This 80s movie has plucky losers who ski

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Originally published at: This 80s movie has plucky losers who ski | Boing Boing

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“Better Off Dead” is better =).

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I want my two dollars!

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Or in “One Crazy Summer” where the plucky group entered a sailboat race.
Or in “Summer Rental” where the plucky family is mentored by a strange pirate and then enters a yacht race.

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Or “Breaking Away” where the Plucky Losers™ enter a bicycle race.

(OK, this is 1979, so arguably the movie that started the sub-genre)

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Even if not first, definitely one of the best of that group of films.

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Very true. But the other movie ("Hot Dog-The Movie) has nudity.

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Plucky teens invading Third World dictatorships were also a trope.

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Or “Up the Creek” where the Plucky Losers™ enter a raft race.

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Cool Runnings (released 1993) has to qualify as it was based on real life plucky losers from the '88 Calgary Olympics - The Jamaican Bobsleigh team.

Then there’s the Eddie the Eagle story from the same Olympics, but the movie came out in 2015.

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Plucky Dorks taking on the Rich Preppies?

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But remain just as rapey as the rich preps (If not more so)

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I just re-acquired this because a friend hadn’t seen it and it’s in my top 10 movies of all time. It stands up well!

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Plucky losers taking over a rich guys hobby was one of the great 80s tropes.

My gods, it really was. I hadn’t much thought of it, as I avoided all those movies, but it would be so easy to parody. I await the '80s -set comedy about some plucky losers taking over croquet with their quaintly rebellious antics…

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And, inside the trope, “good-looking rich girl who crosses over to the loser side.”

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“Do you have any idea what the street value of this discussion is?”

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Wait, what?

NERDS
NERDS780×439 46.4 KB

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Fun story - my family got free tickets to the bobsled races at the 88 Olympics. The Jamaican team crashed and came to a stop right in front of us. When they climbed out they were clearly unhappy, and my dad - who had been coaching kids for 30 years in various sports at that point - was utterly compelled to say ‘Hang in there chief’. A fine family story.

They didn’t actually carry the sled over the finish.

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I used to drink with Anders Vestergaard, who ‘sponsored’ the team and somehow had their merchandising rights in the USA.

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Different ball-sport, but I thought Susan Sarandon’s “Ping Pong Summer” was delightful.

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