Ace Hits the Big Time
- Episode aired Apr 2, 1985
IMDb RATING
5.6/10
33
YOUR RATING
On the day he enters Kennedy High in Manhattan wearing a patch over one eye, sixteen-year-old Horace Hobart is urged to join what he believes is the toughest gang at school.On the day he enters Kennedy High in Manhattan wearing a patch over one eye, sixteen-year-old Horace Hobart is urged to join what he believes is the toughest gang at school.On the day he enters Kennedy High in Manhattan wearing a patch over one eye, sixteen-year-old Horace Hobart is urged to join what he believes is the toughest gang at school.
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James Le Gros
- Freddie Cruz
- (as James LeGros)
Wallace Langham
- Babe
- (as Wally Ward)
Steven Stone
- 4th Piranha
- (as Steven Corey)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Featured review
Classic and hilarious
Ace Hit's the Big Time was part of the "Schoolbreak Special" lineup, which was CBS's counter to ABC's After School Specials. This is a classic case of "so bad it's good," but for slightly different reasons from most after school specials. This special hits a new height of absurdity, and does it with a nonsensical plot, cheesy musical numbers and an utterly unrealistic set of events. Apparently it (like most of after school specials of the time) was based on a novel, though I doubt the source material is quite as absurd.
The plot starts off pretty basic and simple. Horace ("Ace") and his family have moved from New Jersey to Manhattan. Horace is about to start his new life at school but is deathly afraid of the gang activities he's heard about. That's fine, a lot of kids can relate to this. But this is exactly when the show goes off into lala land.
Ace's fears turn into hallucinations of gang members hiding in his apartment. This culminates in a fantasy he has where he's being dragged around and beaten by singing, dancing thugs. This is the first musical number and reeks of its 1980's production, and the song has classic lines like "who wants to black his blue eye" and, my personal favorite, "new blood on falcon ground, you're gonna look like cooked spaghetti!" I mean, it doesn't get any better than that. You simply can't top this lyrical genius. Don't even try.
Since it was all a fantasy, Ace dons an eye patch over his infected eye(?) and heads to school where he is promptly chased by a black car with a man screaming "we want you!" After a short brush with the local Purple Falcon gang (purple falcons? Really?), Ace heads to class where he meets Raven. It's made pretty obvious that they've got the hots for each other, and she introduces him to her friends. It turns out that Raven is, SURPRISE, a Purple Falcon. Despite supposedly being the toughest gang in town, they take to Ace immediately and offer him to join. And despite his fear of gangs, Ace accepts their offer and becomes a Purple Falcon.
At this point, most after school specials would be beating their message into your head and preaching against gangs and the likes. But this special actually makes gangs look like FUN! When they're not sitting around looking constipated, the Purple Falcons are hanging out and eating pizza. This is one of the least scary gangs I've seen. They don't do anything. Even one of the gang members admit that they're not much of a gang. Maybe it's me but this special might be giving out the wrong message about gangs. These seem more like a group of friends with eccentric dressing habits moreso than a menace to society.
In a wacky twist to the story, and the inspiration for the special's title, the black car catches up to Ace. The guy works for a movie company, and he says Ace is perfect for the part as a tough guy extra (let's just ignore for a minute that being an extra isn't exactly "hitting the big time") and that he should bring his friends along...because there's nothing that looks tougher than a kid in a cheap eye patch and a black jacket. Eventually, the Piranhas, a rival gang, crash the party...and what do rival gangs do when they clash? Why, sling silly insults at each other! To top the random nature of the movie deal, which seems to have no overbearing effect on the plot at all, a sort of love story is tossed in. Ace and Raven have already been giving each other longing looks through the entire special, but while watching a movie scene (the second musical number), they constantly make googly eyes at one another and Ace even fantasizes that he's dancing with Raven in place of the two actors.
After their first week of shooting, the Purple Falcons are terrorized once against by the Piranhas. Ace and friends do what they do best to defend their reputation and street cred.....they run. During the escape they all somehow manage to lose Raven, who is kidnapped by the Piranhas. The other gang members are too scared to do anything about it so Ace volunteers to save her.
In what is probably the most ridiculous part of the plot, Ace goes to the Piranha's home turf offering...a cake with "Make Peace not War" scribbled on it in exchange for Raven. And they accept it! He even manages to scare them into doing his bidding. Although it's implied but not actually seen, the two gangs merge due to Ace's gesture, which would likely end any gang warfare since 1. There's only one gang in the area now and 2. They didn't really do anything in the first place.
The special then ends with one more musical number. The ridiculous, random and cheesy nature of this final musical number feels like a surprisingly appropriate conclusion to Ace Hit's the Big Time, and a summation of the entire production. There's no overlying message, though you may be able to pick one up from the song since Ace sings about solving everything by "being himself"... which sort of ignores the fact that he joined a gang and was cast for a movie for looking like a thug. And that he kept all of this hidden from his parents.
Quite frankly this special needs to be seen to be believed.
The plot starts off pretty basic and simple. Horace ("Ace") and his family have moved from New Jersey to Manhattan. Horace is about to start his new life at school but is deathly afraid of the gang activities he's heard about. That's fine, a lot of kids can relate to this. But this is exactly when the show goes off into lala land.
Ace's fears turn into hallucinations of gang members hiding in his apartment. This culminates in a fantasy he has where he's being dragged around and beaten by singing, dancing thugs. This is the first musical number and reeks of its 1980's production, and the song has classic lines like "who wants to black his blue eye" and, my personal favorite, "new blood on falcon ground, you're gonna look like cooked spaghetti!" I mean, it doesn't get any better than that. You simply can't top this lyrical genius. Don't even try.
Since it was all a fantasy, Ace dons an eye patch over his infected eye(?) and heads to school where he is promptly chased by a black car with a man screaming "we want you!" After a short brush with the local Purple Falcon gang (purple falcons? Really?), Ace heads to class where he meets Raven. It's made pretty obvious that they've got the hots for each other, and she introduces him to her friends. It turns out that Raven is, SURPRISE, a Purple Falcon. Despite supposedly being the toughest gang in town, they take to Ace immediately and offer him to join. And despite his fear of gangs, Ace accepts their offer and becomes a Purple Falcon.
At this point, most after school specials would be beating their message into your head and preaching against gangs and the likes. But this special actually makes gangs look like FUN! When they're not sitting around looking constipated, the Purple Falcons are hanging out and eating pizza. This is one of the least scary gangs I've seen. They don't do anything. Even one of the gang members admit that they're not much of a gang. Maybe it's me but this special might be giving out the wrong message about gangs. These seem more like a group of friends with eccentric dressing habits moreso than a menace to society.
In a wacky twist to the story, and the inspiration for the special's title, the black car catches up to Ace. The guy works for a movie company, and he says Ace is perfect for the part as a tough guy extra (let's just ignore for a minute that being an extra isn't exactly "hitting the big time") and that he should bring his friends along...because there's nothing that looks tougher than a kid in a cheap eye patch and a black jacket. Eventually, the Piranhas, a rival gang, crash the party...and what do rival gangs do when they clash? Why, sling silly insults at each other! To top the random nature of the movie deal, which seems to have no overbearing effect on the plot at all, a sort of love story is tossed in. Ace and Raven have already been giving each other longing looks through the entire special, but while watching a movie scene (the second musical number), they constantly make googly eyes at one another and Ace even fantasizes that he's dancing with Raven in place of the two actors.
After their first week of shooting, the Purple Falcons are terrorized once against by the Piranhas. Ace and friends do what they do best to defend their reputation and street cred.....they run. During the escape they all somehow manage to lose Raven, who is kidnapped by the Piranhas. The other gang members are too scared to do anything about it so Ace volunteers to save her.
In what is probably the most ridiculous part of the plot, Ace goes to the Piranha's home turf offering...a cake with "Make Peace not War" scribbled on it in exchange for Raven. And they accept it! He even manages to scare them into doing his bidding. Although it's implied but not actually seen, the two gangs merge due to Ace's gesture, which would likely end any gang warfare since 1. There's only one gang in the area now and 2. They didn't really do anything in the first place.
The special then ends with one more musical number. The ridiculous, random and cheesy nature of this final musical number feels like a surprisingly appropriate conclusion to Ace Hit's the Big Time, and a summation of the entire production. There's no overlying message, though you may be able to pick one up from the song since Ace sings about solving everything by "being himself"... which sort of ignores the fact that he joined a gang and was cast for a movie for looking like a thug. And that he kept all of this hidden from his parents.
Quite frankly this special needs to be seen to be believed.
helpful•10
- jamjohnx3
- Mar 6, 2009
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