Hell Track also became the title of the film (contrary to the often reported but incorrect Balls Out). This would become the legendary course where the big race would be held at the end of the film. After reading the first draft of the script he came up with the idea of Hell Track. Needham knew the film needed more, something intimidating and never before seen. Needham had seen some BMX races on TV, which basically consisted of the riders going down a plank and rounding some corners while navigating a few bumps and mounds for about 100 yards. “We knew it would end in a big race,” said Bernard, “we didn’t know what it was.”īernard and Edwards wrote the script in just nine days, all except the last, big race, which simply said “the big race,” on page 91 of the first draft. He immediately saw the potential a film centering around BMX could have and got excited about doing something different.įrom there, Needham, Bernard, and Edwards began to develop a script. Needham was “blown away” by what he saw these young riders doing on a bike. Bernard, despite being sick with the flu, thought the best way to completely sell Needham on the idea was to take him to a BMX exhibition at the Equestrian Center at Griffin Park in Los Angeles. “I blow up cars, I race cars, I jump cars, I don’t know anything about a bicycle,” was Needham’s initial response to a possible movie based on BMX.īut he was familiar with motorcycles, so comparing the two in his mind is what kept Needham interested. If the Academy Awards ever institutes a trophy for stunt work, it should be called the Needham, not the Oscar. He then turned his love for stunt work into a sub-genre of sorts, directing stunt-based car movies like Smokey and the Bandit, The Cannonball Run, and Stroker Ace, all starring the biggest star at the time, Burt Reynolds. Needham would go on to perform in thousands of TV episodes and over 300 movies, becoming the most versatile, highest-paid stuntman in the world for more than a decade. Louis starring James Stewart in 1957, which he turned into a legendary career as a stuntman. His first job in Hollywood was an airplane sequence in The Spirit of St. From there, he performed in an aerial thrill show before moving out to California. Hal Needham was a tree topper before joining the military where he became a paratrooper. Edwards liked the idea and mentioned it to producer Sam Levy, who then brought it to the attention of director Hal Needham (Levy worked with Needham on Smokey and the Bandit). Sensing an untapped opportunity that he described as a “great, primal activity,” Bernard talked about BMX culture with his writing partner, Geoffrey Edwards, about the possibility of featuring BMX stunts in a film. He also learned that 7 million BMX bikes were sold the previous year. Watching them piqued his interest, and after picking up a bike magazine at The Beverly Hills Bicycle Shop, Bernard learned more about the bike culture. One such observer was Sam Bernard, a screenwriter whose film 3:15 the Moment of Truth was waiting to find a distributor.īernard was vaguely aware of BMX, just seeing some riders on the streets every now and then. By 1981, the International BMX Federation was founded, with the first World Championships being held a year later.īy this time, kids in every state could be observed riding and racing their BMX bikes with neighborhood friends and on city streets. Tracks and courses were built first in California, but soon spread across the country, and organizations like the National Bicycle League were formed. The trend captured the attention of America’s youth, and by the mid-1970s, manufacturers were designing and selling bikes specifically for the new BMX craze. This was the beginning of a new, youth-oriented bike sport called Bicycle Motocross, better known as BMX. Being both widely available and customizable for easier handling, bikes like the Schwinn Sting-Ray were the bikes of choice for this new form of off-road racing. Inspired by the young Motocross stars of the day, kids in southern California began racing their bikes on dirt tracks. Around this same time, the popularity in motorcycle culture would evolve to include other forms of riding, creating a racing sport that traded the paved road for the dirt track known as Motocross. The opening scene in Bruce Brown’s 1972 Oscar-nominated motorcycle racing documentary On Any Sunday shows kids riding their bicycles off-road in imitation of motorcyclists. Video Rewind tells the BTS stories of VHS favorites, one rental at a time! Press play and adjust your tracking for “Rad” (1986).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |