Warren Miller's 60th Film, Dynasty - A Review
By Paul Lyons
The Warren Miller ski films have come to mark the beginning of the ski season. For 60 years, Warren Miller has been cranking out these travelogue essays and through the years one can see the history of both skiing and cultural norms. A few years back Warren Miller, now in his 80’s sold his film making business and rights to his name for a chunk of change and surely a nice retirement. Now the films, while entertaining, are made by someone else and they have lost the folksy Warren Miller touch.
In the traditional Warren Miller script, the message could be distilled as: quit that day job that's killing you, leave that office cubicle and become a ski bum and live every moment to the fullest. His characters were often ski instructors, waitresses, cooks and shuttle bus drivers only working so that they could ski as many days a year as possible. The concept was that "working for the man" is pointless and life is short so strap on those boards and start living. The movie was a travelogue with Warren traveling across country in his Ford Bronco. The vibe was spontaneous and one felt like one was in the back seat, along for the ride. You were on the road trip too.
Now the movie is primarily a collage of crazy death defying skiers and snowboarders flying off jumps and grinding down banisters. There is the occasional wipeout, but mostly it is double back flips with the skier sticking the reverse landing. In between one has to sit through some pro skier telling you how spiritual being in the mountains has made him or her. There are still the plentiful shots of excellent powder and people flying of cornices. This year there are a lot of historic shots interspersed with the modern ones. These are fun but the montages are so fast you have little time to process these juxtapositions. There are cool scenes from the X-Games and disabled skiers doing some amazing things on their mono-skis. A wonderful scene from Michigan where skiers use a rope tow to fling themselves off a man-made jump in a parking lot – sort of like water skiing. But the folksy is in short supply and there are no transitions making for a jerky ride. The script could use Warren’s touch.
But my favorite parts were the international scenes. The film suddenly arrives in Norway and one sees the group skiing next to a beautiful lake and then you have to endure a few minutes of how spiritual this all is. But by far the most interesting section is at the very end when the film is shot in North Western China. Traveling in horse drawn sleds, they make their way to a place where skiing is said to have been in practice for thousands of years – longer then in the West. The locals ski on home made gear. The skis are made from local trees and are long and fat. The local style is to point them down and use a single pole as a rudder of sorts. This skiing style is very similar to the long board skiing practiced in the United States over a hundred years ago. One guesses that skiing in Western China is also a practical means of transportation.
I have caught the Warren Miller film two years in a row. This is a personal record. This year I saw it in the Castro Theater, a great place to see any film. The Castro Theater was built in the 1920’s and before every movie they have live organ music, just like the old days. As always, with the new Warren Miller movies, there are raffles and sweepstakes sign ups, and the corporate swag was in full-force. This year I plan on winning the eight-day, all-inclusive package to Chile. I think I’ll bring a video camera and take some shots. Wish me luck.
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