Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator

Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator is a documentary about the former skateboard star Mark "Gator" Rogowski, his troubled youth, his rise to fame and fortune and his inevitable fall from grace. However, his no ordinary fall: He is currently serving a 25 year to life sentence for the first degree murder of his ex-fiancé's friend, Jessica Bergsten. The story begins with how he began his rise. He started in the 70's in the skate parks of Southern California as a wild child with a gift for skateboarding. Skateboarding itself has risen and fell in popularity over the years, and each time it comes back it seems to be reincarnated, new styles, new tricks, new medium. In Gator's case, it was the half-pipe or vert. He was only 14 when he was sponsored and went pro. He had a good-looking but bad-boy look, a snotty punk rock attitude and loads of talent to boot. He was a hit, both in the corporate world (He became a mascot of sorts for Vision, a leading skateboard company at the time), and with the cute young girl groupies, or Bettys. At one point in his career he was making $20,000 a month before he was 18. His story is told by many of Gator's former associates and friends (including Tony Hawk and Stacy Peralta), and it lays the groundwork for his sense of entitlement and the madness that includes alcohol and drug excesses, anger, mental illness and eventually murder, that shows his slow but definite fall.

Because the skateboarding community was so shaken by this event, many who knew anything about it or even Gator did not want to talk about it at all for a long time. So this movie is to be commended for trying to tell the story of what happened. It makes some excellent points about what happened to Gator once the limelight and money was gone, in particular by Pro skaters Steve Cabellero and Stacy Peralta. To be washed up before you are even 25 would pretty hard to take, with nothing to fall back on once it is over. But nothing else is really explored at all, and that is where the documentary really falls short. For example, his troubled childhood is glossed over, they give the bare-bones of the case, you learn nothing about his victim other than she was the friend of his ex-fiancé's, they merely mention the conditions of depression he was diagnosed with after he was in prison, and it seemed to me that so many more people should have been interviewed that were more directly related to the story. They show lots of pictures of him with his mother, yet his mother is not interviewed, to name but a few. Overall a good attempt but when the majority of the case is treated so lightly, the feeling I was left with was that the whole story was not heard. It could have been much better with a deeper look at all the sides of the story. 6 out of 10.

Using the life of Mark 'Gator' Ragowski as the thread, director Helen Stickler tracks the rise of skateboarding from underground pastime to cultural phenomenon. As corporate America jumped all over the sport, the proponents got richer and the sport of skateboarding more mainstream, but some of the players weren't equipped for the fame and money - Gator amongst them.

With a great soundtrack, excellent original resources and unparralleled access to the sports biggest names (many of whom skated with Gator and are now owners of Skateboard companies), Stoked is as much a look at the Eighties and the gluttony of the times; some made it through unscathed, some profited nicely, and one at least is going to be in jail for some time to come!

Stoked is a great documentary, for fans of skateboarding and pop culture junkies alike

Mark `Gator' Ragowski (later `Mark Anthony' briefly) rode his skateboarding skills to the heights of fame and success in the mid-to-late eighties. He was one of the giants of the sport's development from vertical skating in trespassed abandoned swimming pools to pop phenomenon ramp touring. Unfortunately, he just as quickly hit the skids as the sport changed styles to street skating, leaving him and his over-commercialized and suddenly unpopular `vert' world behind. While skaters like Tony Hawk made the adjustment and thrived even to the present day, Ragowski took a hard dive instead into substance abuse, briefly emerging from an alcoholic haze as a `born-again' skater, only to take a harder descent into violent sexual crime, landing him in prison for a 31-year term. A fascinating doc, exploring a lurid tale from a rarely seen culture (last explored in 2003's "Dogtown and Z-Boys"), with clips of Ragowski in his "glory" MTV/ Swatch tour days, as well as intimate peeks into backstage shenanigans on tour, and his frustrations in trying to move to a street style.

It seems like only a few years ago when the local news stations were reporting on one of San Diegos local skateboard heroes,apparently being accused of murder? This was, of course a shock to everyone who knew or admired Mark Rogowski. It seemed like all those guys had such a great lifestyle! How could one of the sports most succesful icons have spiraled so far out of control? Well,its' been about 13 years now since Gator was convicted, and until I saw "Stoked" The Rise and Fall of Gator", I had many questions about what really happened to this guy. Helen Stickler, I must say right off the bat, did an outstanding job bringing his story to light. It's a story ,that if fallen into the wrong "creative hands" ,so to speak, could have come off as sensationalizing, or dramatizing the life, and subsequent murder conviction of Rogowski. While using classic skate footeage from the eighties, recorded phone conversations from Rogowski himself,and on camera interviews from fellow skate legends,former friends and former Girlfriend ,Brandi Mc Clean, Stickler created a mesmorizing look into this sad story. Her contact with those close to Gators story even includes the investigating homicide officers. The film tells it like it is. Through clever editing of skate footage and commentary, it is a sad look into a pathetic downfall of a once great sports hero.You see the effect his rape and murder conviction has had, not only on his life, but, on everyone who knew and loved him. "Jessica didn't deserve my rage", Gator stated from a prison phone call. Jessica Bergsten was only about twenty one years old,when gator murdered her. He claims,out of rage towards her relationship with his ,then, ex- girlfriend,Brandi McClean. Although none of Bergstens family members appear on the film ,one can only imagine the effect, Rogowskis' rage has had on their lives. Anyone who has any interest or questions regarding ,what exactly happened to Mark"Gator" Rogowski, should definately check out, Stoked! It's a a top notch documentary, that keeps you rivetted to the story, while never glorifying it.

This film NAILS it by juxtaposing the fast rise and rocky descent of 80's counter-culture commercialism with the tragic story of Gator and his victim. We get to know Gator as a wild punk, arrogant jock, immature romantic, and finally, a violent and dangerous man. He was made for stardom, but the path to skater stardom was even younger than its pioneers... he was the era's most notable fallen angel.

I haven't yet seen a more vivid reflection on the style and attitude of California in the 1980s. It's very easy to get lost in this one; it's a sad, enlightening, and socially significant piece of journalistic film-making. Kudos to the filmmakers.