Hot Dog The Movie

Much like Star Wars inspired a galaxy full of cheap sci-fi knock-offs and also-rans, the surprise success of Porky's produced a litter of T & A imitators, flocking to a formula that required little more than a cast of horny unknowns living it up on the beach, at a fancy prep school or on a wacky river rafting trip.  So let's give 1984's Hot Dog...The Movie some points for difficulty; it's cast of oversexed semi-adults not only stage elaborate wet T-shirt contests and hot tub hookups, but compete on the slopes of Squaw Valley for the world freestyle skiing championship!

Harkin Banks (Patrick Houser) arrives at the resort with a ready-made love-interest already in tow:  Sunny (Tracy Smith), a cute hitchhiker who fights her instant attraction to this naive newbie.  But thanks to the quirky "Rat Pack" (led by Dr. Pepper pitchman and the American Werewolf himself David Naughton), Harkin is quickly initiated into the finer points of ski bum culture, including the boudoir antics of professional aficionado Sylvia (played by soft-core staple Shannon Tweed) and outwitting reigning Austrian champion who thinks he owns the mountain.

An awkward product of two filmmaking sensibilities (director Peter Markle wanted romance, writer Mike Marvin wanted Animal House-style debauchery), the result is an endearing hodgepodge of the two, unpredictably switching between folksy on-camera love songs and a thumping '80s soundtrack.  Nothing here is laugh-out-loud funny, but some actors do more with the material than others (Tweed is the most confident by a country mile) while the incredible ski footage will have you packing your bags for Tahoe by the time the credits roll.

Synapse Films has packaged a stunning new 4K restoration on Blu-ray that might just be the best an '80s sex comedy has ever looked...on video or in a theater!  Extras include a 50-minute documentary with enough stories and details to compete with the main feature for entertainment value, plus an audio commentary with writer Mike Marvin (who also shot the ski footage for Better Off Dead, by the way), trailers, TV spots and liner notes. 

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