{"id":33444,"date":"2020-07-08T20:51:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T00:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=33444"},"modified":"2020-07-08T20:51:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T00:51:22","slug":"you-have-to-see-this-rad-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2020\/07\/08\/you-have-to-see-this-rad-1986\/","title":{"rendered":"You Have to See This! Rad (1986)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Although I was born in \u201983, I\u2019m old enough to remember when BMX bikes of all kinds were the biggest thing in pop culture. I also recall them inevitably seeping their way in to television and movies. I\u2019m old enough to recall my cousins bickering about BMX Bikes, (and girls, and video games) so much so that Hollywood inevitably made a few movies to capitalize on the popularity. Along with \u201cBMX Bandits,\u201d 1986\u2019s \u201cRad\u201d is a bland and utterly silly attempt to grab some money out of one of the biggest eighties crazes of the decade.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s pretty blatant in the way it acts as BMX porn, especially how everyone seems to know how to ride one, while director Hal Needham completely fetishizes the sport. There are shots after shots of bikes going up and down, and flipping, and coasting through the air, all glimmering in the sun light and from the big spotlights of the stadiums. You should go and buy a BMX. Preferably, a \u201cRad\u201d styled BMX. Ask your parents, don\u2019t be a lame-o and end up being unpopular on the playground. \u201cRad\u201d is something of an underdog story and romance similar in tone to \u201cKarate Kid,\u201d in which a young Macchio-esque man has to stand up to a superior athlete.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>All of this, of course, is thinly veiled patriotic porn, as the pair of young men competed while two greedy old men watch and bet on who would come out the loser. There isn\u2019t a lot of justification for Ray Walston and Jack Weston\u2019s characters, but they\u2019re kind of like more evil Statler and Waldorf. Although Bart Taylor is not as menacing a villain as Johnny Lawrence, he does feel threatened enough by hero Cru to challenge him in to a competition. As for Cru Jones, he\u2019s your all American BMX rider who performs tricks on his bike like it\u2019s a bodily function. In the midst of all of the competition and BMX, Cru finds a purpose in his number one hobby, and manages to find love with Christian. Christian is just as good as Cru, and she\u2019s\u2026 a girl!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Joking aside, Lori Loughlin (only two years away from her career making role on \u201cFull House\u201d) is charming as Cru\u2019s love interest that views him as a potential rival, but also finds a gradual affection toward him. She manages not only challenge him personally, but she\u2019s just as good as he is handling the BMX, and director Needham makes sure to flaunt that fact often. While falling for each other, Cru finds the opportunity to win big in a risky BMX race on a course called \u201cHelltrack,\u201d and he has to overcome his insecurities and personal problems at home in order to build the courage and dominate once and for all.<\/p>\n

The performances from Bill Allen, Ray Walston and Jack Weston are very good, all things considered, while Talia Shire gives the whole shebang some respectability and clout. Hal Needham directs \u201cRad\u201d like an MTV music video, with nigh endless musical montages that are meant to compensate for exposition and genuine character development. Needham pumps the screen with eighties tracks like \u201cSend Me an Angel,\u201d \u201cCaught in the Crossfire,\u201d and the title song \u201cThunder in Your Heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Save for \u201cProm Night,\u201d \u201cRad\u201d has the honor of featuring one of the longest most ridiculous prom scenes ever filmed. From the god awful prom dresses and tuxes, horrendous dancing, and the way it all comes to an end with Cru and Christian performing BMX tricks on the dance floor, it\u2019s cringey, but damned if you\u2019ll be able to look away, either. Taken as a novelty of the mid to late eighties, 1986\u2019s \u201cRad\u201d is charming in its silliness and camp.<\/p>\n

Sure, it\u2019s bad, and milquetoast, but you won\u2019t hate yourself in the morning for watching it.<\/p>\n

Available on Altavod and VOD Friday July 10th; It\u2019s also now available on Special Edition Blu-Ray through Vinegar Syndrome.<\/strong><\/p>\n