'Freewheelin' is sort of a skateboarding documentary, or more specifically, a peak into the early days of pre-mega stardom Stacey Perlata, former Zephyr team skater. The movie is narrated by Camille Darrin who is either Perlata's best friend or girlfriend (and whether her relationship to him is fictional altogether in order to give the movie some sort of traditional narrative, we are not told). She travels around with the film crew to various California destinations with his friends, Tom Sims (founder of Sims skate and snowboards), Ken Means (one of the few freestyle rollerskaters), Mike Weed, and others. And, we are presented this from the filmmakers who likely had the expectation that their audience would primarily be the pre-teen crowd who might take an interest in the burgeoning sport. It's like something you would see some afternoon on Reading Rainbow or something.
While films like 'Skateboard: the Movie', which came out around the same time (and featured fellow Z-boy Tony Alva) followed a traditional narrative for it's skateboard themed movie, 'Freewheelin' looks like a primitive version of skate demos that soon, the Powell/Peralta brand would innovate with the Bones Brigade (i.e. Search for Animal Chin, Public Domain, Banned, This is the Bones Brigade, etc.).
For the most part it is ridiculously boring and cheesy, thanks in large part to the unnecessary input from Darrin and the utterly lame soundtrack. However, fans of skateboarding might find this movie valuable with its ample footage of old skate styles that pretty much have become non-existent with the standardization of skateboarding. Recall in the Dogtown and Z-boys documentary, Skip Embloom, Jeff Ho, and others continuously talked about style, something that was probably lost on us new generation of skaters. A term so oft used in the documentary, I thought it was just more self-congratulatory mechanisms, but 'Freewheelin' makes it clear what they mean.
In the film, for example, we see a downhill slalom event organized by the local skaters for fun. Depending on what activity the skater learned prior to skateboarding, we see exactly what those in the Dogtown documentary were referring to. One guy was a pro skier before learning how to skateboard, so he always skateboarded with his feet together (something possible to do on the old days of narrow skateboards and fat wheels). Peralta was always able to maneuver with intense speed in slalom because he always skated using the ball of his foot rather than his knees to move from side to side in and out of the cones. And still others, who were long-time surfers like Peralta before becoming skateboarders, skated with an entirely different stance and method of adjustment. Tom Sims, a surfer, rode longboards in the pool (I didn't know this was possible) and always put his weight on the back of the board for shift like he would if he were surfing. (Not to mention that there is a loss the more technical terminology about skateboarding maneuvers like 'torque.') This is really something lost on later generations of skater where that was the first sport they approached. No background in surfing or skiing or whatever to influence a difference in styles. Now, it's really just a matter of 'goofy foot' or 'regular stance' being the distinction.
So, the movie is incredibly lame with all the background discussion about Perlata working at the restaurant or having to deal with school and stuff. Once you get into a lot of the straight skate sequences (which is pretty much the entire middle part of the movie), then you've really got some eye candy before you. Makes me really miss the old days of skating and wonder, what will be the next evolution of the sport should the popularity of street skating ever wane? I think is a film to be enjoyed particularly by skaters of the old style or skaters who at least loved watching others skate the old style. You get a little visual history lesson, if nothing else.
