Warren Miller Film ‘Fifty’ Is Anything but a Golden Oldie

The young snowboarder, doing nothing to dispel the notion that snowboarders are a bunch of rebellious, opinionated pot smokers, called a radio station the other day and proclaimed over the air that skiers have had their day and the slopes now belong to shredders.

To this Kurt Miller, fielding the call as a guest of the program, told the young snowboarder, in essence, that he needed a serious attitude adjustment.

“I told him, ‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ ” Miller said. “When I was growing up at Mammoth, after work we’d steal the cafeteria trays and slide down the mountain on the trays, simply because we enjoyed it so much. That’s what the passion is all about.

“It doesn’t matter whether you ski or snowboard. Go ride a lift. Just go up and look around at where you are . . . that’s what it’s all about.”

Instilling that attitude before the start of each season is what Kurt Miller is all about. The name may not ring a bell, but his father is Warren Miller, and if you’ve never heard of him you’ve never spent much time in the snow--or you’ve been hitting the grass a little too hard.

In any event, a ski season wouldn’t be the same without a Warren Miller flick to get the snowball rolling. And, yes, another season is at hand. With it has come one of the best Warren Miller films yet--a wonderfully edited, action-packed golden anniversary edition appropriately titled “Fifty.”

“Fifty” is not a year-by-year retrospective, thank heaven, and includes only periodic flashbacks of some of the greatest moments captured by Miller’s award-winning camera crews. While it does commemorate half a century of winter sports quite nicely, it is by all means a contemporary piece.

“I’m not a Hollywood director making my opus,” says Kurt Miller, 40, who has been part of Warren Miller Enterprises for 20 years and has co-owned the business with Peter Speek since 1989. “I’m making a film for my audience, and as my audience changes I change the film. It’s a continuous evolution.”

In “Fifty,” there are similarities to previous Warren Miller films, most notably the distinct voice of Warren Miller, 75, who has narrated all 50, despite having retired from the production end 10 years ago. There are also trademark skits and segments of humor interspersed throughout “Fifty,” some trite but most amusing.

And, as is always the case with a Warren Miller film, there is awesome action featuring some of the world’s best “snowriders” making tracks on virgin powder.

New places, new faces, and most of all, new music are what make “Fifty” different from previous productions and worth the $12.50 price of admission.

You get a heavy dose of 1998 Olympic freestyle champion Jonny Moseley, who looks as at home on the sheer and glistening slopes of British Columbia as he does performing his acrobatics at the terrain park in Breckenridge, Colo.

You accompany three snowriders on a grueling journey to the 19,347-foot summit of Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador, and follow them back down on snow that “resembles cauliflower mixed with blue ice.”

You’re treated to the “postcard-perfect” beauty of Heavenly, a “symphony on snow” at Vail and a segment on “free-riding the last frontier” in the Chugach Mountains of Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

More so than in the past, there is a heavy emphasis on snowboarding (about 40%) in “Fifty,” including an extreme carve-fest on the rugged and remote slopes of the Pacific Northwest, featuring the exploits of noted snowboarders Andy Hetzel, Shin Campos and Temple Cummings, to name a few.

All of the free-riding action is beautifully choreographed to the tunes of such popular artists as the Dave Matthews Band, Barenaked Ladies, Collective Soul and Counting Crows, Propellerheads and Tonic.

“The part I enjoy most is the music,” Miller says, and the music is what makes “Fifty” work. “There’s not a Hollywood film out there with those types of artists.”

Miller is fortunate, of course, to have a quality staff of photographers, film editors and music supervisors, enabling him to concentrate on marketing and advertising in his role as executive producer.

When his father got started in 1949, he was the production company, living in parking lots of ski areas and dining on rabbits he killed for sustenance. He shot footage, edited film, and traveled from city to city promoting the finished product.

“Dad told me he stayed in 240 hotels in one year while on tour with the movie,” says Miller, who is following in his father’s tracks in at least some ways.

Kurt Miller already has traveled to Russia and Australia to scout locations for next year’s film. Now he’s on tour with “Fifty,” having traveled to Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Vancouver and Seattle.

This month, he’s in the Southland, appearing not only at the shows but over the air waves.

“I try to get to as many shows as I can, so I can gauge people’s feelings,” he says. “Because that’s what it’s all about.”

“Fifty” is showing tonight at 8 at the Pasadena Civic Center, Sunday night at 5 and 8 at the Laguna Beach High School Artists’ Theater, Dec. 9 at Redondo Union High School, Dec. 10 at La Mirada Theater, Dec. 11 at Ventura Theater and at Santa Monica Civic Center, and Dec. 12 at the Fred Kavli Theater in Thousand Oaks. The admission price of $12.50 includes a lift ticket for Snow Summit and a $25 gift certificate for Sport Chalet. Details: (800) 523-7117.

SCREAMIN’ REELS

* Magdalena Bay: The marlin madness continues at the outer banks. Jeff Solis, owner of San Diego Fly Shop, and noted angler David Denholm of Newport Beach spent the last nine days in the midst of thousands of hungry stripers aboard the yacht, Espadon. At trip’s end, they had caught and released 152 marlin, and Solis reportedly got five of the powerful billfish to the boat in one day using a fly rod, which is an indication of how ridiculous the action was.

The general public is generally excluded from fishing this remote region of southern Baja, but Gary Graham of Baja on the Fly, who runs four charters a year aboard the 42-foot Garota, has two openings left for the Dec. 7-15 trip. Details: (800) 919-2252.

* Cabo San Lucas: Catch of the week was a 715-pound black marlin by Chris Dufresne of San Jose. There are still a few blue marlin around too, but billfish anglers are still waiting for the Mag Bay marlin to filter down the peninsula to within range of the fleet, and that should be happening soon.

SHORT CASTS

* Fisheries enhancement: Redondo Beach became home recently to more than 2,000 white seabass fingerlings, which will be raised to about eight inches at Sea Laboratory in King Harbor, then released into Santa Monica Bay. It’s hoped that the newest of several facilities on the Southland coast will raise and release more than 30,000 white seabass a year, helping to replenish a species whose numbers have declined because of overfishing, pollution and destruction of spawning habitat.

The pens will be managed by members of the King Harbor Marlin Club and other volunteers as part of a long-term project that involves several groups, notably Hubbs-Sea World, United Anglers of Southern California and the Department of Fish and Game. Those wanting to volunteer time at the King Harbor pens can call Chuck Ulrich at (310) 519-8944.

* Duck hunting: The largest fall flight of ducks in 50 years has yet to live up to its billing, thanks to unusually warm and dry weather in many areas across North America.

“Many ducks and geese won’t move south until cold weather freezes their water sources,” Bruce Batt, a Ducks Unlimited biologist, said recently. “This year’s persistent, warm weather well into fall means that birds are still much farther north than they would usually be this time of year.”

Southland hunters have fared poorly to fair since the season began several weeks ago, but are beginning to notice slightly more ducks and geese, perhaps indicating that a full-scale migration might finally be at hand in the Pacific Flyway.

* Bear hunting: The season ended Monday--nearly a month before the official closing day--when the annual quota of 1,500 animals was reached. About 18,000 bear tags were sold, and for the fourth consecutive year the season closed early because the quota was filled. There are an estimated 23,000 black bears in California forests and their numbers are rising steadily, experts say.

* Wildlife viewing: Bald eagles have arrived at Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area and the park is asking for volunteers to help conduct a census Dec. 18 at 8 a.m. Another census is scheduled for Jan. 8. Details: (760) 389-2303.

WINDING UP

Having been spared the wrath of Hurricane Lenny, Tori Murden is expected today to fulfill a two-year quest to become the first woman and first American to row solo across an ocean.

The 36-year-old resident of Louisville, Ky., who set out on her 3,000-mile journey from the Canary Islands Sept. 13, expected to make landfall in her 23-foot vessel at Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles today about 5 a.m. PST. She had hoped to be there in time for Thanksgiving, but Lenny spun into her path, causing her to stop rowing for several days and wait out the storm.

During an attempt at an Atlantic crossing last year, from North Carolina to France, Murden was pounded by huge seas created by a pair of hurricanes and was forced to send out an emergency beacon. She was rescued, but only after suffering severe bruises to her head and ribs.

At noon Thursday, she was only 18 miles offshore and taking it easy.

“She’s doing great, but she’s just so exhausted,” spokeswoman Julie Wellik said. “She’s also very relieved that she’s finally going to make it.”

* SKI REPORT, PAGE 14