{"id":55350,"date":"2026-10-05T14:48:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T18:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=55350"},"modified":"2026-10-05T14:48:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T18:48:49","slug":"rad-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/05\/rad-1986\/","title":{"rendered":"Rad [1986] [Vinegar Syndrome 4k & Blu-Ray LE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A small-town BMX rider competes for his chance when a big competition comes to his town. The Bad Movie Classic RAD receives an upgraded\u00a0 4k UHD and Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Movie<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quick rhyme: Rad <\/a>is bad. Rad is not a good movie in the traditional sense. But before you put my hand in the spokes of your tricked-out BMX bike, let me continue. But it\u2019s freakin\u2019 awesome. Rad, directed by Hal Needham, is the best kind of bad. Pure cheesy entertainment, made with a level of love and sheer enthusiasm that bursts off the screen. It\u2019s a movie that fails as a movie but wins the race as an entertainment delivery system by making the wrong choice at just about every juncture. It\u2019s small but thinks big. It severely overestimates BMX’s popularity. It has the blandest lead. It has some of the most inhuman-like dialogue delivered awkwardly.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it has BMX DANCING.<\/span><\/p>\n

BMX DANCING. That scene, perhaps the one most known to non-Rad enthusiasts, is crying and laughing so hard that it exists, and they gave it their all. This incredibly silly but done so stone-faced and straight up makes it something special. Said sequence comes in at thirty minutes and transforms a funny bad flick into a classic of bad movies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rad is a pure delight of so many strange things. I have questions. If BMX is so damned big, with a rival guy ready to sell merch like hell, is everything so tiny? If it\u2019s a cool thing, why is the lead kid, Cru, treated like shit, and why are he and his friends made fun of until he wins the hometown entry race? Where did the other qualifier entrants come from? Does the small town think the Helltrack is actually going to bring in a continued cash flow? The shifty sponsor, representing Mongoose, a real company that had to sign off on it, has to be making some under-the-table tax write-off on this. How many times did George Lucas watch this, planning the podrace? Who thinks Ass Sliding looks fun? What is Ray Walston up to? He\u2019s treating this like a very different movie than everyone else, with a bizarre performance. The script overall is something else: flat, strange writing by Sam Bernard and Geoffrey Edwards, off-kilter. I can\u2019t imagine too many people being able to sell it, especially witha\u00a0 director\u00a0 who is better at making vehicles moving look cool than he is at having people interact<\/span><\/p>\n

Why does Lori Loughlin,<\/a> fresh from The New Kids, drop EVERYTHING to hook up with our sad-sack hero, played by Bill Allen? Lori Loughlin rides circles around everyone, although her performance slides between confusion, revulsion, and a \u201cdamn, do I want this guy who looks like a sad, melted oldest brother from the Brady Bunch.\u201d\u00a0 What is her purpose on the \u201cvillain\u201d (but barely villains) team? She comes in with the Mongoose team as the Best Female Rider but is mainly meant to be eye candy? Speaking of the women characters, cool to see Sandra from Friday the 13th Part II!<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

More questions: Why does Talia Shire<\/a> (who produced this with her husband Jack Schwartzman) treat BMX like it killed the lead\u2019s dad? How did they get Hal Needham to make this? Look, Hal is NOT a good director. He lucked out with Smokey and the Bandit 1, thanks to Burt Reynolds’ sheer charisma. The rest? Sorry, but both Cannibal Ball runs, the other SIX Smokey and the Bandits, the other Reynolds action flicks, and the Barry Bostwick cheesefest Megaforce? Not so good. However, it is very good at action and chases, thanks to his stuntman background. While Rad\u2019s might be much lower-scale and a little off being on bikes and all (ET glares at me for that), it still has great moments when it’s movement-based over people, like, ugh, talking. Helltrack looks intimidating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rad falls into the semi-genre of films that take things far too seriously and get pushed off in the real world: Gymkata, BMX Bandits, Thrashin\u2019, Breakin\u2019, American Anthem, and the like. And I love it.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s Rad.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trivia: The guys who play the Twins on the Mongoose Team went on to write The Conjuring<\/a> movies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Packaging and Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vinegar Syndrome puts Rad and its features on three discs: 1 4k UHD and two Blu-rays. The 4k and 1st Blu-ray are the same, with all non-commentary features on the 2nd Blu-ray. Two discs are on a flipper, with the third on the right side of the black 4k case. The image on all three discs is a checkerboard pattern. It has a reversible sleeve with original artwork and a new cover by JJ Henderson. It slides into a cardboard O-sleeve. One side of the O-sleeve is the Rad Racing logo, and the other is another poster of the film. This, along with the booklet (made to look like a Rad Racing magazine), goes inside a neat, oversized box. Said box closes with a magnetic<\/span><\/p>\n

The transfer is scanned and restored in 4k from the 35mm, upgraded for Dolby Vision. It looks damned good. It\u2019s cleaned up and sharp, but purposely retains enough grain to keep the 35mm lived-in look. Sound is 5.1 and 2.0 stereo in English, with English subtitles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Features<\/strong><\/p>\n

RAD, after decades of obscurity, has had a rash of releases. Vinegar Syndrome released a 4K UHD in 2020, and Mill Creek followed a year later. Now in 2026, VS upgrades their previous release. So some of the stuff here is archival, but it’s a solid set of new additions, including the Rad documentary. None of the new Mill Creek features made it to this release (3 interviews and a Q\/A totaling about an hour). But no worries, so much otherwise to ride the Helltrack with.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0 UHD Disc and the first Blu-ray contain the movie and five commentaries.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Talia Shire and Robert Schwartzman (archival)<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Shire and her late husband produced it, and she plays Cru\u2019s mom. Robert is one of her sons.\u00a0 A solid chat, as she talks about working on both sides of the camera, the fun of the filming, and the film\u2019s messages. She sounds lovely, and Robert does a good job of jogging her memory and steering the conversation. I loved the bits where they were just mom and son talking. Endearing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    2. Bill Allen (archival)<\/span><\/p>\n

    An actor solo track can sometimes be a gulp to be ready for awkwardness. But Allen is great! He\u2019s well aware of the film’s silliness and leans into it, but he also shares great stories from the set and the excitement of making it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    3. Bill Allen, Bart Connnor, BMX Riders, and writer Sam Bernard (archival)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    A highly entertaining track. The set of seven guys has a blast goofing off and chatting. With so many, they have a ton of great stories and build off one another. Solid riffing and honest storytelling.<\/span><\/p>\n

    4. Joe Lynch<\/a> and Becca Howard (new)<\/span><\/p>\n

    The new commentary gives the outsider talk, giving the wider fan appreciation of the film\u2019s history and reputation. They give the who’s who, much trivia, and bring yet another fun commentary.<\/p>\n