Cory Webster is an amateur skateboarder from out of town staying in Los Angeles with friends in hopes of competing and winning a downhill competition which he has been training for. During his stay in LA, he falls for a beautiful blonde named Chrissy, who just happens to be the younger sister of Hook, the leader of The Daggers, a tough punk rock skateboard gang in the Los Angeles/Venice Beach areas. Chrissy is not a Dagger herself but has come from her home in Indiana to stay with her brother in L.A. for the summer. Cory and his crew The Ramp LOCALS! often have confrontations throughout the film because of Corys disobedience to Hook when asked not to come around or call Chrissy again. Chrissy, however, can choose her own relationships and has the opposite interest. Cory, of course, being the hero, disobeys and is chased on skateboard through city streets and a parking garage by members of The Daggers. He barely escapes by boarding a bus and exiting through the back door and onto the roof while the rival gang members search the cabin of the bus. Through all of that memorable scene, the Circle Jerks song Wild in the Streets is played, showcasing the connection between 80s hardcore punk rock and skateboarding culture. (Vice Squad, Devo, SST Records and Siouxsie and the Banshees T-shirts can be seen on skateboarders throughout the film as well.) Upset at Cory, The Daggers find The Ramp LOCALS half-pipe and burn it to the ground, thus creating more drama between the two skate crews. Cory and Hook later meet up that night, after an earlier confrontation, at the Dagger house (a punk rock house overrun with Daggers and graffiti, quite common in the 1980s throughout Los Angeles communities). The rivals joust in a remote location until Cory is injured and the police arrive. With Corys arm broken he is convinced he cannot compete in the downhill, and places blame on Chrissy, who wasnt there to assist him in his time of need; she left with the Daggers as the police were arriving, but in protest reminds him that she had begged him not to engage in the duel in the first place. As Chrissy is driving away, Cory runs outside to try to make up with her, but she doesnt hear him behind her. An emotionally upset Chrissy arrives back at the Daggers house, tells her brother she is going back to Indiana, and asks to be driven to the bus station in the morning; she goes upstairs to pack. Later, Cory skates over to the Daggers house looking for Chrissy, but Hooks girlfriend tells him that she has already taken Chrissy to the bus station, that she doesnt have a phone number for Chrissy, and that Chrissy was very crying unconsolably when she returned (suggesting no reconciliation is possible). These are all lies; Chrissy is still upstairs packing. Later that night, Chrissy and her brother have a heart to heart about his protectiveness of her as he drives her to the bus station, where she gets on the bus to Indiana. Meanwhile, Cory mopes around. He starts to miss Chrissy and begins to practice downhill skateboarding. With a broken arm he has to be very cautious and proves to not be able to perform as well. Chrissy, having second thoughts, exits her bus on the highway and hitch-hikes back to Los Angeles just in time to see Cory and Hook battle it out in the last turn of the downhill race. Hook flies over the side of the road and Cory speeds through the finish line at 63 mph off a ramp and into a crowd of fans who cheer him in victory. He is awarded a professional contract with Smash Skates and enough money to rebuild the destroyed ramp burnt by the Daggers. Hook tells Cory that he respects his skill and approves Corys relationship with Chrissy, seeing Cory as worthy and respectful, and apparently having taken his talk with Chrissy to heart. In respecting Cory, Hook, for the first time, is looked at as respectable as well. Cast
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 10:13:07 +0000