Or plucky working class nerd competing for Molly Ringwald against rich snob and losing.
Actually John Hughes is 2/4 here. In sixteen candles and pretty in pink the poor nerd ‘lost’, but the nerd won the ringwald prize in some kind of wonderful (where eric stoltz becomes molly ringwald) and of course the breakfast club (where molly ringwald and ally sheedy or maybe emilio estevez all became ringwald, but here the nerd still lost out.)
I think that’s David Naughton and Shannon Tweed I see in that clip, but they could be any number of interchangeable 80s actors who specialised in playing the plucky working-class mook and the hot rich blonde babe stereotypes.
What gets really interesting with the tired trope is seeing the huge number of foreign and low-budget rip-offs of the American movies. I used to page through my step-father’s big semi-annual copies of Variety as a teenager, and the posters alone were enough to make you cringe.
Plucky teens in general were very much the in thing in that era.
WOLVERINES!
The thing I remember most about this movie was that Squirrel got a blowjob from a cute girl on a ski lift while he calmly put sunscreen on his nose. Yet another 80s (and 90s?) movie trope - totally average dude bags smoking hot chick for no particular reason.
Also it just occured to me that the skiing through the restaurant part in this scene is almost certainly an homage to the ski scene in “For Your Eyes Only” - the guy is even wearing blue like Bond was.
Watched this recently - what struck me was the fact ski ballet has pretty much ceased to be a thing. Back then it was an Olympic demonstration sport! I guess it’s kinda hard to be ‘way rad’ when working on your spins.
For Your Eyes Only is a criminally underrated Bond film. The villain is bland, the stakes are low, but the henchmen, action scenes and acquired ally are some of the best in the series.
Oh good! Nobody mentioned Rad, where the plucky losers do BMX bike racing. With a young Lori Loughlin!
Footloose!
this scene made me stop hating van halen
anyone remember this absolute garbage pile?
Uh, where was T.K. Carter?
not in the trailer, i guess.
anyone know where this was filmed? also, i wonder if it’s before or after David Naughton (had to look it up) was in An American Werewolf in London. my guess is “before.”
Nope, after. He’s kept working, but his career never exactly took off.
I liked Rad.
I didn’t race, but I did some freestyle and had friends who raced. I used to build my own bikes from bits and pieces I’d collect around the neighborhood.
As much as I love An American Werewolf in London, I never was able to stop thinking of him as the Dr. Pepper guy.
The trope continued into the 21st century.
The five Ds: Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge.
It’s sad that I saw that one screen shot, and thought of…
“You may ski on dat side, or dat side, but stay OUUT of the middle!”
“Well Rudy, you can kiss my ass! Not on dis side, not on dat side, but RIGHT in the middle!”
Yeah, I’m not exactly crossing the finish line with a lot of useful skills. 
He also was a one-hit wonder.
