I NEEDED a slap to dump me back into reality, away from the perfect waves, girls picking green apples and the thought of living the dream of an endless summer.

Morning of the Earth provided the fantasy flight to 1972 when people seemed more concerned about getting a tan than a mortgage.

Last Saturday night at the Palais Theatre, singers Lior and Oldman River took to the stage to celebrate director Albert Falzon's wholesome film

, regarded as legendary by most surfers and the true awakener of Australia's surfing culture.

The audience  comprised mostly baby boomers and a speckling of 20-year-olds demonstrated the film's timeless appeal.

The film beamed on a giant screen while the soundtrack boomed from foreground.

The theatre experience was rare and sucked me deep inside the crest of a wave hoping the ride would never end.

Surfing pioneer Nat Young said Morning of the Earth succeeded because it included the very best of '70s music and surfing.

Here is what Albert Falzon had to say about his film:
In the early 70's I made Morning Of The Earth because I really wanted to make a positive film about surfing and the world. I always wanted to make a surfing film, you know, ever since I saw the early Bud Brown films in Australia that were just starting to come in from overseas. They were the first surfing films to arrive. When I saw those I was pretty inspired by what he was doing.

I was designing books at the time and I remember doing this design for the Catholic church, and I was commissioned to do it by two nuns. I remember walking along the street with them one day, and they were really lovely these women, and they said what do you really want to do with your life, what would you really like to do if you had the opportunity to do whatever you wanted to do, what would you like to do? And I said that I'd like to make a really beautiful, positive film about the world. That's what I'd like to do. And you know not long after that I was travelling up and down the coast making a surfing film and Morning Of The Earth came from it. This is a website dedicated to the movie, the people, the lifestyle.