1031 Heavy Mellow DVD

In the mid-’70s, skateboarding was widely seen as a fad of the 1960s that had all but died out, except for a handful of committed fans in California.

But that began to change with the emergence of the Z-Boys — a team of teenaged skateboarders from a decaying urban community in Santa Monica, CA. Hard-core surfers who sought to translate the hot-dogging stunts of world-class wave riders onto their skateboards began hanging out at the Zephyr Productions Surf Shop, a store that stocked top-grade equipment for local surfers and skaters, and with the help of the store’s owner Jeff Ho, twelve of the skaters organized themselves into a team to compete at local skate events.

Soon the radical moves and scruffy-streetwise style of the Zephyr Skate Team — the Z-Boys for short — upended public preconceptions of skateboarding as a sport and a lifestyle, and the wild style of Z-Boy skaters such as Tony Alva, Jim Muir, and Jay Adams made them celebrities who blazed the trail for the extreme sports movement.

But while the Z-Boys’ success brought them a measure of fame and fortune — lucrative endorsement contracts, deals to manufacture their own custom skateboards, and even movie roles (Tony Alva starred opposite Leif Garrett in Skateboard, while Z-Boy Stacy Peralta was top-billed in Freewheelin’) — their fame proved to be fleeting, and several of the Z-Boys fell prey to drugs, crime, and ego.

Dogtown and Z-Boys is a documentary by former Z-Boy Stacy Peralta that chronicles the glory days of the Z-Boys through footage of the skaters in their prime and interviews with the pioneers of the Southern California skate scene. Rock musicians and noted skate enthusiasts Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins, and Jeff Ament also appear to discuss the importance of the Z-Boys’ legacy; Sean Penn narrates.

Each DVD features three different programs, each containing three best-selling titles. Check out the best of Dave Mirra, Ryan Nyquist, Parks Bonifay, Jeremy Kovac and more! Vol. 3 includes Eastern Standard, Nothing (Version 4.0) and True

Meet some of the hottest stars from the world of action sports. This look at extreme athletes was directed by Tamra Davis (CROSSROADS, HALF-BAKED) and features Mike Basich, Tina Basich, Steve Berra, Mat Hoffman, Andy Irons, Mike D and many, many more.

It’s not hard to find extreme sports documentaries on DVD, but Keep Your Eyes Open is a cut above the norm. Hollywood director Tamra Davis (Billy Madison, Half Baked) brings to the genre a new polish, intellectual curiosity, and singularly interesting eye for unexplored camera angles and fresh visual settings. The subject is a little different, too: Keep Your Eyes Open concerns uniquely gifted athletes with a penchant for superior focus. They don’t keep an eye on competitors, and they contemplate possible injury as something not to avoid but to predict. The talent roster includes skateboarders Eric Koston and Steve Berra, extraordinary skier Seth Morrison, 17-year-old motorcycle champion Travis Pastrana (who seems to dance with his bike while suspended in space), and hot-tempered surfer Sunny Garcia (whose fight for survival, learned on the tough side of Oahu, informs his sharp skills riding waves). Davis’s husband, Mike D, makes an amusing cameo appearance as a security guard. –Tom Keogh