Popular reviews

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  Review by williamfaeleith ★★

  Sometimes you watch a film and find it very difficult to imagine someone coming up with the plot, a director actually thinking they were directing a film, and actors actually saying the lines they were given.
  What makes this film watchable is the motorbike action (particularly the final, highly dangerous jump filmed from many angles), some of the footage of horrible, grimy English locations and a soundtrack of late seventies/early eighties New Wave.
  This was made to try to make Eddie Kidd a film star. Well he looked cute, and he sure could ride a motorbike, and he even made a halfway decent attempt to sing a pop song but he lacked a little something as an actor.
  Irene Handl…

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  Review by Michael501 📺 ★★½

  1981 In Review - May
  #20

  A young motorcycle messenger begins training to take part in a major competition.

  Eddie Kidd was a motorcycle stuntman popular in the late 70s and early 80s, appearing on Blue Peter, Swap Shop and other popular children's TV of the time. He even had his own computer game. So it was only a matter of time before someone saw his potential as a bit of a heart throb on the big screen. This film plays up to his strengths as a stunt motorbike rider, with a very threadbare plot involving something about Judas E chariot ( a big swanky American has been stunt man) challenging our Eddie to a jump over Devils Leap, which…

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  Review by gibson8 ★½

  A pretty cool motorcycle jump across Blackwater Estuary tagged onto the end of an awful kids show set in a seaside town directed by a talentless Soho smut peddler.

  Eddie Kidd could probably have done a little bit more acting and veered away from the stunt work.

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  Review by Mark Cunliffe 🇵🇸 ★★★½

  Look, it's got daredevil biker Eddie Kidd doing his thing, the great Irene Handl as his dotty, hilariously with-it gran and a fantastic soundtrack of new wave hits from the likes of The Police, The Pretenders, The Boomtown Rats, Squeeze, Joe Jackson, Lene Lovich, Gary Numan and...erm...Cliff Richard, whilst Kidd himself sings the closing credits track 'Heavy Metal'. All things considered I'm struggling not to give it five stars to be honest!

  Joking aside, the downsides here are some of the broadly exaggerated characters, chief amongst them being Murray Salem's American manager; someone who is often more irritating than funny, and Kidd's character being a bit of a dick in that he thinks nothing of stealing a girl from his…

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  Review by Zolidus ★★★

  Well, for some reason I did add this on my netflix list. Something with the feeling the little snippet providing riding a bike at sunset to music.

  I didnt get the movie I thought I would get by looking at the clip, the acting aint top notch and the characters is cartoonish with an overplay of emotions, but still. In between that they have some few moments with sense of being free riding bikes.

  I probably rate this to high and need to adjust it later on if I remember to do it. It was ok to watch and I was entertained so, no problem really.

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  Review by BjorkShandy ★★★

  Cool Rider

  Neat little British flick about a stunt rider in a remote British town. Basically me... minus the stunt riding. I really didn't expect much from this forgotten British film that was dumped on Netflix but both the stunts and cinematography exceeded my expectations. 'Riding High's' comedy is very hit or miss, sometimes it feels like the cast are reading lines straight from the script with no emotion so the jokes completely bomb. Characters like Gran and Marvin Ravensdorf were funny and the only real stand out characters. The poster makes it look like a Science Fiction film but there's nothing futuristic about Caravan parks.

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  Review by holas79 ★★★

  Simple but effective story about stunt riding, with a good ensemble cast, and peak early 80's soundtrack including The Police, The Pretenders and, er, Cliff Richard. Some of the shots are quite stunning - Munday jumping over the groynes on the beach at sunset has a certain melancholia about it. If it has drawbacks, I suppose you might say that the characters are thinly written and a bit cartoonish - we never get the anxiety that a rider may very well die performing such a stunt. And for all of Eddie Kidd's excellence on a motorbike, I'm afraid he's not much of an actor.

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  Review by John Charles ★★½

  An attempt to turn British motorcycle stunt rider Eddie Kidd into a movie star, RIDING HIGH might have been inspired to some extent by STUNT ROCK but certainly doesn't deliver the same degree of wild fun. It's still an agreeable view with some good jumps and a genuinely impressive line-up of hit songs from The Police, The Boomtown Rats, Dire Staits, The Pretenders, and Joe Jackson among others.

  Viewing Source: VCL VHS (UK)

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  Review by TomPines

  A British film about a young stunt motorbike rider.

  The acting is snide, but it's brilliantly shot with a great soundtrack.

  It's on UK Netflix if you're arsed.

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  Review by Jason Carter ★★

  It doesn’t get any more 1981 British Film Industry than Irene Handl, Eddie Kidd bombing around a dreary static caravan site on a scrambler (that’s what we called them kids), jokes falling completely flat, a teddy boy having a slow motion custard pie fight and someone being called a ’wally’

  This is what we had to put up with - this is the absolute arse end of British film-making once the american production money had disappeared and home video was starting to take all the rest of the finance.

  It’s clearly trying be a Quadrophenia meets Rocky thing, but takes the worst bits from both films as inspiration.

  All kudos to Netflix for putting this mad early 80s British crap out there.  It’s terrible but still interesting at the same time, and I’ll always have a soft spot for Irene Handl giving a nazi biker a bit of verbal.

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  Review by Mark Baker ★

  Saw this pop up on Netflix and was amazed I'd never heard of it as I thought Eddie Kidd was cool as a youth
  Was expecting a Quadrophenia style gritty English drama
  Instead it was a terrible comedy
  Absolutely bizarre and not in a good way
  Only saving grace are Eddie's stunts and Lynda Bellingham's outfits
  Terrible

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  Review by Cevin Moore ★½

  It's like an episode of Dramarama, but with less action and budget.