Classic Movie!!! ^ This is a MUST OWN movie. If you love skiing, cheesy comedies, and a classic flick; you'll love this!!!
Aah, the great ski/comedy genre ^ I got to this movie via Ski School, a movie that proudly sits within my top 15 list. I have a random appreciation for movies. I appreciate the pensive, cinematograhpic and acting beauty of There Will Be Blood, the timeless minimalism of Halloween, and the grandiose action of Transformers. But yet Ski School has a very special place in my connection, and I hoped that Hot Dog would provide a similar level of satisfaction. A bit through the movie, undeniable plot parallels emerged - there's a skiing competition of the good guys vs the bad guys, the good guys have a long standing champion who readily accepts a new comer replacement, the replacement struggles through 2 love interests, etc. Stupidly, it took me a bit to realize that Hot Dog was made in 1984, with Ski School in 1991, the inspiration idea emerges. So for the actual movie, it was fun for a 1984 movie. While Ski School had very little to do with actually skiing (most of the scenes were comic interchanges off-slopes), this movie was much more about skiing, with a lot of cool skiing shots. The comedy was very muted, not over the top (in a good way) in Ski School. In fact, if on a scale of 0-10, 0 represents Ski School-level absolute comedy, and 10 represents There Will Be Blood-lack of comedy, this is probably somewhere around a 6. Nonetheless, it was fun to watch, and I especially enjoyed because of the clear inspiration it provided to one of my favs. A very worthy rental.
About as good as I expected ^ The movie has a few huge plot holes, but overall, it gave me what I was looking for: nonsensical t&a scenes intermixed with classic on-snow footage. Plot is an afterthought in a movie like this, but if you love fantasy-type ski movies with hilarious characters and "corn-dog" humor, then this is for you.
Great movie with a good transfer ^ The movie is fantastic, I think it is the best of all of the skiing/snowboarding movies. You can definitely see that the folks who made "Out Cold" (also good) saw this movie. It is almost a "Caddyshack" of the slopes in a way, with the "slobs vs. the snobs" theme running through it. Some of the actual skiing scenes and the cinematography that go along with them are amazing and hold up quite well today.
The synth music is cheesy at times but it was reflective of the time, sort of charming actually. The acting is suspect at times, but overall the characters are compelling and funny at the same time. The girl who plays "Sunny" is great, and weirdly seems to have disappeared from the movie biz since.
I had a VHS copy of the movie but it was unwatchable due to the horrible quality of the sound track. The DVD may be pan and scan but overall the transfer is very clean and the sound is good.
Nephews very happy ^ When my husband and I watched this movie it was with my nephews who were very young and probably should have not been watching it. They really remember the hot tub scene and seeing boobs for the first time. They are now both in their 30s and I thought this was an excellent gift. On Christmas eve when they opened their packages they couldn't believe it. The movies are great and thank you for making a merry Christmas.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
