Where's Warren Miller? And What's Up With "Off The Grid?"

Nov 26, 2006 Comments (0)

FroDog

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I spoke with Warren Miller last month. He was laughing about his one year instructing skiers at Squaw Valley.

"It was 1949, the first year the resort opened," he said over the phone from his home in Washington state. "There were only four of us in the ski school: Dodie Post, Stan Tomlinson Alfred Hansen and myself. We were paid $125 a month plus room and board. Although I was lucky to teach one lesson a day (there were so few skiers on the mountain that first year), I nevertheless saved most of my money to buy film. In fact, I made my first movie that winter at Squaw called 'Deep and Light.'"
I was thinking of our conversation Friday while watching "Off The Grid," Warren Miller Production's 57th annual film. And although it filled the screen with a plethora (that's right, a plethora) of ripping carve hounds serving up an all you can eat buffet of rowdy lines at exotic locations around the world, the one thing it didn't have was Warren Miller.

Warren, whose been retired from filming for years, letting his son have all the fun, continued to narrate each season's footage. Aside from surfing's Bruce Brown I can't think of a better narrator who could so soothingly capture the essence of a tribal sport. Rolling Stone hip with rhythmic syntax as natural as water running down hill, Miller's narration was as big a part of his films as snow itself.

Well that was then, this is now, and I'm sorry, I guess I'm a stick in the mud, but Jeremy Bloom's narration isn't near as exciting as his World Cup mogul runs or collegiate punt returns. With Warren watching from the sidelines, only from time to time interspersing a comment or two, "Off The Grid" might as well be called "Offside on the GridIron."

Not to say it's bad. The technically flawless videotape is a typical Warren Miller kind that portrays pinwheeling freakhuckers launching themselves off cliffs in a relentless auto-reverse of ski pornography that never quits until the producer has run out of money.

I have to admit it's also always fun seeing friends up on the big screen. I loved Jenn Berg's, Kevin Quinn's and sit-skier Kevin Bramble's sequences the most, mainly because I've skied and partied with each of them. Actually, I reserve my favorite segment of Off the Grid to the funky monkeys in Kashmir. Not only were the scenes filmed in India by Squaw Valley's Tom Day, but the furry creatures reminded me of the publishers and editors I deal with. How endearing!

By the way, I do like Micheal Franti and Spearhead but most of the film's soundtrack was marginal. I mean if you're going to crank it to radar jamming levels can't it be the Grateful Dead or The Band, It's A Beautiful Day, or Emmy Lou Harris, something good instead of the suckfest sounds kids groove to these days?