Undoubtedly the first hard core air mattress movie ever made, 1970's Rubber Duck Riders was a home movie in the best sense. It was made purely as a party film for George and his friends.And you thought you knew how to rave... :)
Some of the images in the film were point-of-view water shots taken by George, but the bulk of RDR was shot by film students from Brooks Institute of Photography. At George's invitation, they came down to the beach on a few occasions, and got some shots of George, Michael Cundith, the Brown brothers, and a couple of other local mat rats.
The running time was brief...about 8 minutes. But the cutting was tuned to the music, which was Keep On Chooglin' from Creedence Clearwater's second album, "Bayou Country." If you read the lyrics to Keep On Chooglin', http://www.metrolyrics.com/keep-on-chooglin-lyrics-creedence-clearwater-revival.html, well, they don't have much to do with mat surfing! But the throbbing beat really captures mat riding. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsehyyYjVg0&feature=related
RDR was shot at Rincon, on the kind of days George loved best...with a southeast back wind cutting through it, keeping the crowds at home (at least back then.) The mats, of course, were Converse/Hodgman's. The riding was state of the art, and would remain so for the next 10 years.
The original footage that made up Rubber Duck Riders was disassembled and re-edited for the mat riding segment in Crystal Voyager. No prints of the original Rubber Duck Riders remain, but the footage is in C-V ...just watch it with Keep On Chooglin' on the turntable, and you'll get the idea!
2 comments:
I'd love to see this. I have been hoping it would surface for a few years now. Is there a copy floating around anywhere? This is an important movie for matting. I hope some matter out there takes the time to put this back into circulation.
Thanks,
Matt
There aren't any prints left, to the best of my knowledge. :(
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