The Tony Hawk Documentary

It's all about the personal.

This is a must for skateboarding fans, for everyone else? I don't know. Felice watched it separately and loved it. But one thing's for sure, this is a movie about skateboarding, too often docs focus on the penumbra, not the core, like music documentaries that don't feature the music, but you'll see Tony skate and you'll gain insight into who he is.

Which he had no idea of until he went into rehab after three failed marriages. Two of which are essentially skipped here. But I guess that would be a different movie.

So what you've got here is a "mistake" whose mother is 43 years old when he is born and whose siblings are twenty years his senior. Who discovers skateboarding and never lets go.

Most people don't have a passion, something they'll sacrifice everything for. So they don't understand the single-mindedness, the dedication of those who do. Furthermore, these people following their desire ultimately do it for themselves, because the accolades ring hollow.

This is very different from the mainstream paradigm, which is all about finding a way to get rich. Tony Hawk and his brethren in this flick just love to skateboard, they do so when no one is paying attention, they do so even though they're now in their fifties and sixties.

So Tony's father supports his passion. Like one of the skaters in the film, I can't imagine my father doing that. His father creates the organization to oversee skateboard competitions but having a father with sharp elbows makes it hard to be one of the group at the competition.

Males... There is rarely an accurate portrayal of them. There's all this talk about nerds and metrosexuals, but they are the minority. Being a male is being a part of a giant pecking order, with people always trying to push you down. If you're accepted, you move up the ladder. But to be accepted oftentimes you have to shave off your rough edges, take on the group's identity as opposed to your own, being different is anathema. But if you go your own way and raise your head it's going to be chopped off, not only by the obvious bullies but most males, even those who appear to be gentle. And this isn't only in sports, but in jobs, cars, men compete until they die. As if someone is really paying attention. Ultimately no one cares what car you drive, what house you live in, even about your accomplishments, because they're focused on themselves and there's always someone there to replace you. The hordes move on, where does that leave you?

So Tony makes it to the top and then the bottom falls out of skateboarding. A dance music promoter told me the music peaked every few years and then faded away, only to return once again. The Prodigy is big and everybody's into the music. Then it goes back to the hard core and waits for ignition again.

They thought skateboarding was forever, but it turned out it wasn't. That's what's hard to understand, you're making bank, people are cheering for you and then nobody cares, you're a has-been, Tony became a video editor, still skated while his then wife supported the family as a manicurist. And there's so much pressure to give up and go straight. Your significant other is usually only supportive to a point. Girls talk and consensus is you're a loser. But skating touches Tony's soul, it keeps him centered, it makes his life worth living, so he refuses to give it up. You can only survive if the public acknowledges your work, but that isn't always the case, or as with Tony, your job disappears.

And then years later it's resuscitated by the X Games.

I don't think young people today understand the power of television, the power of mass media. That was the goal, to get airtime, so everyone could see you. To a great degree that paradigm is dead, because nothing reaches everybody, except maybe the Super Bowl, which is why ad time is so expensive. Now being on TV is no big deal, there are too many outlets and you're competing with YouTube and social media, which are infinite. Same deal with radio, the younger generations don't listen to it, and the younger generations are the ones who move the needle on music.

Now if you go back to the early nineties it was a big deal that there was even a second ESPN. The X Games blew up extreme sports, supported the culture, which got very little promotion in the straight media but had huge impact amongst the demo. Which is always the case, those in charge can't see, never mind feel, the change.

Tony's father articulates something that stunned me in this world. That unlike the boomers, these competitors actually root for each other. It's oftentimes more important to have a good time than to win.

And skating could be done anywhere. You didn't need an ocean or mountains and snow. And with skating there was a culture, with apparel, the right shoes, shorts and t-shirts. And an attitude. This culture was supported by magazines and videos, back when information used to be scarce, outsiders found a world where they could be accepted. And it grew and grew. However ultimately Gen-X's kids rebelled against snowboarding, an outgrowth of skate culture, and went back to skiing. Everybody focused on money, screw your passion. So once again, the progenitors, the lifers, are left alone, doing their own thing, which they continue to do whether anybody is paying attention or not.

Maybe they know something the rest of us do not. But you see the skaters in this movie decades later and you wonder how they make a living. There's enough money for Tony, but a lot look bedraggled, only a few people can triumph financially in niche sports, maybe only one, and that's Tony.

Who has it all, takes advantage and realizes it's not fulfilling. I know, it sounds like a "Behind the Music" episode, but musicians are different, they take the stage, it's about performance, being larger than life, whereas Tony is so normal and nice.

That's what shocks you when you meet him. I've met a ton of celebrities, and they carry their charisma or send a message you should treat them differently. Tony is like your next door neighbor, home from spending time doing something you're unfamiliar with. He never boasts. He doesn't raise his voice. He'll treat you like an equal, which is shocking. He's not the usual celebrity.

But he is the usual star inside. That one-minded focus, that dedication, leaves blind spots. Tony goes on record that he has an intimacy problem. Most people won't even admit that. You're surrounded by people but you don't know how to deal with people. This is something you'll find if you meet your musician heroes, at least the aged ones. They did this because it was their only way out, their only way to meet people who wanted to be with them romantically, the only way they could have friends. But usually they only get the surface, the adoration, being put on a pedestal, people don't know them and oftentimes the performers don't know themselves.

So today it's all about showing your trappings, trying to get clicks, accolades. There are so many more opportunities than there were in the pre-internet era, but success is on a smaller scale than it ever was, at least in terms of reach, you might still be able to make money.

But the image you present is not real. Scroll through Instagram, you'll instantly feel inadequate, everybody's toned and beautiful. Then again, every once in a while one of the posters will put up a picture without makeup and they'll look completely normal, not special, not beautiful.

And why spend time making TikTok videos if people aren't going to see them? Everybody believes they're one click away from going viral. And if they go viral people will know them, they'll get paid and their life will work out. But this is not the case. It's the carrot dangled before you, but if you think being famous solves all your problems, you're dead wrong, you probably don't even know anyone truly famous.

No, in the end you have to become a fully developed person, engage the world just like everybody else, do your best to be real, to reveal your truth, which is scarce in today's society but is what we're all looking for.

So on the surface, "Until the Wheels Fall Off" is a skateboarding movie. But underneath the rolling wheels it's a human story, about society, the individual.

Now on a skateboarding level, nothing is left on the cutting room floor. It's all there. For you to learn and salivate over.

But on a human level...you've got to watch and connect the dots, figure out how the pieces fit together, try to figure out who these people are, what truly motivates them.

And Tony Hawk has suffered for his sport, his success. His body is bruised and broken, hell, he broke his femur just before this flick's release. But he will not stop. These people will not stop. They keep skating. As Rodney Mullen says near the end it's the intangibles that keep them going, pushing the envelope, he wishes the average person could see them, but they can't. This is the nirvana. You pay a huge price for it, but it's rare and elusive and most people don't get there. It's an inner feeling, not something you wear, an amount in your bank account. It's about being alive, self-satisfaction, happiness, a structure to your life. It's available to everybody but few want to pay their dues and carry the costs of achieving this heightened state.

But one thing is for sure, you can see it in this documentary. You can feel it. Tony Hawk is just the spearhead of a cultural movement. It's more of an attitude than a performance. Skateboarding was outside. Tony's told me he's thrilled it's in the Olympics, and I can see that it makes it more permanent, so the sport has staying power. But you can never buy back your outsider status. There is a cost to being co-opted, there is a cost for everybody being in on the joke and the story. Freestyle skiing was an outlaw sport. Now bump skiing is in the Olympics with man-made moguls and everybody replicating the same turns and tricks. It's become what the original freestylers hated, it's no longer free.

But those there in the beginning, they still remember. And what's stunning about the skaters in this movie is they're still the same people doing the same thing. Usually sports or arts activities are a whim, something you do for a while before you go straight. But not these guys, this is who they are. Watching them will have you pondering who you are. And that's the most important question in life.

On HBO: https://bit.ly/3uepEGA


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