HARDBODIES (1984)
Retro-VHS Look Edition
Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 87 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Mark Griffiths
Cast: Grant Cramer, Teal Roberts, Gary Wood, Michael Rappaport, Roberta Collins
Hardbodies always seemed to me to be the flagship boner-jam movie, with a sort of creepy set-up of three middle-aged, divorced men who enlist the help of teen surfer dude Scotty Palmer, who helps them pick-up young ladies on the beach in Southern California. Scotty is played by Grant Cramer of Killer Klowns from Outer Space fame, and the movie paints him as a sort of teen con man with a way with the young ladies, which the three divorced men exploit to their advantage. However, when Scotty begins to develop real feelings for a new girl in his life he tries to change his ways, but in a movie loaded with ample breasts and tanned buns it won't prove to be easy.
The movie co-stars one Courtney Gains of Children of the Corn and The 'Burbs fame as Scotty's best mate Rags, a righteous '80s dude and one goofy looking sumbitch. Watching it again the movie has not aged well, but does well as a tawdry piece of '80s trash cinema, with an endless parade of topless young women, which is sort of what this film is all about - to that end it does not disappoint.
Audio/Video: Hardbodies (1981) was previously issues by Mill Creek Entertainment as part of their Sun, Sand & Sweat 4-Movie Collection (1983-1985) Blu-ray, so it's nice to have it on a stand alone release, as part of the Retro-VHS Look series of releases. Presented in 1080p HD and framed 1.78:1 widescreen. Grain is present throughout, the image can be a tad bit soft with some minor dirt and print blemishes throughout, but overall thsi is a solid looking release. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo, the tunes from girl-group Vixen sound pretty good, no subtitles are offered, and there are no extras whatsoever.
In the absence of extras what this has going for it is the packaging, the single disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with one sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original one sheet for the film, which does a pretty good job of getting across what this movie has to offer. This release is part of the Retro-VHS Look collection from Mill Creek and features a slipcover that looks like a vintage VHS release that is very appealing to me, especially since I was a VHS kid, always renting tapes from the local rental place. The disc also features an excerpt of the same key art as the slip and wrap, one side of the spine looks like a VHS release, the other looks like the label from the VHS tape, very cool.
Hardbodies (1984) is a fun slice of R-rated 80's naughtiness, a light film that offers lots of SoCal 80's ladies without their tops and a bunch of horny guys doing typically dumb stuff. I love these Retro-VHS Blu-ray releases, they're fun and look great on the shelf.
