The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Tony Hawk Revealed in New Doc
Share
I’m not a skater, but I know who Tony Hawk is. We all know who Tony Hawk is.
RELATED: Olympic Dream: Gus Kenworthy Meets His Hero Skate Legend Tony Hawk
In 1988 I was in elementary school. There was another boy, maybe a year or two older, being scolded for riding his skateboard in the halls. The back of his shirt said “Tony Hawk.”
View this post on Instagram
I wasn’t sure who that was, but it’s a name that would keep repeating throughout every phase of my life in some way.
From teenage sleepovers watching the X-Games to my early 20s where every apartment I visited had a thick haze of cannabis smoke and Tony Hawk Pro Skater on the Playstation —he was inescapable. In the 2010s I was a partner in a skate shop and Tony Hawk was still dominating the culture with his Nitro Circus series. He’s one of these American institutions that exists as a kind of pervasive background radiation. He’s been woven into our lives over decades in a way that only a handful of public figures have achieved, but we rarely get to understand him. Unlike other sports giants throughout the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, like Michael Jordan or Tom Brady, Tony Hawk somehow coasts just under the radar of the mainstream news cycle. I was never completely sure if this was by design.
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off, directed by Sam Jones and produced by the Duplass Brothers, gives us a rare glimpse into the life of this iconic, but rarely explored, skating legend.
View this post on Instagram
When Gaynrd asked me to write this I’d actually already seen the movie. Unrelated to this article I’d been invited to a private screening at Bungalow in Santa Monica.
RELATED: ‘Tony Hawk: Until The Wheels Fall Off’ Debuts April 5 on HBO
I know that it’s not typically proper form to pull back the curtain that separates reviewers, filmmakers, and films, but I think it’s important in this case because Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off is such a sentimental portrait of its subject that it often feels like propaganda.
View this post on Instagram
When the screening ended there was a casual reception. Tony came walking in with a cane and wearing a long coat in the Pacific night air. He was both charismatic and humble as we talked briefly under a tree by a fire overlooking the pier. I didn’t know then that I’d be reviewing the film, but I’m glad that I am and I’m glad that I had an opportunity to compare reality against the curated version presented in the feature.
View this post on Instagram
The cynic in me wants to roll my eyes and fold my arms at how anyone could be so universally well-liked, but after spending some time with many of the personalities featured in the doc I realized that there’s barely any spin at work. The film, as Pollyanna as it is, paints an honest picture of the life of a man who has dedicated himself to personal achievement, evangelism of his sport, and who largely tries to build up his fellow athletes. That kind of authentic wholesomeness is so rare that it’s noteworthy.
The documentary alludes to a brief dark period of personal failings with Tony’s spouses and children as his career began a Renaissance in the late 90s, but all parties appear to have reconciled their differences long ago.
View this post on Instagram
If you’re a fan of skating you’ll find a lot to love here. The nostalgic archival footage will bring most millennials and GenXers back to their childhoods while the interviews provide context for the personalities behind the gravity-defying tricks.
The aspects of the film which I found most interesting, however, were learning about the people in Tony’s orbit. These range from the touching story of Tony’s late father as he tried to connect with his son by founding the National Skateboarding Association, to the disturbing psychology of Tony’s peers who continue to push themselves beyond their physical limits well into their 50s and 60s. One person jokingly claims that they are, “grandparents falling out of the sky.”
View this post on Instagram
The question of Tony’s sanity as he and his cohorts relentlessly punish their bodies is one of the central themes of the film, but it’s handled in the abstract. We rarely get any real glimpses into the tangible effects of having more concussions than most NFL players.
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off makes a deliberate decision to be intimate and human rather than lean into the kind of spectacle you’d see in films like 2003’s surf documentary Step Into Liquid or almost any modern youtube extreme sports POV video. The world is bursting with astonishing stunt footage and the film is smart to stay centered on relationships. It’s a feel-good doc overflowing with sincerity, kindness, and passion.
Clocking in at nearly two and a half hours, it does feel slow at times. That said, I’m not sure what could be cut from a film that chronicles a career over a forty year span.
I absolutely recommend it as a double feature with the equally well-crafted Dogtown and Z-Boys by Stacy Peralta.
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off is now streaming on HBOMax.
