fbpx

LORDS OF DOGTOWN

What You Need To Know:

LORDS OF DOGTOWN is inspired by the true story of the Zephyr skateboard team in the 1970s in Venice, Calif., which took skateboarding to new heights, literally and figuratively. The fictionalized story focuses on four team members, Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva, Jay Adams, and a boy named Sid, and their boss, Skip Engblom. After introducing the rebellious lifestyles of the four teenagers, who really want to be surfers, the movie shows how the new plastic wheels inspired the boys and their boss. Sudden fame and fortune breaks them apart, however. Peralta and Alva go on to become professional athletes and businessmen, Adams becomes a petty criminal, and Sid has health problems and problems fitting into the new lifestyle.

LORDS OF DOGTOWN is a realistic, though fictionalized, account of what happened to these teenagers and the pastime they adored. While the story exposes some of the real pitfalls of sudden fame and fortune, it also glorifies the hedonism, teenage rebellion, alcohol use, and marijuana use that occurred. The movie also contains a significant number of obscenities. Thus, many, if not most, parents will not want their impressionable children and teenagers to see this movie.

Content:

(PaPa, Ho, LLL, VV, SS, N, AA, DDD, MM) Strong pagan worldview with California juveniles becoming teen idols, with female groupies, marijuana use and alcohol, when their skateboard hobby starts an international cultural trend, as well as a new sport, and makes them famous, with a crude homosexual joke and man dressed up as a woman; 41 obscenities (including two somewhat garbled “f” words, one strong profanity and three light exclamatory profanities; strong violence, including some sport violence includes surfer’s head bangs into pylon on wooden pier, teenager punches snotty referee at early skateboard tournament, people take many spills off skateboards, teenagers on skateboards jump over things and in swimming pools and do some risky stunts, fighting, drunken man throws skateboard and whiskey bottle off roof, teenagers on skateboards crash into one another hard, and teenager shows buddies stitches from brain tumor surgery; strong but non-graphic sexual immorality includes implied teenage fornication, teenager’s spacey mother sleeps in bed with live-in boyfriend, teenagers make out, skateboard heroes get female groupies, one older groupie tries to seduce one teenage skateboard athlete at party and her boyfriend gets upset, man dressed up as woman in one scene, and crude homosexual joke; female cleavage and upper male nudity in several scenes; alcohol use in many scenes, including by teenagers in the 1970s when legal drinking age was 18, and drunkenness in several scenes; smoking, depicted marijuana use and many positive references to marijuana , plus one adult mentor seems somewhat stoned throughout the whole story; and, strong miscellaneous immorality, such as teenage rebellion, teenagers seduced by fame, fortune and females, teenagers break into backyards to practice their skateboard skills on the curved walls of empty swimming pools, teenagers knock over policeman trying to arrest them and elude police cars chasing them, lack of strong positive role models.

More Detail:

LORDS OF DOGTOWN is inspired by the true story of the Zephyr skateboard team in the 1970s in Venice, Calif., which took skateboarding to new heights, figuratively and literally. The fictionalized script is even written by one of the more famous team members, Stacy Peralta, who has become a filmmaker. Peralta did the 2001 documentary on the Zephyr team DOGTOWN AND THE Z-BOYS and 2004’s surfing documentary RIDING GIANTS.

LORDS OF DOGTOWN focuses on four members of the team, Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva, Jay Adams, and a boy named Sid, plus their boss, Skip Engblom, who originally put the team together in 1975 to sell skateboards with the new-fangled polyurethane wheels. The new wheels allowed skateboard fanatics to do a lot more tricks, taking the sport to a new level in the 1970s. Eventually, of course, this kind of extreme skateboard led to extreme ski-boarding and extreme skiing in the 1990s.

After introducing the rebellious lifestyles of the four teenagers, who really want to be surfers, the movie shows how the new plastic wheels inspired the boys and their boss. Sudden fame and fortune breaks this happy group apart, however. Peralta and Alva go on to become professional athletes and businessmen, Adams becomes a petty criminal, and Sid has health problems and problems fitting into the new lifestyle. Despite all their problems and conflicts, their old friendship survives for one last hurrah.

LORDS OF DOGTOWN is a realistic, though fictionalized, account of what happened to these teenagers and the pastime they adored. While the story exposes some of the real pitfalls of sudden fame and fortune, it also glorifies the hedonism, teenage rebellion, alcohol use, and marijuana use that occurred. The movie also contains a significant number of obscenities. Thus, many, if not most, parents will not want their impressionable children and teenagers to see this movie.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.