''One Crazy Summer'' is a 1986 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film written and directed by

Savage Steve Holland Savage Steve Holland (born April 29, 1958) is an American writer, cartoonist, producer, voice actor, animator, and film director who wrote and directed the films '' Better Off Dead'' (1985) and ''One Crazy Summer'' (1986), starring John Cusack. ...

, and starring John Cusack,

Demi Moore Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After making her film debut in 1981, Moore appeared on the soap opera ''General Hospital'' (1982–1984) and subsequently gained recognition as a member of the Bra ...

, Bobcat Goldthwait,

Curtis Armstrong Curtis Armstrong (born November 27, 1953) is an American actor and singer best known for playing the role of Booger in the ''Revenge of the Nerds'' movies, Herbert Viola on the TV series ''Moonlighting'', Miles Dalby in the film '' Risky Busines ...

and

Joel Murray Joel Murray (born April 17, 1963) is an American comedy actor. He is well known for his roles in the television series ''Mad Men'', ''Grand'', '' Love & War'', ''Dharma & Greg'', '' Still Standing'', and '' Shameless''. He has also appeared in f ...

. The original

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

was composed by Cory Lerios.

Plot

Hoops McCann, a recent high school graduate, fails to get a basketball scholarship, disappointing his parents. He hopes to be admitted to the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

, and must write and illustrate a love story for his application. He joins his friends, siblings George and Squid Calamari, to spend the summer on the island of

Nantucket, Massachusetts Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

. En route, they pick up a young rock singer named Cassandra Eldridge, who is pursued by a motorcycle gang at the time. Once on the island, Hoops and George, along with twin brothers Egg and Clay Stork and outcast Ack-Ack Raymond, must help Cassandra save her grandfather's house from the greedy Beckersted family (led by the callous Aguilla). Along the way, Hoops must find a way to write his cartoon love story. Hoops runs afoul of Teddy Beckersted and his neglected girlfriend, Cookie. She secretly offers Hoops a date, and he is persuaded to go out with her even though he had promised to appear at Cassandra's first musical performance (which turns out to be sparsely attended). Hoops and Cookie go to a drive-in that night, where Teddy's friend Ty sees them and notifies Teddy. Meanwhile, Egg gets stuck in a Godzilla costume and causes havoc at Beckersted's promotional party for the Beckersted Estates (which would be located at the spot of Cassandra's grandfather's house). Hoops, George, Egg and Ack-Ack run into Teddy and his friends. As he threatens them, Cassandra appears and offers an impromptu basketball challenge between him and Hoops; Teddy dominates and Hoops fails. After spraying Teddy and his friends with Mace, Cassandra is upset that Hoops did not appear for her performance and lied that he was a good basketball player. In an effort to make it up to her, Hoops and his friends promote her next performance, which turns out to be a big success, and Cassandra forgives him. However, Aguilla immediately forecloses on the house before it can be saved. Ack-Ack proposes they take part in the local regatta, despite Hoops' fear of the water. Nevertheless, they find and renovate an old boat to use. The regatta starts with the teams using paddles, then sails. Teddy's team recklessly injures a member of one team and Ack-Ack jumps into the water to save him. Aguilla, having stowed away on Teddy's boat, sabotages Hoops' sail with his crossbow. To repair the mast, Hoops successfully shoots the new guyline into the mast and they continue onward. Before Aguilla could shoot the mast again, he is thrown overboard by Squid operating a mechanical dolphin from a nearby movie set, as retaliation for when he kicked her beloved dog earlier. When the teams use the motors, Hoops and his team win after using Teddy's car engine as their motor. Hoops and his friends celebrate their victory—they are awarded the prize, Squid's dog turns out okay (after giving birth to puppies), George hooks up with Cookie, and Ack-Ack wins his stern father's approval for his heroics. Despite winning, Hoops offers the trophy to Teddy if he spares Cassandra's house, but Teddy immediately backs out on his promise. However, Old Man Beckersted (father of Aguilla and grandfather of Teddy) gives back the trophy and spares Cassandra's house, stating he was not going to "put a dime" in the Beckersted Estates; he then drags Teddy away by his ear. With the prize returned and the house spared, Hoops and Cassandra kiss, and she inspires a love story for his application. In the final scene, George's uncle Frank finally wins a $1 million prize from a radio contest (having been driven insane every summer for trying to win), but his phone gets disconnected and his prize is given away to someone else; he snaps and promptly uses a

rocket launcher A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few in ...

to blow up the radio station, and shortly thereafter the Stork twins arrive and head to the still-burning station to roast marshmallows.

Cast

* John Cusack as Hoops McCann *

as Cassandra Eldridge *

as Ack Ack Raymond * Bobcat Goldthwait as Egg Stork *

as George Calamari * William Hickey as Old Man Beckerstead *

Joe Flaherty Joseph Flaherty (born June 21, 1941) is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian sketch comedy '' SCTV'' from 1976 to 1984 (on which he also served as a writer), and as Harold Weir on ''Freaks and G ...

as General Raymond * Mark Metcalf as Aguilla Beckerstead *

John Matuszak John Daniel Matuszak (October 25, 1950 – June 17, 1989) was an American football defensive end in the National Football League who later became an actor. Matuszak was the first overall pick in the 1973 NFL Draft and played most of his career ...

as Stain * Kimberly Foster as Cookie Campbell *

Matt Mulhern Matt Mulhern (born July 21, 1960) is an American actor and historian who has starred in such films as '' One Crazy Summer'' and '' Biloxi Blues'', and such television series such as '' Major Dad'', '' JAG'', and '' Rescue Me'' (playing Lt. John ...

as Teddy Beckerstead *

Rich Little Richard Caruthers Little (born November 26, 1938) is a Canadian-American Impressionist (entertainment), impressionist and voice actor. Sometimes known as the "Man of a Thousand Voices", Little has recorded nine comedy albums and made numerous tel ...

as Radio contest DJ *

Tom Villard Thomas Louis Villard (November 19, 1953 – November 14, 1994) was an American actor. He is known for his leading role in the 1980s series ''We Got It Made'', as well as roles in feature films ''Grease 2'', ''One Crazy Summer'', ''Heartbreak Ri ...

as Clay Stork * Jeremy Piven as Ty *

Rich Hall Richard Travis Hall (born June 10, 1954) is an American comedian, writer, documentary maker and musician, first coming to prominence as a sketch comedian in the 1980s. He wrote and performed for a range of American networks, in series such as ...

as Wilbur, Gas station attendant *

Taylor Negron Brad Stephen "Taylor" Negron (August 1, 1957 – January 10, 2015) was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Milo in the 1991 buddy cop action comedy film ''The Last Boy Scout''. Early life Negron was born in Glendale, C ...

as Taylor, Gas station attendant * Billie Bird as Grandma Calamari *

Bruce Wagner Bruce Alan Wagner (born March 22, 1954) is an American novelist and screenwriter based in Los Angeles known for his apocalyptic yet ultimately spiritual view of humanity as seen through the lens of the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood entertainm ...

as Uncle Frank

Production

Several locations on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

, Massachusetts were used for the film: Saint Pope John Paul II High School (as Generic High School), Hyannis West Elementary School (as Generic Elementary), the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket

Steamship Authority The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority, doing business as The Steamship Authority (''SSA''), is the statutory regulatory body for all ferry operations between mainland Massachusetts and The Islands (Massachusetts), the ...

ferry dock in Woods Hole, where the characters board the ferry, and the motorcycle gang leader jumps his motorcycle into the water. The gas station bathroom scene was shot on a stage built in the MBL Club in Woods Hole. The inside of General Raymond's Army-Navy store is Mass Bay Company, located at 595 Main Street, Hyannis, Massachusetts. The Stork brothers' gas station is the (then-Amoco) located at 1098 Main Street in Dennis, Massachusetts. Hoops McCann is named after the protagonist in

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from live ...

's song "Glamour Profession" from the '' Gaucho'' album, who is introduced as a basketball aficionado. The animation in the film was directed by

Bill Kopp William Kopp is an American animator, writer and voice actor. Career Kopp studied animation at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1984, he won a Merit Award from the Student Academy Awards for ''Mr. Gloom''. In 1985, he won a Student Acade ...

who previously worked with Savage Steve Holland on ''Better Off Dead'' and would later work with him on '' Eek! The Cat''. Two animators who worked on the film, David Silverman and Wes Archer, would later be directors on ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'' and would animate ''Simpsons'' shorts on

The Tracey Ullman Show ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' is an American television variety show starring Tracey Ullman. It debuted on Fox on April 5, 1987, the network's second original primetime series to air following '' Married... with Children'', and ran until May 26, ...

with Kopp. Savage Steve Holland was reportedly upset with

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

and

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

's criticism of his earlier film '' Better Off Dead'', which led to the gag with the two bunnies that get blown up at the end of the movie who resemble the movie critics.

Reception

Nina Darnton of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "In spite of the director's flair for zany humor, this film is just absurd." Pat Graham of the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

'' found it "Not a bad film, and certainly more polished than Holland's ''Better Off Dead'' debut, though it's marred by unevenness and the director's ineradicable penchant for infantile clowning." The film maintains a 45% score at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 20 reviews.

References

External links