IMDb > Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2002)

Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2002) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 5 | slideshow) Videos (see all 2)
Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2002) -- A documentary exploring the rise and fall of 80s skateboard legend Mark "Gator" Rogowski.
Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2002) -- MovieMaze.de - Trailer (Quicktime)

Overview

User Rating:
7.2/10   524 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 1% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writer:
Helen Stickler (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 June 2004 (UK) more
Plot:
A documentary exploring the rise and fall of 80s skateboard legend Mark "Gator" Rogowski. full summary | add synopsis
User Comments:
When the Bad Boy Image is not an Image After All more (15 total)

Cast

  (Credited cast)
Mark 'Gator' Rogowski ... Himself

Tony Hawk ... Himself
Jason Jessee ... Himself
John Brinton Hogan ... Himself
Steve Olson ... Himself
Brandi McClain ... Herself
Stacy Peralta ... Himself
Lance Mountain ... Himself
Steve Caballero ... Himself
John Hogan ... Himself
Kevin Staab ... Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Johann Benét ... Himself
Michelle Chaves ... Herself
Shepard Fairey ... Himself

Eric Ian ... (archive footage)
Harry Jumonji ... Himself

Jason Lee ... Himself
Carol Leggett ... Herself
Kris Markovich ... Himself
MoFo ... Himself
Ken Park
Billy Smith ... Himself
Tod Swank ... Himself
Ed Templeton ... Himself
Mike Vallely ... Himself
more

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Stoked (USA) (working title)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for language and some sexual content.
Runtime:
82 min
Country:
Language:
Certification:
Company:

Fun Stuff

Quotes:
Mark 'Gator' Rogowski,: I am a skater. I live it, breathe it, I sleep with it. more
Movie Connections:
References Skatevisions (1984) (V) more
Soundtrack:
Surf Beat more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful.
When the Bad Boy Image is not an Image After All, 23 February 2004
6/10
Author: miles_to_go

Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator is a documentary about the former skateboard star Mark "Gator" Rogowski, his troubled youth, his rise to fame and fortune and his inevitable fall from grace. However, his no ordinary fall: He is currently serving a 25 year to life sentence for the first degree murder of his ex-fiancé's friend, Jessica Bergsten. The story begins with how he began his rise. He started in the 70's in the skate parks of Southern California as a wild child with a gift for skateboarding. Skateboarding itself has risen and fell in popularity over the years, and each time it comes back it seems to be reincarnated, new styles, new tricks, new medium. In Gator's case, it was the half-pipe or vert. He was only 14 when he was sponsored and went pro. He had a good-looking but bad-boy look, a snotty punk rock attitude and loads of talent to boot. He was a hit, both in the corporate world (He became a mascot of sorts for Vision, a leading skateboard company at the time), and with the cute young girl groupies, or Bettys. At one point in his career he was making $20,000 a month before he was 18. His story is told by many of Gator's former associates and friends (including Tony Hawk and Stacy Peralta), and it lays the groundwork for his sense of entitlement and the madness that includes alcohol and drug excesses, anger, mental illness and eventually murder, that shows his slow but definite fall.

Because the skateboarding community was so shaken by this event, many who knew anything about it or even Gator did not want to talk about it at all for a long time. So this movie is to be commended for trying to tell the story of what happened. It makes some excellent points about what happened to Gator once the limelight and money was gone, in particular by Pro skaters Steve Cabellero and Stacy Peralta. To be washed up before you are even 25 would pretty hard to take, with nothing to fall back on once it is over. But nothing else is really explored at all, and that is where the documentary really falls short. For example, his troubled childhood is glossed over, they give the bare-bones of the case, you learn nothing about his victim other than she was the friend of his ex-fiancé's, they merely mention the conditions of depression he was diagnosed with after he was in prison, and it seemed to me that so many more people should have been interviewed that were more directly related to the story. They show lots of pictures of him with his mother, yet his mother is not interviewed, to name but a few. Overall a good attempt but when the majority of the case is treated so lightly, the feeling I was left with was that the whole story was not heard. It could have been much better with a deeper look at all the sides of the story. 6 out of 10.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (15 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator (2002)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
How/Why Did Jason Lee end up being in this film? juicecube
Where is he now? jmoore79
Bam Margera Offtopic NikephorosPhokas
???'s and comments DwnMichele
Gator sounds truly remorseful a51
was he one of the Z-boys? Ribtim
more

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
Party Monster Rising Son: The Legend of Skateboarder Christian Hosoi The Galloping Ghost Michael Clayton Wonderland
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
IMDb Documentary section IMDb USA section Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.