Crossing the Line (1989)

Director:

Gary Graver

Writers:

Rick Marcus (writer)
James Ryan (story)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Motorcycle | Independent Film

Cast

Rick Hearst	...	Rick Kagan
Jon Stafford	...	Zach Kapinski
Paul L. Smith	...	Joe Kapinski
Vernon Wells	...	Steve Sinclair
Cameron Mitchell	...	Sheriff Williams
Colleen Morris	...	Megan
John Saxon	...	Jack Kagan
Simon Poland	...	Freddie
Bart Fouche	...	Luke
Steed Taylor	...	Harvey
John Williams	...	Leroy
Evan J. Klisser	...	Josh Kapinski
Diki Lerner	...	Zing
Kathy-Jo Ross	...	Laura Lee (as Cathy Jo Ross)
Mike Manoim	...	Big Al

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Epic Productions

A gutterball...(spoilers)

I rented 'Crossing the Line' expecting a terribly cheesy late 80s movie, and even these expectations are too high. The problem with this film is that it is premised upon an exaggeration, so none of the characters reactions to the situations, nor the events that ensue as a result, seem to make any sense. The whole thing just becomes ridiculously funny because it is so bad.

Rich kid dirt-biking enthusiast, Rick Kagan, who, for some reason, the filmmakers want us to think (without actually telling us why) is the misunderstood kid who was never given a chance to prove his successes. In particular, he and his father have a non-existent relationship because Rick doesn't think his father cares about him and, since the death of Rick's mom, they're just full of misunderstandings. (Although, that's not all they're full of...).

Trouble hits good-intentioned Ricky when he and his friend, Josh, are out dirt-biking on the course one night and, on their way back to town, are chased by a cop for speeding. Josh falls off his bike and injures himself pretty badly, winding up in a coma shortly thereafter. So for some reason, everyone blames Rick for the incident (despite the incredulity in this plot point so far). And the town gets strangely violent about the incident too (one guy actually knocks over a brick wall in a bathroom stall), with the major force being Josh's older brother.

Meanwhile, Rick, feeling ostracized picks up with the daughter of the dirtbike shop owner and she's basically his source of inspiration and encouragement (and doing so with plenty of bad acting between the two of them). And she encourages Rick not to clear up the misconceptions that the town has about him, but to take up racing and prove his worth to himself and I suspect, his father, as evident from the corny line, "You're a winner to me, Rick." At least the last few minutes of revenge between the goon brother and his gang of lackeys against Rick was interesting, but definitely out of kilter for a movie that kept wavering between good action and insulting cheesiness.

For a good dirtbike-themed film, I would suggest looking elsewhere. This movie was just far too long and utterly boring.