Back to trending
Big Wednesday

Big Wednesday

Drama · Comedy · 1978

Three 1960s California surfers fool around, drift apart and reunite years later to ride epic waves.

Movie details

Big Wednesday

“A day will come that is like no other... and nothing that happens after will ever be the same.”

1978 Drama · Comedy 2h 0m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.9 / 10

Community rating

Three 1960s California surfers fool around, drift apart and reunite years later to ride epic waves.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Big Wednesday?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Box of Moonlight

Box of Moonlight

Comedy · 1996

Al Fountain, a middle-aged electrical engineer, is on the verge of a mid-life crisis, when he decides to take his time coming home from a business trip, rents a car, and heads out looking for a lake he remembers from his childhood. But his wandering takes him into the life of Kid, a free-spirited young man who helps Al escape from the routine of everyday life and find freedom to enjoy himself.

American Graffiti

American Graffiti

Comedy · 1973

A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.

Kodachrome

Kodachrome

Drama · 2017

Matt Ryder is convinced to drive his estranged and dying father Benjamin Ryder cross country to deliver four old rolls of Kodachrome film to the last lab in the world that can develop them before it shuts down for good. Along with Ben's nurse Zooey, the three navigate a world changing from analogue to digital while trying to put the past behind them.

Hair

Hair

Music · 1979

Upon receiving his draft notice and leaving his family ranch in Oklahoma, Claude heads to New York and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to boot camp.

Half Brothers

Half Brothers

Comedy · 2020

Mexican aviation exec Renato is shocked to learn that he has an American half-brother he never knew about: free-spirited Asher. They are forced on a road trip together, tracing the path their father took from Mexico to the U.S.

Daddy Longlegs

Daddy Longlegs

Drama · 2010

After months of living a solitary existence, Lenny, 34, picks up his kids from school. Every year he spends a couple of weeks with his sons Sage, 9, and Frey, 7. Lenny hosts his kids within a midtown studio apartment in New York. During these two weeks, he must figure out if he wants to act as their father or be their friend. Ultimately, their trip upstate results in complete lawlessness taking over their lives.

Coupe de Ville

Coupe de Ville

Comedy · 1990

Meet the Libner brothers: Marvin, the oldest, is a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. Buddy, the middle child, is a timid dreamer. Bobby, the youngest, is a handsome rebel in reform school. As kids, they fought a lot and as adults, they barely speak. In the summer of 1963, their tough and eccentric father, Fred, gives them a task: to bring a 1954 Cadillac, bought for their mother, Betty, from Detroit to Miami. As the trip goes on, the three brothers fight and begin to reconnect with each other, while trying to keep the Caddy in mint condition.

The Great Santini

The Great Santini

Drama · 1979

As he approaches manhood, Ben Meechum struggles to win the approval of his demanding alpha male father, an aggressively competitive, but frustrated marine pilot.

Beaches

Beaches

Comedy · 1988

A privileged rich debutante and a cynical struggling entertainer share a turbulent, but strong childhood friendship over the years.

The Wanderers

The Wanderers

Drama · 1979

The streets of the Bronx are owned by '60s youth gangs where the joy and pain of adolescence is lived. Philip Kaufman tells his take on the novel by Richard Price about the history of the Italian-American gang ‘The Wanderers.’

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

John Milius

Written by

Dennis Aaberg · John Milius

Jan-Michael Vincent

Jan-Michael Vincent

Matt Johnson

William Katt

William Katt

Jack Barlow

Gary Busey

Gary Busey

Leroy "The Masochist" Smith

Patti D'Arbanville

Patti D'Arbanville

Sally

Lee Purcell

Lee Purcell

Peggy Gordon

Sam Melville

Sam Melville

"Bear"

Reb Brown

Reb Brown

"Enforcer"

Court is in session

Put Big Wednesday on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.