Truly Dreadful Film

Pretty Good

Excellent but underrated film

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

If you are around my age (31 in 2013) you might remember seeing this VHS tape sitting in the video store, you know, the one with Ralphie from A Christmas Story riding a dirtbike. I never rented it because I thought it would be a cheesy piece of crap, but now that I have watched it for free on YouTube, I can now say that my original instincts were only half-correct. It was cheesy, but I still kind of enjoyed it. I was looking for something uncomplicated that I could watch to help unwind after a long day at work. It did the job perfectly.This is not a good movie in terms of acting, effects, screen writing, or especially plot (save the struggling hot dog place from getting foreclosed on!) but there is still a lot to like. It is very 80s, made most evident by the the synth-heavy soundtrack. Also the whole "extreme" attitude is in full effect toward BMX bikes and dirtbikes and other radical tubular things.The movie has a lot of memorable moments. My favorite: the local bank sponsors a little league team and then extorts the umpire into calling games in the team's favor because the bank has his mortgage! Right from the start, I had a hard time separating the kid's character in this movie from his role as a wide-eyed youngster in A Christmas Story. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that he plays both parts exactly the same — with manic boyish enthusiasm. In many ways they could be the same kid just in two different time periods.The plot is your typical stuff, but there was one interesting departure — the kid did not have a love interest. They saved all expressions of heterosexuality for the kid's best friend. In fact Ralphie might have been dirtbike-sexual for all we know. I guess the filmmakers were aiming the movie at young boys who haven't discovered girls yet.The kid's crazed look at the beginning of the film made me think of alternate interpretation: Ralphie is a poor child of a single parent. A kindly old man offers to sell him a dirtbike yet there is no way he could afford one in a million years. Rather than accept the reality of his destitute situation, Ralphie constructs a fantasy world where he is a hero kid with a magic bike, a starting position on the little league team, a smart-aleck womanizing best friend, and virtuoso computer hacking skills.So all in all it was worth it to watch this so many years after glancing at it in the video store. It probably would be better to watch this in a group so you can make fun of it together.

When you insist that this film can be regarded as Marxist propaganda, is not it smell internationale http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcXNXKtu8z4 :-) 12 year old boy struggling with the cruel and ruthless capitalist, but lacked the slogan "kids of all countries unite" But seriously I really liked this movie when I was a kid and still is my favorite. But now, as almost 24 year old guy beginning to see in this film, second bottom, a red bottom :-) This boy is an exemplary socialist fighting with a bad capitalist, really worth seeing this movie. You can even tempted to declare that this film should be the preferred material for teaching the youth section of the Comunist Party. as an example of revolutionary terror against rotten capitalists:-)

Casablanca,Citizen Kane,The GodFather and The DirtBike Kid.Its the classic tale of boy meets bike.Boy loses bike.Boy gets bike back but loses Mike's hotdog hangout.The extremely complex plot of this movie will keep you on the edge of your seat,but be prepared for a tear-jerking goodbye between the Kid and the Dirtbike.Watch and have a good ,long cry.

Ordinary children's adventure about a teen with a magic motorcycle that "brakes" a banker's plans. Mostly unknown cast does what they can, but the film merely remains unforgettable. Pankin, Bloom and Breen are best remembered for the HBO series "Not Necessarily the News."