One Crazy Summer
One Crazy Summer | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Savage Steve Holland |
Written by | Savage Steve Holland |
Produced by | Michael Jaffe |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Isidore Mankofsky |
Edited by | Alan Balsam |
Music by | Cory Lerios |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 89 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $13,432,000 |
One Crazy Summer is a 1986 romantic comedy film written and directed by Savage Steve Holland, and starring John Cusack, Demi Moore, Bobcat Goldthwait, Curtis Armstrong and Joel Murray. The original film score was composed by Cory Lerios.
Plot summary
Hoops McCann, a recent high school graduate, fails to get a basketball scholarship, disappointing his parents. He hopes to be admitted to the Rhode Island School of Design, and must write and illustrate a love story for his application. He joins with his friendly siblings, George and Squid Calamari, to spend the summer on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts. En route, they pick up a young rock singer named Cassandra Eldridge, who is pursued by a motorcycle gang at the time. Once on the island, Hoops and George, along with his island friends the Stork twins and Ack-Ack Raymond, must help Cassandra save her grandfather's house from the greedy Beckersted Family. Along the way, Hoops must find a way to write his cartoon love story.
With the prize returned and the house spared, Hoops and Cassandra engage in a kiss, and she gives him a love story for his application. In the final scene, George's uncle Frank (having been driven insane every summer for trying to win a $1 million prize from a radio contest) finally wins, but his phone gets disconnected and his prize is given away to someone else; he snaps and promptly uses a rocket launcher to blow up the radio station, just as the Stork twins arrive and head to the fiery remains to roast marshmallows.
Cast
- John Cusack as Hoops McCann
- Demi Moore as Cassandra Eldridge
- Curtis Armstrong as Ack Ack Raymond
- Bobcat Goldthwait as Egg Stork
- Joel Murray as George Calamari
- William Hickey as Old Man Beckerstead
- Joe Flaherty as General Raymond
- Mark Metcalf as Aquilla Beckerstead
- John Matuszak as Stan
- Kimberly Foster as Cookie Campbell
- Matt Mulhern as Teddy Beckerstead
- Rich Little as Radio contest DJ
- Tom Villard as Clay Stork
- Jeremy Piven as Ty
- Rich Hall as Wilbur, Gas station attendant
- Taylor Negron as Taylor, Gas station attendant
- Billie Bird as Grandma Calamari
- Bruce Wagner as Uncle Frank
Soundtrack
- "Don't Look Back" by Demi Moore
- "Take A Bow" by Jaime Segel
- "Easy Street" by David Lee Roth
- "Be Chrool To Your Scuel" by Twisted Sister
- "What Does It Take" by Honeymoon Suite
- "Dirty Dog" by ZZ Top
- "Do It Again" by The Beach Boys
- "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys
- "Fun, Fun, Fun" by The Beach Boys
- "Fandango" by Herb Alpert
- "I Go To Rio" by Peter Allen
- "Outa-Space" by Billy Preston
- "Dancing In The Street" by Martha and The Vandellas
- "Would I Lie To You" by Eurythmics
- "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf
- "Down On The Corner" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
- "Wipe Out" by The Surfaris
- "Theme from Jaws" by John Williams
- "In My Room" by The Beach Boys
Production
Several locations on Cape Cod, Massachusetts were used for the film: Pope John Paul II High School (as Generic High School), Hyannis West Elementary School (as Generic Elementary), the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket Steamship Authority ferry dock in Woods Hole,[1] where the characters board the ferry, and the motorcycle gang leader jumps his motorcycle into the water. The internal scene of the gas station bathroom were shot on a stage built in the MBL Club in Woods Hole. The inside of General Raymond's Army-Navy store is Mass Bay Company, located at 595 Main Street, Hyannis, MA. The Stork brothers' gas station is the (then-Amoco) located at 1098 Main Street in Dennis, MA.
Hoops McCann is named after the protagonist in Steely Dan's song "Glamour Profession" from the Gaucho album, who is introduced as a basketball aficionado.
Savage Steve Holland was reportedly upset with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert's criticism of his earlier film Better Off Dead, which led to the gag with the two bunnies that get blown up at the end of the movie who resemble the movie critics.[2]
Reception
Nina Darnton of The New York Times wrote, "In spite of the director's flair for zany humor, this film is just absurd."[3] Pat Graham of the Chicago Reader found it "Not a bad film, and certainly more polished than Holland's Better Off Dead debut, though it's marred by unevenness and the director's ineradicable penchant for infantile clowning."[4] The film maintains a 60% score at Rotten Tomatoes.[5]
See also
References
- ^ Gelbert, Doug (2002). Film and Television Locations: a State-by-State Guidebook to Moviemaking sites, excluding Los Angeles. McFarland & Company. p. 111.
- ^ "John Cusack: The '80s comedy king rules again in 2010". New York Daily News. March 28, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-12-05.
- ^ Darnton, Nina (August 9, 1986). "One Crazy Summer (1986)". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-06.
- ^ Graham, Pat (August 8, 1986). "One Crazy Summer (1986)". Chicago Reader.
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/one_crazy_summer/?search=one%20crazy%20summer
External links
- 1986 films
- 1980s romantic comedy films
- American romantic comedy films
- American films
- American teen comedy films
- English-language films
- Films about vacationing
- Films directed by Savage Steve Holland
- Films set in Massachusetts
- Films shot in Massachusetts
- Nantucket, Massachusetts
- Warner Bros. films
- A&M Films films