Rad
Before I start to dig into the movie, mad props to the folks over at Vinegar Syndrome, whom have created a truly fantastic 4K restoration of this movie- the color and composition of Richard Leiterman’s cinematography looks stunning. For a 34-year-old movie that hasn’t seen an official release since laserdisc, I cannot imagine it looking better.
I’ve written before about my weakness for the underdog sports genre, of which movies like “Rocky” and “The Karate Kid” rein supreme, and if any film proves that weakness definitively, it is Hal Needham’s “Rad.” I have not seen this film since, probably, the early ’90s, but I do remember Leonard Maltin not being kind to it in his movie guide, giving it a “BOMB.” The main reason I haven’t seen it has been that lack of availability. Since it never got a DVD release, I would have had to rewatch it on the VHS copy I recorded off of HBO, and I lost track of that a while ago. Watching it for the first time in almost 30 years, it brought back memories of my childhood, and gave me a goofy ass smile on my face the entire way through. Older and more familiar with narrative tropes, though, I can see how silly and predictable it is. I can also see how, in the hands of a better writer than screenwriters Sam Bernard and Geoffrey Edwards, it might have been something pretty damn good.
The film is about Cru Jones (Bill Allen), a teen in a small town who’s starting to look towards his future, as well as still doing a paper route with friends Luke (Jamie Clarke) and Becky (Marta Kober). (That paper route, by the way, is one of the craziest ones I’ve ever seen, where he seems to only deliver a handful of papers, and to both residents and businesses, even handing one off to a firetruck. The point, however, is to see Cru turn the route into a bike course.) Coming soon to this town, however, is the BMX racing world, with Mongoose Racing mogul Duke Best (Jack Weston) helping to bring a premiere BMX race known as Helltrack to the community. Along with it are some of the best racers in the world, including star Bart Taylor (Bart Connor, who looks more than a little bit like William Zabka from “The Karate Kid”). Cru thinks he’s good enough to race against the best, but unfortunately, the qualifying races happen on the same day he’s supposed to take the makeup SAT, something his mother (Talia Shire) is very intent on him doing. Can he jump through all the hurdles required to race with the best? Have you seen one of these movies before?
“Rad” moves through its 91 minutes at a rapid pace that keeps us from really thinking about how ridiculously predictable this movie is at every turn. Every time a new challenge is put in front of Cru, a solution presents itself. Need to forge mom’s signature for the entry form? His sister (Laura Jacoby) can do that. Need to be sponsored to race? Congrats, your sister is now able to print t-shirts for “Rad Racing.” Need to be making a certain amount of money? Make sure to get a rich, local businessman’s newspaper to him on time; that businessman, by the way, is played by Ray Walston, and boy is he a breathe of fresh air in this movie when it needs it. (And it’s important that he’s a local who isn’t a fan of Best’s tactics. Otherwise, his heartstrings couldn’t be suitably pulled to commit the necessary funds.) Need mom to get on board? Just tell her you’ll take the SATs six months later. (Otherwise, mom is unnecessary to this plot. I’m guessing the only reason Shire did this film was as a favor to her late husband, executive producer Jack Schwartzman.) This might be the most absurdly plotted “underdog sports movie” of all-time, and yes, I’m including the truly ridiculous “The Karate Kid 3.”
All that being said, that grin became plastered to my face for a reason, and his name is Hal Needham. There’s a sincerity to the way the former stuntman directs the BMX stuntwork and races in this dumb movie that can be felt in every major set piece along the way. As crazy as the opening paper route sequence is, it’s fun seeing the Rube Goldberg-esque quality of the way it unfolds. There’s a sequence where Cru, Luke and Becky are chased by a local motorcycle cop (H.B. Haggerty), and it’s so old-fashioned endearing in the playful way he and Cru goad each other through a lumberyard that it’s fun to watch. The qualifying races are well-constructed into one of those gratuitous montage sequences, and the soundtrack (John Farnham’s “Thunder in Your Heart”) gives you a pop of adrenaline. And the Helltrack finale is as perfunctory an underdog finale as any movie can think of, but Needham knows how to make it look exciting, even if he has to try and make us not think of the large Kix cereal bowl “stunt” about halfway into the track as obvious sponsorship responsibilities. And do not worry, I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge the iconic moment where Cru and Christian (Lori Loughlin) do a “bike dance” set to Real Life’s “Send Me an Angel,” and shot by Needham as if he knew it would be the most memorable sequence in the movie. Those are all the things we take away from the movie, and that’s why it has a cult following I’m proud to be a member of.
I did want to bring up one thing narratively I noticed this time around. If a better writer had this premise, I can see them wringing a bit of juice out of the idea of corporations being brought in to small towns to pump up the economy, only to be revealed as taking advantage of the locals like Best does here. If you get the right mixture of elements, that could have made for a fun element of this film, and made it feel less like a wholly predictable “Rocky” riff, albeit one I will continue to have affection for.
