Rad

Details

2026 Subscribers: this is NOT included in your Subscription. If you'd like to purchase it, you will need to login to view your special 50% off SRP pricing.

This special limited edition deluxe magnet box + slipcover set (designed by JJ Harrison), includes a 80-page perfect bound book and is limited to 5,000 units. It is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them. Please note: due to this VSU edition of RAD containing an 80-page perfect bound book, rather than our standard 40-page books, the regular VSU box protector will not fit this release. Stay tuned for a appropriately sized protector in the future.

Important note: Our new edition of RAD has been remastered in Dolby Vision from the original restoration’s uncompressed TIFF sequences, archived on LTO tapes that had not been accessed since our initial 4K UHD release in 2020.

Side note: RAD was the inspiration for our VSU line, so we are thrilled to finally bring the film to the Sub-Label it helped kick off. Big thanks once again to our partners at Utopia Distribution for helping us put together this very special 40th anniversary package!

High schooler Cru Jones is the fastest and most talented BMX rider in his small logging town. When Duke Best, owner of the Mongoose bicycle company, decides to hold a competition at a nearly impossible-to-complete BMX course named Helltrack, Cru decides it's his destiny to compete in the race, which offers a $100,000 cash prize. But unknown to Cru, Duke only concocted the race as a publicity stunt to promote his own top rider, Bart Taylor, and plans to do everything in his power to keep the unsponsored Cru from entering. To make matters even more complicated, Cru soon learns that the race is scheduled the same day he's supposed to take the SATs and finds himself with a choice between his future in college and a race where all the odds are stacked against him...

Among the most beloved films to emerge from the mid '80s BMX bike craze, RAD has earned an ever-growing cult audience, and its stars include Bill Allen (Streamers), Lori Loughlin (The New Kids), two-time Academy Award nominee Talia Shire (Rocky, The Godfather), Golden Globe nominee Jack Weston (Dirty Dancing), Ray Walston (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), H.B. Haggerty (The Big Brawl), Marta Kober (Friday the 13th Part 2), and actual Olympic champion Bart Connor. Directed by prolific stuntman/filmmaker Hal Needham (Smokey and the Bandit) and featuring stunning photography by Richard Leiterman (Stephen King's It [1990]), this exuberant, fast-paced inspiration for scores of future BMX enthusiasts is back on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome, in a brand new, breathtaking 4K Dolby Vision presentation.

directed by: Hal Needham
starring: Bill Allen, Lori Loughlin, Talia Shire, Jack Weston, Bart Connor
1986 / 93 min / 1.85:1 / English 5.1 Surround

Additional info:

• 3-disc Set: 4K Ultra HD / Region A Blu-ray x2
• 4K UHD presented in Dolby Vision High-Dynamic-Range
• Originally scanned & restored in 4k from its 35mm original camera negative
• A video conversation from Rad Day 2024 led by super-fan Ed Helms with actors Bill Allen and Bart Conner, along with Robert Schwartzman, son of Rad producer Jack Schwartzman and founder of Utopia Pictures
• How Did This Get Made? podcast on Rad with Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas (audio played over the film)
• Commentary track with filmmakers Joe Lynch and Becca Howard
• Commentary track with lead actor Bill Allen
• Commentary track with actress Talia Shire and Robert Schwartzman
• Commentary track with Bill Allen, actor Bart Conner, writer/co-producer Sam Bernard, along with BMX riders Eddie Fiola, Martin Aparijo, Jose Yanez and Jeremy Moser
• "A Rad Documentary" (63 min) - a feature-length documentary from 2025 directed by Michael Kirsch featuring numerous interviews with the cast and crew
• Trailer for "A Rad Documentary"
• “The Stuntman Directs” (16 min) - an interview with director Hal Needham
• “Writing Something Rad” (17 min) - an interview with writer/co-producer Sam Bernard
• Archival interviews with actor Bart Conner, writer Sam Bernard, and BMX riders Eddie Fiola, Martin Aparijo, and Jeremy Moser (25 min)
• Original EPK behind-the-scenes featurette (5 min)
• On-set interviews with actors Bart Conner, Lori Loughlin, and Bill Allen (11 min)
• "Rad 25" (10 min) - selected footage from the 25th anniversary event in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada
• “Break the Ice” music video (4 min)
• Extensive behind-the-scenes photographs from the set by BMX riders Jeremy Moser and Jose Yanez (4 min)
• Introduction from the 2020 home video release with lead actor Bill Allen
• 80-page perfect bound book (limited edition only) with essays from film historians: Dan Ozzi, Will Sloan, Kentucker Audley, Paul Corupe, and cartoons by Charles Forsman and Rick Trembles
• Original theatrical trailer
• Revisiting Rad episode from The Confused Breakfast podcast (62 min)
• Reversible cover artwork
• English SDH subtitles