One Crazy Summer (1986)

Taglines: They’re out of school, out on Nantucket, and out of their minds. With this crowd, anything can happen!

One Crazy Summer movie synopsis. With a name like Hoops McCann, he’s bound to get that basketball scholarship after high school, right? Wrong! What Hoops really wants to do is write and illustrate a love story. To help him find his way, his friend George invites Hoops to come with him and his sister to spend the summer on Nantucket. The friends Crazy Summer begins when they pickup Cassandra on the way–she’s being chased by a motorcycle gang.

From here on in, it only gets crazier. Once on the island, Hoops and George, along with George’s island friends the Stork twins and Ack-Ack (son of a marine), must help Cassandra save her grandfather’s house from the greedy Beckersted Family. Along the way, Hoops must find a way to write his cartoon love story – and maybe a real one of his own.

One Crazy Summer is a 1986 romantic comedy film written and directed by Savage Steve Holland, and starring John Cusack, Demi Moore, Bobcat Goldthwait, Curtis Armstrong and Joel Murray. The original film score was composed by Cory Lerios.

About the Story

Hoops McCann, a recent high school graduate, fails to get a basketball scholarship, disappointing his parents. He hopes to be admitted to the Rhode Island School of Design, and must write and illustrate a love story for his application. He joins with his friends, siblings George and Squid Calamari, to spend the summer on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

En route, they pick up a young rock singer named Cassandra Eldridge, who is pursued by a motorcycle gang at the time. Once on the island, Hoops and George, along with twin brothers Egg and Clay Stork and outcast Ack-Ack Raymond, must help Cassandra save her grandfather’s house from the greedy Beckersted Family (led by the callous Aguilla). Along the way, Hoops must find a way to write his cartoon love story.

Hoops runs afoul of Teddy Beckersted and his neglected girlfriend, Cookie. She secretly offers Hoops a date, and he is persuaded to go out with her even though he had already promised to appear at Cassandra’s first musical performance (which turns out to be sparsely attended). Hoops and Cookie go to a drive-in that night, where Teddy’s friend Ty sees them and notifies Teddy.

Meanwhile, Egg gets stuck in a Godzilla costume and causes havoc at Beckersted’s promotional party for the Beckersted Estates (which would be located at the spot of Cassandra’s grandfather’s house). Hoops, George, Egg, and Ack-Ack run into Teddy and his friends. As he threatens them, Cassandra appears and offers an impromptu basketball challenge between him and Hoops; Teddy dominates and Hoops fails. After spraying Teddy and his friends with mace, Cassandra is upset that Hoops did not appear for her performance and lied that he was a good basketball player.

In an effort to make up to her, Hoops and his friends promote her next performance, which turns out to be a big success, and Cassandra forgives him. However, Aguilla immediately forecloses the house before it could be saved. Ack-Ack proposes they take part in the local regatta, despite Hoops’ fears of getting on boats. Nevertheless, they find and renovate an old boat to use.

The regatta starts with the teams using paddles, then sails. Teddy’s team recklessly injures a member of one team and Ack-Ack jumps into the water to save him. Aguilla, having stowed away on Teddy’s boat, sabotages Hoops’ sail with his crossbow. In order to repair the mast, Hoops successfully shoots the new guy line into the mast and they continue onward.

Before Aguilla could shoot the mast again, he is thrown overboard by Squid operating a mechanical dolphin from a nearby movie set, as retaliation for when he kicked her beloved dog earlier. When the teams use the motors, Hoops and his team win after using Teddy’s car engine as their motor.