This month, we’re going back to 2005—and even further—as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Lords of Dogtown: one of the all-time great skateboarding movies.
Catherine Hardwicke’s dramatised take on the birth of modern skateboarding doesn’t just pay homage to the Z-Boys of California and their story, it launches you headfirst into their world and forces you to ride along too.
Set in the faded beachfront sprawl of mid-1970s Dogtown, the area where Santa Monica meets Venice, the film follows three teenage surf bums Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk), Stacy Peralta (John Robinson), and Jay Adams (Emile Hirsch) who, thanks in part to the invention of new polyurethane wheels, transform the world of skateboarding. Under the loose but magnetic guidance of surf shop owner Skip Engblom (a near-unrecognisable Heath Ledger, in wig and prosthetics), the trio join the Zephyr skate team and begin a brief, explosive rise to stardom that fractures as fame, money, and ego come crashing in.
The plot follows a fairly straightforward arc, from rags-to-ramp-to-riches, but what sets this movie apart is the atmosphere. Hardwicke doesn’t just depict a subculture… she immerses you in it. The low-slung camera angles, scraped knees, and point-of-view shots from underneath the boards perfectly capture the visceral rush of a new era of skating. As viewers, we feel part of the gang, and we feel part of the mischief as they sneak into local back gardens to skate the empty swimming pools which are drained because of a heatwave and drought. (A groundbreaking act that would form the foundation of ramp skating!)
There’s a unique kind of nostalgia that Lords of Dogtown taps into. Whilst it definitely evokes feelings of “the good old days”, it’s also about the grit that lies underneath. We get both the warmth and freedom of ‘70s SoCal youth, but also the cold loneliness of our characters largely leaving behind the reason they started skating in the first place – passion.
We also have to give a nod to the film’s 1970s rock soundtrack, which is simply a perfect pairing—Hendrix, Sabbath, Bowie—each track drips with attitude and era. It doesn’t just score the action; it binds the film to its time, reminding us that this was a moment before skateboarding was a billion-dollar industry, when it was just kids with plywood, wheels, and too much energy.
Yes, the storytelling sometimes skims the surface and includes fictional elements. And yes, the film also occasionally romanticises the recklessness. But Lords of Dogtown isn't about moralising or polishing its subjects - it’s about capturing a movement at the moment of ignition. It’s a love letter to the outsiders, the inventors, the ones who fall hard and get back up faster.
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Still credits: “ Lords of Dogtown - Pool Skating” uploaded to YouTube by DanaBeaton
