Cheap Stoked - The Rise and Fall of Gator (DVD) (Mark 'Gator' Rogowski, Tony Hawk, Stacy Peralta) (Helen Stickler) Price

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Customer Reviews of Stoked - The Rise and Fall of Gator

Party's over, said the lady.
Like a dark version of Stacy Peralta's excellent documentary "Dog Town and Z-Boys," "Stoked" examines the Southern California skateboarding scene, but it focuses primarily on one tragic figure, Mark "Gator" Rogowski, a skating superstar in the late '80s.

Rogowski had charisma, good looks and talent to burn and he quickly grew wealthy from skate tours and endorsement deals. He had everything he needed to succeed, it seems, except guidance, and when skateboarding styles abruptly shifted gears in the '90s, he found himself adrift, a has-been at 21.

Broke and depressed, he went into a tailspin and "Stoked" follows his sad decline all the way to prison. Despite his cocky demeanor, Rogowski initially comes off as a likeable guy, which makes the mind-boggling crime he eventually committed all the more horrifying.

Director Helen Stickler incorporates interview footage (of Peralta and skaters such as Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain and the hilarious Jason Jessee) with a surprising amount of great skate footage and home video (clips of half-pipe expert Rogowski trying and failing to master street-style skating are particularly sad).

By balancing images from the past with perspectives from the present, Stickler makes "Stoked" into a surprisingly objective study of how gifted people shouldn't handle fame and fortune.

Chilling.....
There are plenty of "rise and fall" stories out there ---some fact, some fiction--- but this documentary is one of the best told of such stories. One of the most chilling, too.

The story of pro skateboarder Mark "Gator" Rogowski is told in this docu through the mouths of his friends, love interests, and business associates. Add the wealth of video footage of his glory days and news footage of his fall from grace, and we have a complete look at a subculture that encountered unlikely and unexpected success.

One of the main reasons that this documentary works so well is that Helen Stickler was able to show a viewer who knows zilch about the pro skateboarding scene (i.e. Me!)a clear picture of the smash success the industry underwent in the 1980s, and the various image changes it underwent in a rapid amount of time.

Through interviews with Rogowski's fellow skaters, we learn how these young enthusiastic skateboarders became counter-culture icons with rough-around-the-edge attitudes overnight, how commercial success made them rich, and how many of them were not prepared for such a radical lifestyle change. While the "fame element" put many of the skateboarders in this flick in a dangerous line of fire via delusions of grandeur, Gator seemed most ill equipped to handle the baggage that goes along with being in the public eye.

You see so many different faces of Mark Rogowski, from law-scoffing bad boy to an enthusiastic rock-star celeb on MTV to the arrogant know-it-all of the skateboarding world. His fall from fame is tough to watch, especially because pieces of it are caught on tape, namely his attempt to shift from showcasing his talent on traditional competition ramps to the raw "new wave" of street-style skateboarding.

While we've heard similar stories, the intensity of Rogowski's personal demons combined with the sudden skateboarding industry boom makes this story stand out. His battles with his professional image, alcoholism, and childhood traumas short-circuit him, and he desperately grasps onto an extreme school of Christianity to grab a balance. The end result of his born-again stance seems to have done more harm than good, as people in his church told him his problems were purely Satan's doing, and discouraged him from seeking counseling. Sadly, his depression and rage toward his ex-fiance results in him taking the life of an innocent woman who had just befriended him.

In the end, it's hard to feel empathy for Mark Rogowski, yet his tragic fall sinks into your gut. The film does much more than tell his story; it clearly illustrates the potential hazards of being cast into the public eye so quickly, and the delusions that fame can bring. Many of Rogowski's fellow skaters add great insight into the subject, especially Steve Caballero and Stacy Peralta, who seem to really keep the "fame baggage" in perspective.

This is a tough film to watch, but it is a must-see.