THRASHIN' (ORION PICTURES/1986)June 26, 2010 prospero72(Cox's Creek, Kentucky) REVIEW: Cheesy non-story (ripped off from "ROMEO AND JULIET", "WEST SIDE STORY", etc.) mixed with awesome, AWESOME skateboarding action makes for a great kick-ass sports video but a lame feature film. This dichotomy is reflected in my average rating. Josh Brolin (of "W." and "JONAH HEX" fame) stars as Corey Webster: a Valley boy with a wicked cool skateboarding style. He gets into trouble with a punk gang of thrashers (called The Daggers) when he falls in love with the leader's kid sister. The rest of the film involves their back-and-forth rivalry leading up to a really goofball contest called a "joust" (whereby the opponents try knocking each other off their respective skateboards with what looks like a leather boxing bag attached to a pair of nunchucks). Admittedly this is one of the more unintentionally humorous scenes that should please fans of the "it's-so-bad-it's-good" cinema. The climax of the picture occurs when Hook (the Dagger leader) and Corey go head-to-head and board-to-board in an event called a "downhill" that will prove once and for all if Corey earns their respect and gets his girl. If all of this sounds like a lot of frivolous fun: then you're absolutely right! Director Winters and producer Alan Sacks do a great job keeping the action moving swiftly with a lot of great camera shots and hand-held footage. Plus you get several surprising bonuses including the first filmed concert debut of The Red Hot Chili Peppers as well as a few guest appearances by noted professional skateboarders like Tony Alva and Tony Hawk. Add to that the cool looking costume design (especially The Daggers with the denim biker jackets, ripped blue jeans, and Converse sneakers: you dudes rule!), hit-and-miss soundtrack (Peppers and Circle Jerks are raucous, but the film has one of the worst love ballads ever recorded in movie history), and a youthful exuberance that makes its flaws more palatable even to the most hard-hearted critic: and you've got a semi-classic 80's pop culture flick. Gnarly, man! HARSH LANGUAGE: about 15 mild words and a couple of times when God's name is used as a by-word. VIOLENCE: several scenes of skateboarding carnage. NUDITY/SEXUAL REFERENCES: 1 fairly mild sex scene between Corey and his girlfriend. Plus a couple of lewd scenes with Corey flipping the bird to Hook, and Hook's sister trying to look provocative in order to hitch a ride and then flipping the guy off when he passes her by. DRUG REFERENCES: about 4 scenes of cigarette smoking and 11 scenes of alcohol drinking.
The only good part of this film is the extras...March 12, 2010 R. Bellomy(Dallas) This movie was not about skateboarding. This movie was about a director's impression of what he thought skateboarding was about. This movie was lame. It was lame in '86 and it's not aged well... The first time I saw the film all the way through was 2006 and I was embarrassed by how ridiculous the entire production actually was; the only part of this DVD worth watching is the interviews with Jesse Parker, Brad Edwards (both ride for Gravity Skateboards) and Steve from Alva Skates.
Hollywood has never understood the culture surrounding skateboarding. I couldn't even sit through Lords of Dogtown. If you want to understand 80s skateboarding from a skater's perspective, pick up one of the following on DVD:
Dogtown & Z-Boys H-Street: Shackle Me Not and Hokus Pokus. Santa Cruz: Wheels on Fire; Streets of Fire Powell-Peralta's Bones Brigade videos: Public Domain and Ban This are stand-outs. The Search for Animal Chin was more believable as a movie about skaters than Thrashin'.
GoodDecember 5, 2009 Andrea M. Colucci I bought this as a Christmas present for someone, I know they loved the movie, and they were looking for it.
Kickin it old schoolMay 12, 2009 Hi Times 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
What's better than a movie where one can see one the best "new" actors in recent years at his obsolute worse! Top it off with two views of the boom microphone and this flick is definitely a keeper! Nevertheless this is a must see film for any skateboard fan!
You should be Thrashin'!December 13, 2008 SambonerocknrollMF(Norfolk, Verginya USA!) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a cool video. I remember this movie back in the 80's! It was the skaters' movie as opposed to the bmx'er's movie, 'Rad'. This was our movie! And too bad that nobody in the movie had careers after it was filmed. It's pretty cool to see the skating footage, most of which was mimicked from Powell videos, 'Bones Brigade' and 'Future Primitive'. Yes, the same skaters for Powell and others were the stunt doubles for this movie. As a line from the movie, 'The Search for Animal Chin', 'Just like the boys from Thrashin'. Exactly! Get this movie! If you skated in the 80's with fat wide neon colored decks, then you've probably seen this or need to!
