Macaha said..
Gary Busey, Patti D'Arbanville, William Katt, Jan-Michael Vincent, and Lee Purcell in Big Wednesday - 1978
This movie made such an impact on a lot of surfers that I knew on the Northern Beaches, just after I left school. I was more interested in the cars and the women than the surfing, being a petrol head at the time.....
Interestingly, the actors didn't really go anywhere with any really big films, apart from Gary Busey who did some other top grossing pictures like Lethal Weapon. All the others are still working in films or TV, but not many people would recognise them from this particularly iconic movie.
From IMDB - some interesting trivia - Australian champion surfers Peter Townsend and Ian Cairns doubled for William Katt and Gary Busey in the surfing sequences. Bill Hamilton father of surfer Laird Hamilton doubled for Jan-Michael Vincent's character, as well as the scene in which lifeguards abandon their small boat in the pit of a gigantic oncoming wave. Afterward, Hamilton began shaping under the Bear label depicted in the movie. The success was fleeting as director Milius sued for patent rights, leaving Hamilton back where he started