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Hot Dog, The Movie – Not So Hot, But Still Fun
By swenson | December 19, 2008
In continuing with commenting on eighties sex comedies we have the skiing movie that inspired other stupid skiing movies like Ski Patrol and Ski School. It’s Hot Dog, The Movie. This flick was a much desired VHS rental I saw on the shelves as an underage kid and I longed to know what secrets it held. The original movie poster really tempted you to watch it–I love those old Mad Magazine-like VHS covers for bad comedies.
What’s inside the rental doesn’t turn out to be much. Hot Dog has a crappy plot: Country boy Harkin Banks wants to be the number one ski champion and has to face arrogant German champ Rudi who has the judges in the palm of his hands. Yes, that’s the plot and there’s not much more to it. And frankly I don’t think I remember laughing once.
Your goal in viewing this movie is two part: watching some cool moves on the slopes and seeing as much nudity as possible.
The ski shots are good for the time period, but let’s face it, we could do better renting a handful of Warren Miller Films. Maybe they’ll remake this sometime in the future and be inspired by what the master of snow cinematography has done throughout his career.
I think that leaves us with the nudity. And there, Hot Dog succeeds. First of all you have the fantasy of being a guy who picks up a hitchhiking girl with no money so she stays in the same motel room as you and borrows your pajamas. You tease her a bit, pretend you’re not interested and then finally get her into bed. This fantasy girl is ”Sunny” played by Tracy Smith. She has a snotty, untrusting attitude which is kind of annoying but be patient; after she pulls off the clothes this girl has one hell of a body.
Putting Tracy aside the main attraction is “Sylvia” played by Shannon Tweed, now the significant other of Gene Simmons. I can’t tell if all of her equipment is real so kudos to the surgeon if it isn’t. Sunny calls her “plastic” in the movie so I don’t know if that’s a hint. And Shannon Tweed doesn’t just go topless, we get full body loving as she rubs her “all” on Country Boy Harkin. Very nice.
I will also mention there is one other nude shot before the other ladies disrobe. A female lodge clerk gets out of a hot tub to answer the front counter. And her fluffy bush may shock the younger generation as we are used to the racing stripe we now see on most naked starlets. It almost makes her more naked to be bushy.
I was disappointed with one potential nude shot and that is the scene with Squirrel (the usual loser) in the ski lift, or rather I believe it would be called a “gondola” because it’s enclosed. He gets left behind by the gang and ends up sharing his gondola with a buxom ski bunny who for some strange reason is turned on by sunblock. She plays with her ski outfit zipper as if to tease us and then the zipper never comes all the way down even though we can see her boobs ready to pop out. What gives? Did they have to cut out a shot for the R rating? Regardless she goes down on Squirrel and again the ending to that gag isn’t satisfying as we should at least hear him reach his special moment or something silly.
Hot Dog, The Movie was a success as a movie release as far as I know, probably did better on VHS than anything, and it’s more well known than a lot of better sex comedies from the eighties. Maybe it has to do with the skiing theme or maybe it has to do with the nudity that doesn’t disappoint, but I can only recommend watching this one if there isn’t a better “bad” movie on.
SIDENOTE: I also watched Ski Patrol in the same night. What a shame about this movie as it had potential to be a good “bad” movie. But they didn’t have any sex or nudity. It was PG13 safe humor with some innuendo. What Ski Patrol had going for it was some good characterization and some clever gags: love the one about tricking the boss into thinking he was getting taller by taking “growth pills.” Unfortunately there was not enough humor or solid writing in this film to make it stand on its own merit without the nudity. Throw in some naked ski bunnies and pointless hot tub sex and you would have had a cheezy feel good film I could recommend.
If Ski Patrol had been combined with Hot Dog, The Movie we would have a solid winner. Especially since in the end of Ski Patrol there is a giant Hot Dog Stand careening down the slopes.
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