Poker, Podcasts and Possible Rad Sequel?

 

From Bikes to Bluffs: One Rad Interview 

By Anthony Cicali

2/4/21

Bikes, bros, ‘80s music, and epic dance scenes– screenwriter Sam Bernard just knew he had something. His film Rad debuted in 1986 and while it may not have been an Oscar winner, the film brought plenty of joy to teenagers enthralled by all things BMX racing and freestyle.

While he may be involved in other Hollywood projects, Rad remains a beloved film for many children of the ‘80s. Bernard looks back fondly at the film, but in recent years his focus has turned from pedals to poker.

The writer and producer is a regular player at the sweepstakes poker site Global Poker. His interest in the site even led to hosting a podcast specifically geared toward the site’s players.

Bernad recently spoke with us about Rad, a possible sequel, screenwriting, poker, podcasting, and more.

Growing up in Hollywood

Sam Bernard grew up in and around Hollywood. His father was an actor and was introduced to the movie lifestyle at an early age. Bernard says even though he grew up around Beverly Hills, he wasn’t one of the rich kids that had Mercedes and Bmws like most of his high school.

Bernard started as a teen and began in the industry at the bottom. He was able to work his way up from a production assistant and get some notice from more established players in the industry. While working on films he would try to absorb as much information as possible while on set.

Bernard knew he wanted to get into screenwriting. One of the early lessons that was highlighted to him in the business was to focus on the market. 

“If you want to write to express yourself, write a poem, or a song. If you want to write for movies, you have to write what sells” Bernard said is a bit of info that he was taught that has always stuck with him over the years. 

One Rad Plot

It may not have been a box office market smash, but Rad has gained traction along the years. Bernard co wrote the screenplay for Rad along with Geoffrey Edwards. 

Rad is a classic 1980’s underdog story about BMX rider Cru Jones played by Bill Allen. 

Cru lives in a small town with his mother (Talia Shire). As fate would have it, Cru gets the opportunity to show off his skills in a major bike competition when his small town decides to host a major BMX competition. 

Along the way, Jones runs into problems with Duke Best (Jack Weston). Duke Best plays the main villain and owner of Mongoose bikes. He is also the major organizer for the event known as “Helltrack”. Along the way Cru Jones has an uphill battle against the BMX pro Bart Taylor (Bart Conner) and devious back door deals that are blocking his chances of success. 

There are many memorable scenes along the path of the film. This includes the forever classic “disco bmx gym scene”. The freestyle bike dance scene stars Cru Jones’ love interest in the film, Lori Loughlin.  It is also highlighted by one of the major song hits from the soundtrack “Send Me An Angel - Real Life” .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPVJzi7Ta9w

It all started with a drive to the beach...

The idea for Rad started when a 25 year old Sam Bernard was driving through Venice beach one day. Luck met opportunity on that day in the early 1980’s. Sam Bernard saw something that curbed his interest. 

“I saw these kids on half pipes and had no idea what they were doing at the time.” Bernard said. 

Bernard decided to approach the group of teens to inquire further. 

“I was looking for my next project, I went and talked to them and they basically told me to F&*% off” says Bernard. 

This didn’t deter him from walking away from an idea, he decided to dig deeper. Bernard saw something in this small group of rebels and decided to investigate further. 

Bernard said “I was fascinated by it and went to a local bike shop. The owner brought out a BMX magazine.“

He brought home that magazine, looked through it and decided he was onto something big. At the time he was living with a roommate that was a producer from the Smokey and the Bandit movies. 

Bernard’s roommate was able to score an intro for him to Hal Needham, an up and coming hotshot director. Hal Needham was a stuntman/actor who had caught the eye of Hollywood while directing classic car chase movies such as The Cannonball Run and Smokey in the Bandit. 

Needham agreed to a sit down and wasn’t initially sold on Bernard’s vision. 

After pitching his idea, Needham had told Bernard “Look I make movies, I drive cars fast and blow sh&* up, I don’t know nothing about bicycles” 

Bernard didn't see this reply as a bad hand,  he had one final ace left up his sleeve. He invited Needham to go see a see an old school bike enthusiast Martin Aparijo at an exhibition that was being held at a local park 

10 minutes into the bike show, “Needham turned to me and nodded his head“ Bernard said. Bernard had the greenlight and was off to the races after that exhibition. 

Going Balls Out on an idea

The original name of the film was going to be called “Balls Out”. The plan was to market to an older crowd and have a little more edginess to it. At the end of the day, the name “ Rad” was given which is short for radical. 

The story eventually was cultivated into an underdog story designed for younger kids. 

“People loved it because the good guys win and the bad guys walk away with their tails between their legs“ Bernard said. 

On initial launch the film tested well, but did not do well in the box office. Over the years, with the birth of the internet and growing VHS sales, Rad eventually became a classic among bike enthusiasts world wide. 

Bernard admitted “It since grew into a cult classic and I started getting letters and I was stunned” 

The movie reached new heights of fandom in 2018. With the help of some of the films main stars such as Bill Allen, the legendary “Helltrack” was built in Texas for an all star Rad event.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qihmwDUe7Ig - Helltrack now a reality 

Sequel and Rad answers 

Bernard continues to get asked about Rad and even attended a drive in screening of it recently where he spoke about the movie. Some of the most common questions Bernard gets asked are about a sequel. 

“There was always an interest in a sequel but unfortunately the deals could never get finalized“ said Sam Bernard. 

The internet has a couple other questions that were left unanswered. What happened to Mongoose manager “Duke” and did Cru Jones cheat his way to victory ?

Benard clarified that even though Duke was considered the bad guy in the film, Mongoose corporate representatives were on set regularly and encouraged Duke being the villain. Bernard always envisioned a sequel in which Duke dies, and his daughter blames Cru Jones for the death of her father. 

But the question remained, did Cru Jones cut outside the track boundaries to score an illegal victory?

“The chips were stacked against him ( Cru Jones ) and he had to win at all costs” Bernard admitted. 

The Rad movie has been converted over to 4k and was released on Amazon, Appletv, Googleplay and Vudo. The movie is finally being launched onto the Blu Ray platform after years of road blocks for the film. The movie is available for preorder now before its launch on Mar. 16 2021. 

Rad to Rounder

How does the story of Rad and poker relate? Well there isn't much correlation Bernard admits. After Rad, Sam Bernard went on to write and produce multiple other films but In between those projects he would frequently hit local poker rooms. Bernard would play multiple daily tournaments at Hollywood Park and Hustler casino to fill the void of movie downtime. 

Bernard has been playing cards as long as he can remember. He attributes his roots and love of the game from his surroundings growing up. “My parents were cardplayers” said Bernard. 

He started off playing 7card stud in the local card rooms. Tournaments are more up his alley though and enjoys playing small casino live events.

Currently Bernard lives in California and plays regularly on the sweepstakes site Global Poker. He started playing in 2017 under the screen name Gyropilot313. 

Bernard told Uspoker, “The name Gyropilot came from working on a movie in the Philippines and I got to pilot a Gyrocopter.“ 

Since joining Global Poker he has scored multiple victories in tournaments such as the nightly 10,000 guaranteed and final tabling the weekly 25,000 guaranteed. He specifically remembers one of his early wins on the site came from a $5 buy in rebuy tournament that carries a $5,000 guarantee. “I remember that tournament because I limped aces under the gun” Bernard said. 

GLOBAL POKER PODCAST 

During the pandemic, Sam Bernard took his hobby and love of poker to the next level. Bernard focused his attention by helping to launch the “Talking Global Poker Podcast”. Bernard took the role as a producer for the show. 

Bernard’s eventually made connections on Global Poker by meeting site regulars Sean Connell “Seanell” Connell and Ken “WizofAz” Summer.

“The three of us became friends while playing on the online poker site GlobalPoker.com and started this Podcast because we love the unique sense of community it promotes through social media” according to their podcast description. 

The “Talking Global Poker Podcast” was created in Feb. 2020 and Sam Bernard took on the role as head producer for the project. He also is the administrator on the Talking Global Poker facebook group. 

Talking Global Poker is independent from the site GlobalPoker.com, but Bernard says the company has been very receptive and progressive about this project. GlobalPoker have unofficially endorsed the podcast by offering special online freeroll tournaments and even having the hosts highlighted as bounties in some online events. 

“Originally I thought we would get a cease and desist letter from the company but the opposite happened.“ Bernard said. 

Global Poker Gm David Lyons has been very encouraging of the podcast and even appeared as a guest on episode 10 of the series. The podcast has hosted players such Jesse Silva, Jamie Kerstetter, and Sopranos star Robert Iler .

https://www.uspoker.com/blog/under-the-gun-actor-robert-iler-talks-poker-sopranos-podcasting-more/32309/

One of the best things that has come out of this podcast Bernard admits is that Connell and Summer have become “ friends for life” 

Talking Global Poker sees about 700 downloads weekly and growing. The podcast currently is about to launch season 2 and has over 30 episodes to date. 

Podcast LINK:

https://open.spotify.com/show/06qv7EXCsx2maj0dD4v5wM

FUTURE PROJECTS

At the moment, Bernard is focused on work for a video game company. He was pretty tight lipped and couldn't release any further details but is excited for what the project has in store. 

As for poker and screen writing, Bernard said  “I have an idea about writing a poker story about a local player down and out on his luck, but right now I am working a lot on the video game script” 

Bernard looks for ideas and inspiration from multiple different sources. Even though Rad and poker may be two different worlds, he still draws inspiration from poker. And just as in any great story it’s about the people in the plot. Bernard is playing to win on the live felt , but he constantly sees the dynamic of the actor in the show. 

“I love the game of poker but the characters in the game are what make it great” says Bernard.