The world of ski and snowboard movies has long been divided into ski and snowboard porn with no plot but plenty of powder, mainstream Hollywood movies that see skiing and snowboarding as either instant comedy that is actually rarely funny or an opportunity for extreme action chase scenes and then documentaries, real documentaries.
In my mind if you’ve seen one ski porn scene then you’ve seen a version of them all (except Valhalla’s naked skiing scene). I am, however a huge fan of snow related documentaries.
The Crash Reel is the most recent masterpiece of the documentary in the world of snow sports medium that proved you can successfully tell a story on film that relates to both the world of snow lovers and the world in general.
Thankfully the trend for snow stories with depth is growing in the right direction. The webisode movement from the likes of Mike Douglas and his team at Salomon Freeski TV has certainly helped change the idea of ski porn for ski porn sake with actual plot lines and meaning creeping in alongside beautifully shot footage.
In the meantime Hollywood tries, and fails, to get it right with some hilariously bad ski and snowboard films and the odd hilariously good ski and snowboard scene in otherwise bad mainstream movies.
As we southerners wait for the snow to start falling and the northerners lament the end of their season, here are the good, the bad and the ugly of Hollywood’s liaison with snow. You choose which is which.
The Spy Who Loved Me
Bond hits the slopes in Bogner because “England needs me.”
Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason
Renee Zellweger stars in one of the better ski comedy ski scenes produced by the mainstream.
Better off dead
John Cusack is a legend, so we forgive him for not being able to ski.
Inception
This Leonardo di Caprio movie was filmed at Chatter Creek in British Columbia. Book in to the cat ski lodge and you’ll see camouflage snow mobiles used in the movie.
http://youtu.be/3fe2PU4AMR4
Sun Valley Serenade
The 1940s movie put Sun Valley on the Hollywood map where it stays today with many Hollywood residents with second homes in Ketchum.
Dumb and Dumber
A chairlift, ice cold temperatures and a tongue. Yep, that’s Dumb and Dumber.
Last Holiday
A movie you could easily miss though Queen Latifah does take to a snowboard in a predictable ‘lost control isn’t this funny’ scene.
Spellbound by Hitchcock
Wonderful footage long before green screens and digital manipulation. I wish my hair stayed like that while skiing at speed towards a cliff drop off.
Hot Tub Time Machine
The premis is simple, kind of. A Hot Tub that takes the cast back in time to the eighties in a ski resort. John Cusack appears again on skis. Filmed mainly at Fernie in Canada.
Frozen
Three friends, stuck on a chairlift after dark. A horror story that would never have happened if someone had a mobile phone.
What are your favourite mainstream movies with a ski or snowboard scene?
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I saw a movie on sbs I think it was tge other night with some ripping scenes in it then one of them broke a leg they found a spooky old hotel that had a murderer in it.. Didn’t catch the name but I think there is a part 2 🙂
it was called cold prey and aired on sbs 2 16th april 🙂
Chalet Girl is my guilty snow film pleasure 🙂 Set in St Anton, funny in a ‘St Trinian’s’ kind of way and just cheesy enough. Downhill Racer with Robert Redford and Gene Hackman is worth a watch (the lead character’s approach to racing reminds me of Bode Miller). Made in 1969 and shot in Kitzbuhel, Wengen, Colorado amongst others. As for documentaries, I loved Steep, which covers the history and development of big mountain skiing, and amazing to see footage and interviews with Bill Briggs, Doug Coombs, Shane McConkey, Glen Plake and others.
Did you know that the skiing “double” for the first two films you mentioned was fabled Aussie skier John Falkner, now living in Verbier!!!
What about the “powder eight scenes” for Aspen Extreme? Or the mogul run for the hiring clinic? Classic!
Who can forget “Hot Dog”…. 🙂
Thanks for the hook up on this blog Shane! Awesome reads on here
I can’t beleive you forgot Chalet Girl!! 2011 version!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1487118/