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"Hot Dog" - The Sequel?
By J.D. O'Connor
November 27, 2006
By Robert Frohlich
Seldom does a movie come along that so clearly defines a sport. For surfing fans it was "Endless Summer," which sent gremlins and hodads alike into California surfshops for appropriate attire and spawned a new dialect - "surf speak." What "Summer" did for surfing, "Hot Dog, The Movie" did for skiing.
Twenty-five years ago, if you entered a theater to see "Hot Dog" you exited a skier for life. A Hollywood cast and crew settled in Squaw Valley, California for 52 days, not knowing they would produce the ultimate sex-and-party ski flick with a fan following as rabid as "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
Was it a good thing for the sport?
"It's still popular because it comes from a skier's point of view," said Tahoe City, California native Mike Marvin, 62, who wrote, co-directed and edited the film. "Every scene has some truth to it. Hot Dog is a compilation of my ski adventures between 1972 and 1976."
Marvin jammed his film not only with bump skiing and downhill racing, but also wet T-shirt contests, gondola nookie, hot tubbing, beer drinking and some toking. Why not take up skiing?
The film opened in January of 1983 on 1200 screens around the country and jumped to number two behind only "Terms of Endearment." Playboy playmate Shannon Tweed forever changed winter with a dip in a hot tub. Tahoe stuntman Robbie Huntoon, however, stole the movie when he skied through a lodge and out a glass window.
Tweed continued to work in Hollywood, starring in dozens of risque B-flicks including the 2001 "Dead Sexy." But several of the film's production staff would subsequently become shakers and movers off the ski slopes.
Stunt coordinator Max Kleven would make "Back To The Future;" Second Unit cameraman Don Burgess would be nominated for an academy award as Director of Cinematography for "Forrest Gump;" Stunt skier Frank Bedor would produce "There's Something About Mary;" actor Paul Rosenberg ran Imagine Entertainment for Ron Howard; Producer Ed Feldman, who mortgaged his house to finance the movie, went on to produce many more Hollywood mainstream pictures notably "Witness," "The Truman Show," and "K-19" starring Harrison Ford.
Squaw is hosting a 25th anniversary tribute to the movie Jan. 20-21. The reunion includes appearances by original cast members, an on-hill event and screening of the picture followed by live music and party.
"Alex Cushing (Squaw Valley's late founder) had to approve the shooting of Hot Dog and I believe he did so against his better judgment," says Mike Marvin, who'd go on to write and direct another cult classic, "The Wraith," starring Charlie Sheen. "On the other hand, he recognized that the production would bring cash infusion into the valley economy, so I always thought he okayed the movie for strictly practical reasons. That it became a hit, a cult favorite, and one of the most successful low budget pictures in the 80's must've come as something of a surprise to him - as it was to me."
Marvin hopes to start production on a sequel to Hot Dog in 2007. "I'd love to film it again in Squaw Valley," he says.
What would a "Hot Dog Part Deux" be like? We'll have to wait and see how our favorite sport will be depicted a second time around.
What would you want to see included? And who would you want to see ski?
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