Get ready for a very special episode of the Cult Film Club. On our last episode Pax, Jaime and I broke out our BMX bikes and took a look at the 1986 sportsploitation classic Rad. To cap off that discussion we had the opportunity to chat with the star of the movie, Cru Jones himself, Mr. Bill Allen.
We talk about the film, Bill’s penchant for extreme hobbies, his music career, what it’s like to be associated with a cult classic film and to have inspired countless athletes and filmmakers. We also dig into his new memoir, My Rad Career, which highlights his 30 years spent in front of and behind the cameras. It was an honor and an amazing pleasure to chat with one of our film heroes and we hope you enjoy the conversation. So without further to do, queue up Send Me An Angel, put on your sequined shirts, and jump on your bike as we talk to a supremely Rad dude!
Listen now!
(Or right-click and save this file to download -> Cult Film Club, Episode #17: Bill Allen Interview)
If you like what you hear you can subscribe to the Cult Film Club on iTunes.
You can also join our not-so-exclusive but totally rad club so you can know which movie(s) we’ll be discussing next and watch along with us.
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Thanks guy’s for having Bill on. I personally loved the book. He’s been one of the main catalysts in keeping Rad out there. I also appreciate what you do with the Cult Film Club. It’s a vital service.
Sam Bernard, co-writer/co-producer of Rad
No, thank you sir for helping to make my childhood awesome. As I said in the episode we did on the film, I must have rented this movie 100 times in the 80s and have watched it multiple times a year since!
Hey not to crash a Rad party (it’s my favorite all the flicks I’ve done). A close second is this:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113210/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_4
You might really dig it.
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No worries, we encourage party crashing. 🙂 I’m not sure how I’ve miss this flick over the last two decades, but I am going to remedy that. It looks like a rabid version of Ed and his Dead Mom!
You had me at “killer granny”.
Don’t want to debate but it is fans such as yourself who re rented a hundred times and create websites like this are why we do what we do. You’ve honored us and we ain’t much without fans like you. But you are very welcome. Up until the day he passed away, our director, who was no slouch in the film biz, was amazed at how Rad was far and away his most queried subject from his very impressive body of work.
Again, we’re all about the movies we love to death. Rad in particular is far an away one of the purest of the 80s era extreme sports movies like North Shore, Thrashin’, Gleaming the Cube, The Karate Kid, etc in that it focused so clearly on the sport and highlighted the actual pros while having a great set of characters to wrap the story around. We joshed a little during the podcast about the plot being simple, but this is actually one of the reasons why the flick works so well and has the legs that it does in that because it’s so easy to relate to. A generation grew up feeling like they could be Cru Jones (or Luke or Becky) and as we’ve seen in the years since, they totally did.
LOL…I love it. Damn right the plot is thin and even goofy! You are spot on that is why it works so well. A writing mentor would pound into me: “Your plot is merely the clothesline to hang all the garments people want to see.”
Yep The Granny is very much in the vein of Ed. Was discussing doing another film with a studio, wasn’t going so well, this idea hit me like a rock and I blurted out “killer granny” 30 minutes later, i had a green light. I love that movie. One review stated it beautifully: “One of the finer pieces of trash to come along in a long while”! Jeez, did that make me smile.
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Thanks for dropping by and the kind words! Seriously though, what Shawn said — thank YOU guys for this awesome movie!
I just listened to this and Bill Allen [ Cru Jones ] seems quite switched on, modest, honest and down to Earth. I was wearing headphones and heard a lot of keyboard poking but that may have been drool hitting the desk as Shawn gto to interview his 80s Idol.
lol, yeah there was a bit of keyboard strokes (and drooling – was trying NOT to come off like the Chris Farley Show). That’s one of the side effects of being over-prepared and trying to communicate “silently” via skype chat. Sigh. Bill was an awesome guest and he had a bunch of great stories, so glad we were able to make this happen!