Bunker77 (Takuji Masuda, 2016) | USA

Reviewed by Gio Traina and viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Bunker77 is the true story of young playboy surfer Bunker Spreckles who was 30 years ahead of his time among the surf world. Although the title 0f this film sounds like something out of a war movie, don’t be fooled as this documentary is as interesting as it is heartbreaking.

Bunker Spreckles, the stepson of famous actor Clark “The King of Hollywood” Gable, started surfing at a young age. His brothers could tell from a young age he was going to make it big. In his late teens he decided to pack his bags and live off the nature in Hawaii. This time in Bunker’s life was full of him surfing everyday with some of the greatest waves in the world. In this time he got amazingly great while using small unorthodox surfboards at the time. People looked at him like he was crazy yet Bunker’s surfboards are the standard used today in the surf industry. Despite his insane surf skill, Bunker chose to move back to Los Angeles after receiving millions in inheritance from his grandfather and fulfill a lavish life similar to his father. Drugs and alcohol overtook his life as he pursued various activities such as a band and other wasteful rich person activities that completely changed the person he was: the amazing, unorthodox surfing legend on Oahu.

Takuji Masuda does a masterful job in directing this interesting story of Bunker Spreckles. The interviews are executed great and the pictures are perfectly organized in narrating the story of Spreckle’s life. Among the interviewees are his brothers, close friends and other high profiles in the surf community.

The basis of the film is just to inform people of this surfing legend and how ahead of his time he was. The standard surfboard used today wasn’t even considered decent 30 years ago. Its a great and beautiful documentary and is highly recommended to all people wether you’re a surf fan or not.