“RAD BMX 1986 HD
Rad is a film about BMX racing, first released in the USA in 1986. The film was written by Sam Bernard and Geoffrey Edwards and directed by Hal Needham. It stars Bill Allen and Lori Loughlin. Parts of this movie were filmed in Cochrane in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada, Colonel Macleod Jr. High School, and at Bowness Park, both in Calgary, Alberta.
Plot
The film’s story focuses on Cru Jones (Bill Allen), a young BMX racer who lives in a small town with his mother (Talia Shire) and sister. Cru is faced with a tough decision: the qualifying races for Helltrack are the same day as his SATs, which he must take in order to attend college. However, winning Helltrack means a lucrative sponsorship deal and fame. Cru chooses the latter option, ignoring his mother’s wishes.
The Helltrack race is endorsed by the city and a duplicitous Duke Best (Jack Weston), president of The Federation of American Bicyclists and owner of Mongoose bicycles. Best keeps adjusting the rules in order to keep Cru out of the race and to ensure BMX star Bart Taylor (1984 Olympic gymnastics champion Bart Conner) has an easy road to victory, thus providing a financial windfall for Mongoose Racing, Bart’s sponsor.
Racers from all around come to this small town for the Helltrack and Cru meets Christian Hollings (Lori Loughlin), who becomes Cru’s romantic interest. Christian and Cru have an interesting scene at the local high school dance where, instead of dancing like the other couples, they perform freestyle bike stunts on the dance floor, to the awe of many. Duke Best and his flunkie step over to the punchbowl, and “wake up those drinks” to which the mayor/restaurant manager says “don’t mind if I do.” After being blocked from the race due to a last minute rule change on participant sponsorship, Cru is ready to give up his dreams of winning Helltrack. Christian provides Cru with an idea for how he can still enter the race. With the help of one of the townsfolk, Mr. Timmer (Ray Walston) and the founding of “Rad Racing,” a small t-shirt business started by Cru’s classmate Matt Weston., Cru is finally able to enter Helltrack. Sgt. Smith tells Cru to “pretend he’s in the lumberyard….Go balls out.”
Duke has his riders hold back while ahead of Cru in an attempt to sabotage his race, without success. Bart, who leads the race, slows down so that he and Cru can face each other one-on-one in the final stretch. Cru wins, and offers Bart a spot in Rad Racing as the film ends.”
Here’s the trailer for the movie…
Want more old school BMX movie gold? Check out the full BMX Bandits movie here!
Random photo… Bill Allen (Cru Jones) and I years ago at NORA Cup during Interbike in Las Vegas. Cru Jones bought me a drink! Not too many people can say that, haha!
Rad Reminiscing says
why do they keep taking it down? Who makes a movie and then won’t sell it in a modern format? I love this movie!
Kurt says
I’m assuming the people that own the rights to it. I think I saw Schwartzman Pictures was the one that owns the rights and took it down. They sued Vans back in 2015 for some Vans shoes that had the Rad logo as well. I did find a version on DVD on Amazon… https://amzn.to/3afOM2m … But they want $19.99 for it, which seems a little high for a movie that is over 30 years old, haha.
Kai says
I bought one off of Amazon and it was a cheap bootleg homemade dvd. I was like Man….. I could have done better watching my old VHS version 😂😂😂
Kurt says
Which one did you buy? I want to make sure we don’t recommend that!
JC says
It is for sale on BLURAY right now here…
https://vinegarsyndrome.com/
Kurt says
Nice. I tried the Putlocker link you had in your other comment and it wasn’t working. Just a ton of ads popping up.
Jimmie taylor says
I raced bmx for years radio gave me the get up and go feeling I needed please if you can sell the movie rad in stores
Kurt says
Hey Jimmy, it’s on Amazon — https://amzn.to/3afOM2m
Cru Jones says
Any chance this goes back up somewhere?
Kurt says
Hopefully. But as of right now I’m not finding anything.
Anonymous says
It’s being released on 4k and Bluray in a month or two.
Anonymous says
Put it back up!!!
Sean says
Where did the Rad movie go? Please get it back up.
Kurt says
Unfortunately every embed we find keeps getting removed. The owner of the rights for the movie is likely the culprit to the different embeds disappearing.
Shawn says
That’s BS!!! Let ppl enjoy it!!
santos ruiz says
Movie cant be seen says video unavailable
Kurt says
The video was deleted from where it was being hosted. Working on finding a new embed. Did find a link that works but haven’t figured out how to embed it yet.
jack says
i got a new link for the movie.
shorturl.at/uAMU4
the copy was good
Kurt says
Hey Jack,
The link didn’t work? Just takes us to the ShortURL website.
Kurt says
New embed has been found.
Kurt says
And that one has been taken down. I’m sure whoever owns the rights is just watching to see if a new embed shows up, then gets it deleted. It’s a bummer, but that’s the way it goes.
Shawn says
That’s childish.. He should let ppl enjoy it!!
Marco Macias says
Mi vida hecha película, fui corredor de el 85 al 89, fueron los mejores años de mi vida, corría en compañía de mis amigos y del mejor co-equipero, mi hermano mayor Rafael Macias, “El FOX”, volamos, corrimos, practicamos Freestyle, de la mejor escuela, mi hermano ha partido ya de este mundo, pero se que el sigue montando en el cielo, un abrazo a, el FOX y a cada uno de los que se han ido ya, gracias por renovar el sentido de nuestras vidas, RIDE IN THE SKY y& BMX 4 EVER.
nicole stepanek says
My boyfriend is dying to show us his fave kid movie. Pls let me know where we can find it to watch.
Steve says
I watched this movie as a kid and i’ve been looking to watch this for years and I’m glad I found it, I’ve already watched this movie 3 times in 4 days. For those involved in creating this movie, please make a sequel !! This is my favorite movie of all time. Thank you for putting this out.
Jeremy Hart says
same here
Gary says
I remember back in 1987 I would watch this movie get pumped then go out and ride until I break something, leg, wheel, or even have the wheel fly off doing a Tri-star.
Them was the days.
Thanks Rad plenty of scars and memory’s and a lot of fun.
What a rush.
D says
Kool Movie…Go BMX!!!
Darwin Labang Jervoso says
I love it. Thanks for uploading RAD. RAD inspired me to ride a BMX and do tricks. Thank you again and Good Day!
no name says
I am a younger person but thank you uploading this movie my dad showed me it and i fell in love. thanks again
Shawn says
Right on, your old man is wise!!
Ashley Lynch says
Me and my brother were well into BMX in our childhood and have lots of memories, racing, jumping, doing tricks. I have been trying to watch this movie for a very long time and all those memories came flooding back. Thanks for sharing it with us!
John says
Great! Thanks, but I wish English subtitles. I am deaf.
Ben says
I’m sure you could a torrent with English subtitles friends 🙂 Or check letmewatchthis?
Anonymous says
Thank you for sharing
Mark O. says
Still have my 87 Haro at my house. Great to see this movie on my big TV at home. On a 4K TV the picture is almost HD looking. Great to see my young boys faces while watching this move. Probably looking at Lori just as much as the bikes. The soundtrack is also great. 5 Stars!
Shawn says
Right on!!
Karrie says
My husband’s been trying to find a way to watch this movie for a while now. We’ve searched everywhere. Thank you for sharing this classic!
wei_fei_fan says
I too like many of the other’s who have posted saw this movie when I was a kid, 9 years old. This movie and sound track was a huge part of my life. My older brother who was 6 years older got me into it. He got his first Hutch the following year. I lost my brother to cancer two years ago but this movie makes me think of all the fun we had jumping ramps and trying to learn tricks. Thanks for the memories.
Phoenix says
I lost my brother on oct 28 of this year and now my dad has two months to live. like yours my brother was Also a huge influence in my riding as a kid. I’m sorry to hear about your brother but I’m sure glad that I have the memories like you had with yours. Thanks for sharing
Anonymous says
Thanks for posting this…one of my favorite movies as a kid!
Matt says
I love this movie so much. It reminds me so much of my childhood. We had a patch of woods behind my house that we used only shovels to build a BMX track on.
Jason McErlain says
I am wearing my RAD Christmas Sweater I just bought a few weeks ago and everyone at work are loving it. I just came across this site showing the few that never heard of the movie, they were deprived, but now they can watch what we all fell in love with over 30 years ago. Thank you for this site and thanks for the great memories..
Helicoptero Negro Michoacano says
The best Bmx movie in history I love so much,,, I’m 40 years old now,,,and I was 7years when I first watched the movie,,,I still watch the movie over and over again,,love always,,The Black Chopper Chicago style Team
Chad Helvey says
Man this brings back so many great memories. It’s hard to find anywhere to watch the full movie. Thanks for posting this.
Mike says
Best movie ever been searching for it for years. Great BMX movie brings back so many memories
Dickrock says
I heard a Psychobilly band cover “send me an angel” on pandora last week. Immediately this movie came to mind and has been floating around in my head every day since. I watched it again for the first time in over 30 years and it is still just as awesome as when I was a kid. Thank you thank you thank you for putting this up here to watch!
David Tauler says
I was 9 years old when I first saw this film at my friend Brad’s birthday party. I am 42 now and watching this film again was the most viewing fun I can remember having. As an X-Games fan, what these riders accomplished in RAD is not only still phenomenal, it will forever inspire future generations to enjoy the freedom found in BMX. Thank you bmxunion for bringing this immortal classic to us.
Andrea Cole says
Have been looking for a way to watch this movie. Loved it as a kid and now watching it with my 16 year old son. It’s still an amazing movie. Thank you so much for posting this movie!!!!
timmer says
max respect for this sick rip
movie holds up good imo
Sirre "The Sir" Reed says
My all time favorite movie and inspiration to my youth. This movie is the reason I still have a BMX bike at 45years of age. Its just a piece of my soul and when I take it our for a ride, my youth as a kid in a small “hick town” and BMX racing memories come back and reminds me where I came from and inspires me to push my limits.
Kylan says
Best movie in the entire world. It has been my favorite movie my entire life. I have it on VHS but the last two minutes were always cut off. Now I can watch the ending every time! 😂👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👍👍👍👍🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌 thank you BMX Union for posting this movie!!! You guys rock!!!!
Victor Gonzalez says
This movie was one of my favorite movies when I was young it just took me back to the good all days BMX life
Vanessa H says
Super stoked! I’m always one for the underdog!
Named my first born son Cru ❤️ After Cru Jones.. Stoked this is out ! 👏🏽
Josh says
That’s mad love 👍🏼
Pat Lipovski says
Great movie, great memories. As one of the 3 Canadians involved in the filming and full production of RAD, it was amazing being part of the process of filming this movie. The other two were Kirk Bujumbura (AKA: Captain Kirk, fellow NORCO Freestyle Team Member) and Jeff Ingram (Canadian Pro BMX Racer). Highlight was riding with many other notable names in 1980’s BMX and working with Hal Needham and others from the Hollywood scene. Meeting Mr. Hand (from Fast Times at Ridgemont High) and Talia Shire (from the Rocky series we’re great. Most memorable was Jamie Clarke, Supporting Actor who also climbed Everest after the movie and has so many cool adventures to add to his CV as a RAD main actor.
Here’s to the filming of RAD-2. I am certain that a creative, visionary and RAD supporter of this film from the next generation of BMX’ers will have the vision and desire to film this sequel.
~ Pat
Kevin says
I watched this movie when I was a teenager and have been looking for it for years. Just now finishing it brings back so many memories growing up in such a simpler time. Thank you for posting this movie, it was a real joy watching it.
Ramon says
Good old great movie!!!
Razor Ramon
Mike says
Top 10! or 1! Thanks so much even though I could not do 1% of those moves but we tried!
Steve Jones says
In my top 10 of all time. Used to own it back in the day??
Sylvie says
I remember watching the movie with my siblings. I was a teenager back then, I’m now 41.(lol) I’d watch this movie over and over again. It’s really good.
Louis says
Loved this movie back in my time. Glad to see it again after 30 plus years.