| | | | One Crazy Summer
(1986) |
love John Cusack. Not in an obsessive, "I'm your number one fan" sort of way, but when I turn on any of his 80's comedies, a smile forms on my face and I cannot get rid of it during the film. He is great at keeping a straight face, and even makes recycled humor work.
In the clever Savage Steve Holland opening, we have a sweet Rhino cartoon, showing the creature searching for true love. As he ends up to a bitter end at the hands (paws?) of the elite "Cute and Fuzzy Bunnies" (read: rich snobs), the page crumples and you meet Hoops, a senior about t graduate High School, who needs to complete a cartoon about someone finding true love by the end of the summer for his fall Art School entry. As to why someone has until mere days before college entry to hand in such a project and not know they will be accepted before then is beyond me, as you generally know the college you are embarking upon months before graduation, however I will chalk that up to plot development.
Hoops is the Cusack specialty, an everyman of 18, the Jimmy Stewart of teen flicks. Cute, but not drop dead gorgeous, honest eyes and prone to bizarre situations.
He wants to be special, be good at something. His poorly tagged moniker of ?Hoops? is due to his inability to ever make a basket shot. He has weird friends, with even weirder relatives. Throughout the course of the movie, the strength of these friendships is what makes him realize all along, he WAS a somebody.
His friend George suggests he visit Nantucket with him for the summer, to get 'inspiration' for his project. After seeing his mother has aspirations of him becoming a Street Sweeper, he concides.
First they have to pick up George's adorable little sister Squid and her rather odd dog , then get gas and they'll be off. While getting gas, they meet Cassandra (Demi Moore) a musician who is on the run from a motorcycle gang whom she has performed with. Seems they wanted to keep all the money. After distracting them, Hoops and Cassandra jump into George's car and they are off!
Nantucket is as beautiful as George promised, but the locals are very odd. You have Grandma, who delights in cooking you dinner and charges reasonable rates for the meal, the Stork Twins-Egg and Clay who run the local mechanic shop, Ack-Ack, the son of a local military man who hopes his son will become a marine (which is hopeless seeing as this guy is so sensitive, he cries when he sees a lost doll, lamenting for the child who lost it will be sad) and the local rich kid thug, Ted Beckersted, an evil, whiny spoiled snit who feels he owns the town and has a bunch of lackeys and a sunkissed girlfriend who has eyes for Hoops.
Now Hoops is in a pickle, as he is very interested in Cassandra, who needs to raise money to save her Grandfather's house and land, which is currently coveted by the Beckersted's, who have been drooling after this land for years. After her Grandfather dies,she needs to pay off the mortage and FAST. Her first attempts flop, but eventually she gets help from her new friends and she gets the money. Apparently, the Beckersted's are a step ahead of her and this leads up to the very odd concept of the Gang having to race the annual Ricotta to beat out Teddy (he needs to win every year, or else his Grandfather cuts him and his father off) and figures he can trade the trophy for the land. Because it?s not like Grandfather Beckersted would actually be WATCHING this race he is so insistent his grandson win every year, but I?ll over look that fact as the race is enjoyable and fun.
This is a Savage Steve Holland film, take a guess how it ends, but it's still loads of fun, and seeing it still brings that smile to my face.
 Don't forget that One Crazy Summer is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
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Holland manages to reuse ancient jokes and pull it off. Predictable ending to be sure,and seeing a babyfaced Demi Moore with Cusack, a pairing I never would have though possible is sweet.
I loved the whole take on the "Cute and Fuzzy Bunnies" approach, classism is a big theme in the '80's era and here it's pulled off as making the rich look like a bunch of whiny saps and the lesser class as the ones with the true idea of how to live.
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When Calamari picks up two women at the dance, the strawberry blonde on the right is director Savage Steve Holland's sister, whose childhood nickname was Squid and is the basis for the little girl in the film, also named Squid. 
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The original working title was "Greetings from Nantucket"
Curtis Armstrong also played Cusack's snow sniffing friend in "Better Off Dead", although he is most memorable as "Booger" in the Revenge of the Nerds movies.
Mark Metcalf played the gruesome and cruel "Master" on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also appeared as the nasty adult in all the Twisted Sister videos and the sadistic ROTC guy in "Animal House". Metcalf also portrayed the Maestro character on Seinfeld. He now runs a bar/restaurant in Mequon, Wisconsin called 'Libby Montana' in homage to the city in Montana and his wife named Libby. -Thanks to Ken
Teddie's best friend Ty is played by Jeremy Piven who later played John Cusack's best friend in "Serendipity. -Thanks to Casey
The name Hoops McCann was taken from a character in the 1980 Steely Dan song "Glamour Profession." -Thanks to Charles Stump
Jeremy Piven, long-time friend of John Cusack, also had a role in his movie "Say Anything". As Mark the character who hounded John Cusack's character for his Firebird keys to promptly recieve the answer "You Must Chill!". -Thanks to Dreamer012778
Joel Murray (George) is the brother of famous comedian and actor Bill Murray, and also had a small role in the film "Scrooged" with him. -Thanks to Dreamer012778
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Find much more great trivia in the filmmaker's commentary on the One Crazy Summer DVD.
Rediscover your favorites! If you like
One Crazy Summer or 80's Comedy classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Tootsie ..... Raising Arizona ..... Good Morning, Vietnam ..... Blues Brothers ..... Heathers ..... Fast Times At Ridgemont High ..... This Is Spinal Tap ..... Naked Gun ..... Adventures In Babysitting ..... Airplane ..... License To Drive ..... Money Pit ..... Porky's ..... Risky Business ..... Twins ..... Soul Man .....[More]
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Demi Moore plays the singer and her own voice was used for the songs. However, in her other '80s stint as a wannabe singer, in "No Small Affair", the studio didn't want to use Demi's voice, so a professional was hired to record her songs. -Thanks to Lara
When they give Hoops the horned helmet, he puts it on with the horns in front. Then they show him from behind and they are in the back. Then they show him take it off and the horns are in the front. -Thanks to Tim Givens
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|  |  |  | | One Crazy Summer
Locations |
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Most of "One crazy summer" was filmed on location at Cape Cod and Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA
Most/if not all of the beach scenes were done on Cold Storage Beach in East Dennis, MA. The final sailing race started and finished from Sesuit Harbor in East Dennis, MA. The jetties where Demi Moore was standing, line the harbor.
Also, the final scene on the dock, after the race, is at the Dennis Yacht Club, in Sesuit Harbor, in East Dennis, MA. All of these places are about 100 yards from one another. The producers had a banner put up which said Nantucket Regatta even though it wasn't on the island.
For about two years after, the boat (The Boat) was sitting at the Northside Marina (without the Ferrari engine) until someone came and took it away.
Woods hole is where they catch the ferry at the beginning. Main Street Nantucket is where they pass out the flyers and where the Army/Navy store is. [Thanks to Stephen Drowne]
Sea Street Beach in Hyannis, Mass. about 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the famed Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport. I saw them spray paint a guard rail black because the reflective paint was ruining their shot. They never repainted it back when they were finished and that caused a traffic hazard. I enjoyed the movie and it gave me a sense of how mundane and time consuming it can be to shoot a movie scene. [Thanks to Don Furtado]
Can you help? Do you know any of the Massachusetts filming locations used for One Crazy Summer? [Please send them in]
|  | | | | ![[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]](16_9.gif) | ![[STEREO or SURROUND]](dd2.gif) | Trailer, Commentary |
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Forgettable songs from some 'flash in the pan' artists, but you can hear Demi Moore sing!
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Soundtrack Available:
Used Vinyl LP / Tape
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