Race the Sun (1996)

Director:

Charles T. Kanganis

Writer (WGA):

Barry Morrow (written by)

Release Date:

22 March 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

A dream can make all the difference under the sun.

Plot:

A bunch of high school misfits in Hawaii, introduced by their new teacher, attend a science fair in...

Plot Keywords:

Hawaii | Australia | Beautiful Woman | Teenager | Solar Power

Cast

Halle Berry	...	Miss Sandra Beecher
Casey Affleck	...	Daniel Webster
Eliza Dushku	...	Cindy Johnson
Kevin Tighe	...	Jack Fryman
Anthony Ruivivar	...	Eduardo Braz
Steve Zahn	...	Hans Kooiman
Dion Basco	...	Marco Kito
J. Moki Cho	...	Gilbert Tutu
Nadja Pionilla	...	Oni Nagano
Adriane Napualani Uganiza	...	Luana Kanahele
Sara Tanaka	...	Uni Kakamura
Bill Hunter	...	Commissioner Hawkes
James Belushi	...	Frank Machi
Robert Hughes
Jeff Truman

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild language and a brief incident of teen drinking.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Spain:T | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Adelaide Town Hall, King William Street, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Company:

TriStar Pictures

Trivia:

At the science fair, Marco calls the students from the competing team mahu(s) which is the Hawaiian word for homosexuals.

Goofs:

Continuity: When introducing herself to the students, Ms. Beecher prints her name on the blackboard. It repeatedly changes between printed and cursive throughout the scene.

Soundtrack:

Rock You Like A Hurricane

Not so much Halle's movie

The opening begins with Halle as Sandra Beecher fleeing from a broken marriage and setting up new in a working class section of Hawaii.

The English teacher takes a job as a Science teacher and at this point I'm thinking "Dangerous Minds: Hawaiian Style." The classroom is similar a working class neighbourhood, run down school and disruptive kids. But Ms Beecher, who takes the lead in the first quarter of the movie tries to inspire the kids and butts heads with James Belushi's Frank Machi. The experienced engineering teacher.

The rest of the movie really belongs to the kids. After a clash between a rich school at a science fair Ms Beecher makes the kids go to they are inspired to build a solar power car to race in and earn their school a better rep. Leading this pack is outcasted, because he's white, ambitious Daniel Webster superbly played by Casey Affleck and the heartwarming, Gilbert a standout character played by J. Moki Cho (who unfortunatley does not have much of a filmography at this point). Roped in is the troubled sister of Daniel, Cindy with a solid peformance by Eliza Dushku and a whole host of other characters each one memorable and stand out. Together they build their hopes, learn from each other and not too sound cheesy but they really do race the sun.

This would have been a great family film had it not been for the language. But if that doesn't put you off then I would suggest watching it with them. It really is a a good solid movie. I watched it over a week ago at 3am because i couldn't sleep but it still has stuck with me.