Sure, this movie may seem quite dated, but it's nevertheless quite underrated. A highly unique game that takes the players on an all-ight scavenger hunt around the city of Los Angeles, looking for clues that'll propell them forward when solved. The contributers consist of one skinny college genius, two pretty girl accomplices and five teams of students from varying walks of life. Three of the teams may appear stereotyped: the red team compraises four members of an outcast sorority; the white team consists of a quartet of skinny, four-eyed debaters; the green team includes fivefootball gorillas who spend their time off the field creating misery for he other teams. But, these individuals are still genuine at the core.
The core focus of the film's main body is the competition between the blue team and the yellow team. The yellow team's leader, Adam (played by David Naughton) is a highly intelligent, driven and forward-looking college senior who understands the importance of teamwork. The blue team leader, Harold (Stephen Furst) is self-centered, overweight and oblivious to the world around him. While Adam enters the game willingly, Harold is forced headlong into it b his frustrated father. And, while the yellow team is interested in fair play and following directions, Harold's only interest is in winning and going to any extremes to do it.
Interestingly enough, this movie was produced at a pivotal moment in American pop culture. At the start of the game, we witness the red team inhabiting a discoteque, the likes of which had already begun to go out of fashion. Also of note was the use of the Pabst Brewery as a clue location; Pabst Blue Ribbon bear is now produced by the Miller corporation. Another clue location is in an arcade referred to as Pinball City and, as the name would suggest, populated largely by pinball tables. One of few videogames in the place is an actual game called StarFire. This game pointedly draws on the first StarWars film from 1977. In one year's time, there'd be more videogames than anything in most arcades and more money going towards playing them than towards buying music.
In addition, the Walt Disney company and Buena Vista Entertainment made a supposedly calculated move when the movie was packaged, not including the Disney logo, for fear that a PG-rated movie would tarnish their reputation. However, this writer is mildly convinced that the inclusion of Disney packaging might've aided this film's popularity on the strength of notoriety. Six years later, we were given the Disney film flight of the Navigator, and their adult divison, Touchstone Pictures was fully active, producing pictures of its own.
The leading man, (Naughton) is best known for his role in the 1981 comedic horror flick, An American Werewolf in London. It is commonly believed that Naughton was chosen by director John Landis for this role on the heals of his spokesmanship for Dr. Pepper. However, as mentioned before, Naughton's advocary is played by Stephen Furst. Furst is best known for his portrayal of Kent 'Flounder' Dorfman in the Landis film Animal House. This writer is convinced that Landis opted to follow Stephen Furst's caeer path. This would ultimately lead to a screening of Midnight Madness, in which case David Naughton would become clearly visible. The likelihood that John Landis would recruit Naughton American Werewolf on the heels of this film is at least as likely as on the heels of a soft-drink commercial.
(Of corse, it doesn't hurt that one of the jocks is portrayed by Dirk Blocker, whose legendary father Dan Blocker was internationally known for portraying Eric "Hoss" Cartwright on Bonanza. Dirk also made a cameo appearance during Season 1 of Little House on the Prairie. And, his character definiely adds surrealistic levity to the film's main plot. Good-looking guy, too.)
| Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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DVD
February 3, 2004 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
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| — | $37.04 |
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DVD
May 15, 2001 "Please retry" | — | — |
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| — | $39.95 |
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DVD
February 3, 2004 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
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| — | — |
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Reviews with images
Love it
I have been looking for this movie on DVD for a little over 20 years. Finally found it!! Excellent condition.
Top reviews from other countries
julie verret
Fonctionne très bien. Et bien protéger dans une petite boîte lors de la réception.
Reviewed in Canada on October 13, 2019
