Rad (1986)

The story of one young man, Cru Jones, who has the intensity and desire to win a BMX race called Helltrack.

Director:

Hal Needham

Writers:

Sam Bernard, Geoffrey Edwards

Stars:

Bart Conner, Lori Loughlin, Bill Allen

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bill Allen	...	Cru
Lori Loughlin	...	Christian
Talia Shire	...	Mrs. Jones
Ray Walston	...	Burton Timmer
Alfie Wise	...	Eliott Dole
Jack Weston	...	Duke Best
Bart Conner	...	Bart Taylor
Marta Kober	...	Becky
Jamie Clarke	...	Luke
Laura Jacoby	...	Wesley Jones
H.B. Haggerty	...	Sgt. Smith
Chad Hayes	...	Rex Reynolds
Carey W. Hayes	...	Rod Reynolds (as Carey Hayes)
Kellie McQuiggin	...	Foxy
Beverley Hendry	...	Tiger (as Beverly Hendry)

Storyline

The story of Cru Jones, a young man who can overcome all obstacles that prevent him from participating in the BMX race "Helltrack." As he works towards his dream, Cru falls in love with Christian, an amateur racer. With the help of Christian and her friends, can Cru's "Rad Racing Team" defeat the top BMX factory rider, Bart Taylor ?

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Plot Keywords:

kiss | man wearing glasses | newspaper boy | song during opening credits | breaking the fourth wall | 

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Taglines:

A hometown kid on his BMX against the best in the world. At Helltrack... the heat is on.

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 March 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hell Track

Filming Locations:

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$408,980, 23 March 1986, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,015,882

Company Credits

Production Co:

TaliaFilm II Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character of Cru is loosely based off of Eddie Fiola, who did most of Bill Allen's stunts in the film.

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Goofs

When Cru tries to do a back-flip he is seen landing and his legs end up bent over the end of the second row of mattresses because he knocked the third row away. But on the close-up he is seen with his legs stretched-out over the third row of mattresses as if they never moved.

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Quotes

Sergeant Smith: Cru, just pretend you're in the lumber yard... go balls out.

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Crazy Credits

R.L. Osborn besides Martin Apariljo perform BMX feats throughout much of the finishing credits.

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Alternate Versions

Scenes included in the final airing on the Canadian cable movie station Superchannel, but absent from the home video version;

• A short sequence, actually made up of three different scenes, right after the confrontation at the Rad Racing T-Shirt stand. These scenes are;
• Luke is sitting at the dinner table with his parents. His father tells him it isn't the end of the world. He excuses himself from the table.
• Amy is sitting in her room listening to music when her mother comes in. They have a short exchange where her mother scolds her for acting childish.
• An unnamed boy storms out of his house late at night.
• Right after this comes a scene where a drunken Bart Taylor stumbles into the restaurant where Cru works just as it's closing. Shouting, Bart challenges him to a one on one race, since Cru has been disqualified from HellTrack. Bart winds up falling over and doing a face plant into a piece of pie on the table where the bald cop is sitting.
• Another scene just before the race, after Duke Best has warned Bart about Cru and instructed the Reynolds twins to take him out;
• Cru thanks Mr. Pratt for him and the town getting behind him and supporting Rad Racing. Mr. Pratt gives Cru a brand new bike from his store.
• All of the characters from the deleted scenes are listed in the credits on the home video version.

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Connections

Referenced in American Dad!: Son of Stan (2010)

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Soundtracks

Thunder in Your Heart
Performed by John Farnham
Written by G. Sklerov & L. Macaluso
Produced by David J. Holman (as D. Holman) & Bob Marlette (as B. Marlette)
Executive Producer Rick Riccobono (as R. Riccobono)

User Reviews

Ummm... yeah, it's terrible.

The other night, some of us guys were talking about what is the definitive youth movie of the 1980's. KARATE KID was mentioned. DIRTY DANCING and FOOTLOOSE were uttered as well. And all those frat house/youth oriented comedies like PORKY's were also spoke of. Amidst the haze of movie titles came a shout out of for RAD. That's when social hour came to an end. We dragged the unidentified boy out back and beat him until he nearly died. Needless to say, RAD is not held in high regards in this particular circle. And for good reason too: The movie sucks. Bad.