Hot Rod
Throughout his entire life, Rod Kimble has believed his father, now deceased, was a successful and respectable stuntman working for Evel Knievel. He aspires to follow in his father's footsteps and become a famous stuntman himself. Meanwhile, his stepfather Frank fails to respect Rod as a man, often going out of his way to beat him in sparring sessions and mocking his stuntman dream. Rod makes many attempts at landing jumps with his Tomos moped, most of them ending unsuccessfully. After an ill-fated jump attempt at the public pool, he returns home to find out that Frank is in urgent need of a heart transplant. Angry at the thought of his stepfather dying without getting a chance to "smash his face in" and gain his respect, Rod tells his childhood friends Rico, Dave and his half-brother Kevin about his plan to do a jump over the length of fifteen school buses, and give the proceeds to his stepfather's surgery. He also adds Denise, his college-graduate neighbor on whom he has a crush, to his crew.
To promote his stunt and also raise funds, Rod, who "likes to party", works parties, corporate get-togethers, and other events, performing activities such as taping pillows to his body and having a washing machine, suspended by a crane, swing to hit him. Kevin releases a movie using his footage of Rod's stunts and sells over 200 tickets, but everyone at the movie laughs at Rod's expense as the film depicts his failed training attempts. Rod gets angry and throws the theater's projector out of a window, smashing the projectionist's car below. Rod ends up giving up all the money he has raised so far to the projectionist to cover the damages and avoid arrest. Upset, he returns home, where his mother reveals to him that his father was not the stuntman he thought he was. Humiliated, Rod quits the crew and ends his dream to beat up his stepfather, despite his friends' interventions. However, he takes up the jump again when Dave asks Rod to take him to the hospital due to an injury while "trippin' balls" under the influence of acid given to him by his friend Derek. When he does, Dave gives him advice that inspires Rod to apologize to Kevin. As Kevin accepts his apology, he also reveals that Rod's stunt footage has gotten popular through the Internet, and a local AM radio station hosted by Barry Pasternak offers to cover the expenses of the jump.
Rod gets the crew back together and they start setting up for the jump. On the day of the jump, his friends give him a new suit, a rock (to represent extensive pyrotechnic work done by Rico), and a motorbike. He also receives a kiss from Denise, who broke up with Jonathan, her insensitive and callous boyfriend. As Rod jumps off the ramp, the speed of his new motorbike enables him to jump over the buses, but the bike smashes through a stage and goes flying. Rod lands squarely on the ground, and has an unconscious out-of-body experience. When he awakes, Rod, with the help of Kevin and Denise, triumphantly gets up to the applause of the crowd, and sees that the donations have accumulated over $50,000, the cost of Frank's "conveniently priced" surgery. The film ends taking place six months after the events of earning $50,000 as Rod again spars with Frank, in which Rod gains the upper hand and successfully gains his stepfather's respect.
cult, comedy, entertaining, romantic, flashback