Rad (film)

This article is about the film Rad. For other usages of the term, see Rad.

Rad is a drama film first released in the USA in 1986 with the tagline, "A hometown kid on his BMX against the best in the world. At Helltrack... the heat is on." The film was written and directed by Sam Bernard and Geoffrey Edwards. It stars Bill Allen and Lori Loughlin. While the film was critically lambasted, it has developed into a cult film.

The film's story focuses on Cru Jones (actor Bill Allen), a young BMX racer who lives in a small town with his mother (Actress Talia Shire of Rocky and Godfather fame) and sister. Cru is faced with a tough decision. The qualifying races for Helltrack are the same day as his SAT's, which he must take in order to attend college. However, winning Helltrack means a lucrative sponsorship deal and fame. Cru's choice should be obvious.

The Helltrack race is endorsed by the city and a duplicitous Duke Best, (actor Jack Weston) who keeps on adjusting the rules in order to keep Cru out of the race. This is to ensure BMX star Bart Taylor (actor Bart Conner) has an easy road to victory, and provide a financial windfall for Mongoose racing, Bart's sponsor. Mongoose manipulates Best in order to see that their star has little competition from the local sensation, Cru.

There are moments of comic relief. For example, the logyard chase scene with Cru and the policeman. The "butt sliding" scene's build the romance between Cru and his new friend. Also memorable is the shin kicking younger sister of Cru.

Racers from all around come to this small town for the Helltrack and Cru meets Christian (actress Lori Loughlin) who provides the romantic interest. Christian and Cru have an interesting scene at the local high school dance, where instead of dancing like the other couples, they perform freestyle bike stunts on the dance floor, creating quite an impression on the rest of the crowd. After being blocked from the race due to a last minute rule change regarding sposnorship, Cru is ready to give up his dreams of winning Helltrack. Christian provides Cru with an idea of how he can still enter the race, and seed capital to get that idea off of the ground. After founding "Rad Racing," Cru is finally able to enter Helltrack, the movie's climactic final race.

The movie's soundtrack was composed by John Farnham, including the film's signature songs "Break the Ice" and "Thunder in Your Heart."

The opening credits include flatland and pipeline vert action from the big BMX freestylers of the day, some of which make cameos at Helltrack as Cru's professional competition.

The infamous "pipeline" (now destroyed) provides some valuable historical riding footage of real and famous BMX'ers before BMX's post 90's X Games revival. Heck, even Andy Jenkins would get the DVD of Rad! I mean, you do know who Andy Jenkins is? (see FREESTYLIN' BMX)

External links

• Rad entry at IMDb