Growing up in the 80's one of the staples of Sunday evening was "The Wonderful World of Disney". Every week we'd get an original kid friendly film or a network premiere of receent Disney theatrical releases.
One of the most enjoyable and fun filled TV movies to come out of this line up was "The B.R.A.T. Patrol". The film follows a group of adventure seeking kids living with their parents at a military base who discover a plot by a rotten officer to steal and sell military equipment.
The brats tend to get into so much trouble that as soon as they tell their parents about their discovery no one really believes them, leaving them no choice but to take matters into their own hands and stop the criminal operation.
The film stars Sean Astin, and Nia Long in some of their earliest roles.
Surprisingly the film was writeen by Chris Carter, who would go on to create The X-Files.
This was the kind of movie that after watching made you want to play out the scenarios in the film with your neighborhood friends and maybe even start your own B.R.A.T. Patrol.
I'm pretty sure I became obsessed with creating my very own motor powered skateboard after watching this film. I also stocked up on water balloons after being inspired by the chocolate grenades assault scene.
If you love "The Goonies", then this film is right up your alley. Obviously it's a made for TV effort so it's not as big in scale as "Goonies", but its still a great adventure flick for youngsters.
Unfortunately Disney has never put out this 80's kid classic out on video or DVD in the U.S.
There was only an international release on PAL video a long time ago.
Just like many great TV movies produced by the company over the years it is sitting in a vault somewhere. If this film had been produced now a days I'm sure there would've been at least two different DVD releases by now. Every Disney channel movie or show from recent years gets released on DVD quickly enough, but the stuff we grew up with during the 80's has been completely forgotten by the folks at Disney Home Entertainment.
Luckily someone had the brilliant idea of uploading the entire film onto youtube in recent months. So now is your chance to catch this forgotten 80's adventure classic that you might fondly remember from your youth.
Catch it before the suits at the mouse house take it down.
Another great kid adventure movie from Disney's 80's period is "Little Spies". That one I haven't been able to see again since it's original broadcast back in 1986. As I recall it was even better than B.R.A.T. Patrol. Hopefully I can track a copy in the near future and post a retro review. And if someone from Disney gets to read this please release some of the 80s tv movies many of us grew up with.
Here are some suggestions:
-"Little Spies"
- "B.R.A.T. Patrol"
- "Mr. Boogedy"
- "The Blue Yonder: (AKA "Time Flyer")
2 comments:
This is a great post! Honestly, I would've completely forgot about this movie if you didn't post about it! Hope to watch it on youtube now! thanks!
I loved this movie when it came out. My dad taped it on the vcr. And, I will say that I was inspired to play out scenarios with my neighborhood friends. I rewatched it today with my 10 year old son and he loved it.
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