I'm back for more film lovers, but once again a 12 hour day has left me short on time and the capacity for intelligent thought. As such we will continue in the same vein as yesterday. Since I brought up the 80's let's visit another staple of stupidity from that horrible, day-glow nightmare of a decade: the ski film. There were a million of these films that came out after people realized that Warren Miller was drawing teenagers in droves. And while this is a a topic to be revisited during a snow day, far and away my favorite, for sentimental reasons, is Hot Dog... The Movie.
Having just moved to Colorado from Iowa this film was my baptism into ski culture. Needless to say I was very disappointed when I realized ski resorts weren't just frat house parties on a snow covered mountain. I should also mention that this movies consists entirely of skiing footage, drunkenness and sex, the three main topics of conversation of my every boy in my high school. Hot Dog... The Movie follows young skier Harkin Banks from Idaho to Squaw Valley for a freestyle skiing contest. He picks up a young ingenue on the way, joins a rag tag group of underdogs and draws the ire of the world freestyle champ. And then there's Playboy Playmate of the year Shannon Tweed. Out of decency here I think the less I say the better, after all, I was in high school at the time.
Ultimately, for a film that seemed so raunchy, crass and funny at the time, now it feels like a nostalgic throwback to an era when films this goodheartedly bad where still scene in theaters and not in the straight to video bin at Wal-Mart. And to be honest, I kind of miss those films. No pretense, no hype just an attempt to entertain for a couple of bucks.
Even now there is a line from this film that I still can use when I'm around my balding group of friends from those high school years. Not to mention a scene featuring one of the best covers of a Prince song that you've never heard. Listen to the wisdom from the 80's and bask in its glory.
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