogers
*[[Mark Occhilupo]] as Occy
*[[John Paragon]] as Professor
*[[Cristina Raines]] as Mrs. Kane
*[[Corky Carroll]] as himself
*[[Lord James Blears]] as Contest Director
*[[Jim Trenton]] as Chuck King
*[[Allan Cole]] as Ed Lusky
*[[Shaun Tomson]] as himself
*Hans Hedemann as himself
*[[Derek Ho]] as himself
*[[Mark Foo]] as himself
*[[Ken Bradshaw]] as Surfer
*[[Michael Ho (surfer)|Michael Ho]] as Surfer
*Christian Fletcher as Surfer
*[[Jimmy Star]] as Surfer
}}
==Production==
North Shore features professional surfers [[Shaun Tomson]], [[Gerry Lopez]] ("Vince"), [[Laird Hamilton]] ("Lance Burkhart"), [[Mark Occhilupo]], Robbie Page ("Alex Rogers"), [[Mark Foo]], [[Derek Ho]], Hans Hedemann, [[Ken Bradshaw]], Christian Fletcher, [[Lord James Blears]] and several others. The character of Rick Kane was loosely based on Connecticut born surfer Benjamin "Barney" Partyka. The first-ever professional surfer, [[Corky Carroll]], plays a competition announcer in the film.
Laird Hamilton's adoptive father Bill Hamilton was a surfboard shaper and glasser on [[Oahu]] in the 1960s and 1970s and owned a small business. Bill was handmaking custom, high-performance surfboards for the Oahu North Shore big wave riders of the era, similar to the character Chandler in the film. In reality, Laird is a big wave rider and loathes competition like the Chandler character does.
==Legacy==
The 2007 animated film [[Surf's Up (film)|''Surf's Up'']] parodies much of the plot and characters in ''North Shore''.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0093648|title=North Shore}}
* {{TCMDb title|20296|title=North Shore}}
* {{Letterboxd film|north-shore}}
* {{Mojo title|northshore}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|north_shore}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:North Shore (Film)}}
[[Category:1987 films]]
[[Category:1980s sports films]]
[[Category:1980s action drama films]]
[[Category:Films set in Hawaii]]
[[Category:American surfing films]]
[[Category:American action drama films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Richard Stone (composer)]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films shot in Hawaii]]
[[Category:Universal Pictures films]]
[[Category:1987 drama films]]
[[Category:1980s American films]]
[[Category:English-language action drama films]]
[[Category:1987 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:English-language sports films]]