I'm going to say easily Surf's Up is the best surf movie. I'm basically Chicken Joe. After that definitely Endless Summer 1
Jim Freeman's The Glass Wall... it predates Endless Summer, and was Freeman's last solo film before hooking up with MacGillavry. Check out the ride at 1:30... pure art. https://vimeo.com/117950548
Of note is the complete absence of any crowd in such beautiful surf. That is how it was when I started surfing--nobody out, no matter how perfect it was breaking. Nowadays, it is a ****show of total morons
That's why I like those old longboard films from the '60s, and like to read books about that era. Let's the imagination run... I didn't start until the '70s, but it was still rarely crowded... only on big, clean hurricane swells was there ever a crowd. Your normal, everyday session was usually empty.
I started in 1961 in PR. Shortly after, 1962-63, I went to Rincon with my elder brother, my age 13. About 1965-66, I went there often with friends--we were the ONLY ones surfing Marias, for days at a stretch. Today, on a ****y swell, there are 75 assholes in the water, mostly american tourists trying to be cool. Glad I had it when empty.