Down and Derby

"Down and Derby" is a genuine comedy, but with obvious limited appeal. The comedy is about the extent to which some dads go to "help" their sons win the pinewood derby races in Cub Scouts. This film centers around four men. Three were childhood pals and the fourth was their nemesis - a new kid who moved into the neighborhood in those years. But now they all are grown and live in a very nice suburb, probably in California. And, all are neighbors.

A favorite dialog exchange is between Phil and Kim Davis. He rolls out a set of actual blueprints for a derby car. Kim asks, "When did you have time to make these?" Phil, "Oh, I had them drawn up, uh, the minute I found out we were having a boy. Yeah I've been saving 'em for Brady's first derby."

I won't give away the conclusion of the film. There's a nice lesson in it, even a moral or two. But the film is about the obsessive drive that overtakes each of the three men as he seeks to build the perfect and winning car for his son. This is greatly exaggerated (I think) to the extent that each dad builds his own derby racetrack for testing his car or cars. And, in this film, not a single boy has anything to do with any of the cars their dads are building. Not even for the "fun" stuff - whatever that was supposed to be, once the major design work is complete.

I don't think this film had a wide release in theaters. But more people would likely watch it if they knew about it. That would include most dads who ever "helped" a son with a pinewood derby car. And the moms - some of whom may have stood in for dads, but others who put up with the strange behavior of the dads during the derby days. Of course, most of the boys would be covered in the group of dads - having grown up, had a son of their own, and finally been able to build their own car (as a dad). In this movie, one of the boys says he can't wait to grow up to be a dad so he can build his pinewood derby car.

At first, one might think that many dads with derby experience wouldn't care about this film. Those would be the guys who didn't get carried away. They didn't take over their son's father-son derby project, and make it their own one-man project. There are no statistics, so we don't know how many such dads there may be. One suspects that most dads probably did make it a joint project. In this film, while many of the cars have slick designs, not that many were super fast. So, those dads might enjoy this film for its portrayal of what they saw or knew from among the packs in which their boys competed. There always seem to be a few dads who are driven (pun coincidental) to perfection and winning.

The film shows a video, a pinewood derby bible, a complete workshop and a professional lab that dads use to work on their cars - their perfect speed machines. Yet, the pinewood derby winners more often than not, have been flukes. And, on that I can speak from experience. I helped three sons make their pinewood derby cars, for several derbies. These were in different cities. Not being an engineer or designer, I succeeded in convincing my sons that we should try for the best design prize. So, we built cars for their looks, sleek appeal and paint jobs. Of course we tried all the other tips and tricks to make them as fast as possible. They were all very close to the maximum weight of five ounces. All of them won a prize for best design - a couple of them first places and others 2nd through 4th. But, one also was the derby race winner. And I can honestly say (admit) that it was a fluke.

The most memorable of those was the first one. It was my oldest son's and my first pinewood derby. I had been in Cub Scouts just one year as a boy, and that was before the pinewood derby came on the scene. My son and I both worked on the car. I did the sawing for the main shape, and he did most of the sanding - by hand. We used a lead screw plug, halved, as two jet engines, which I glued and nailed on the top. We both painted the car - a deep metallic maroon with gold trim. And, we fitted and tapped the wheels on together. We didn't have our own tracks to test the cars on.

The pack we were in had dads with all kinds of backgrounds, including engineers. The favorite to win that year was a boy and dad who had won the previous year. The dad was an aeronautical engineer for a space agency. We were allowed to test the cars on the track the day before the race. My son's car was quite fast. On the day of the derby, my son's car won third place for design. And then, he made it to the race finals. Our "fluke" car won first place, beating out the favored car which finished second.

For those who watch this film, I will say that the reaction at the end of our first pinewood derby was quite different. The young Cub who finished second threw one of the worst temper tantrums I've ever seen. From that time on, I tempered my sons to do the derby for the fun of it and the challenge of making a nice looking racecar together.

If you have any experience with the pinewood derby you will love this cleverly written film about the extremes some father's go to to win. Having participated in several pinewood derby's as a young Boy Scout, I loved the idea of this film. It spoofs the all too common tendency of a father to take the building and racing of their "son's" derby cars way too seriously. The competition becomes more between the fathers than the sons. The gags are clever. The spoofs, while exaggerated as they need to be for comedy, are all too real. Take the time to watch this film when you'd like to enjoy a good laugh, not to mention, a good message about putting your family first.

There were over 300 people of all ages watching this projected outdoors at our school's movie night. Everyone loved it. It's a spoof on adults competing with each other through their kids -- much better than "Kicking and Screaming". Adults acting like kids -- a crowd pleaser with children with smart comedic moments that adults will enjoy also.

You'll be surprised by how much you enjoy it. Greg Germann gives a great performance. Why don't we see more of him? I think it was Pat Morita's last movie before he passed away. And, the main child actor (Adam Hicks) is very impressive. He was the same kid who stars in "How to Eat Fried Worms".

If you're a scout or have done the Pinewood Derby, this will have extra appeal. All our kids want to do now is build a pinewood derby car...

This movies was one of the great movies about scouting that has come out in a long time. It was clean, funny, and can be related to by all levels of scouts and adults alike. Observant scouts and adult leaders will recognize the approximate 4 to 5 errors in the film dealing with the uniforms. Overlook those errors and you have a great family movie. You may choose to show the movie to your district or council. In that case, use the movie as a test to see who is paying attention to find those errors and give a prize the scout with the most errors found. I was heartbroken to see that it was in the theaters for only one week. Maybe if it was released it in January in time for the Pinewood Derby races, and publicized it a little, it probably would have had a better turn out. I can hardly wait until it comes out on VHS or DVD so I may buy a copy. As a Cubmaster, I am willing to help my district and/or council in showing it to the Cub Scouts.

Well, let's see. Men are stupid, living vicariously thru their sons and would rather pursue their hobby than enrich their marriage and family life; all married women have large breasts and shallow minds, Japanese men are even more stupid and shallow than their American counterparts.

yup, these are ideas that we want in the heads of America's boys and young men...It's appropriate that I write this review on Thanksgiving...what a turkey this movie is! It was and should be an embarrassment to the American Film industry. The Boy Scouts of America should put as much distance as possible between themselves and this sinfully bad movie.

As far as the "satire" and "parody" comments, those remind me of the tired old line "I don't know what you're talking about" when the murderer is uncovered (It's obvious he does). In other words, they call it a satire because deep down they know how BAD their work is. (See "Charlie's Angels", Eddie Murphy in "Harlem Nights", etc.)