What does it mean to Gleam a Cube? I don’t know, you don’t know and I would wager to guess that just about nobody knows. I couldn’t tell you why they decided to name a late 80’s movie about a teenager skateboarding with his bros, striking up a relationship with his dead brother’s girlfriend, and finding the people responsible for his brother’s death Gleaming the Cube, but they did and we’re going to talk about it today on Movie Tuesday.
Here is the video version of this article:
Okay, so I did it. I googled ‘Gleaming the Cube meaning’ and this is what I found out.
The title of the film reputedly refers to a gibberish statement skater Garry Davis made in a Thrasher magazine interview with Neil Blender. The phrase itself is meaningless.
Does that make it a dumb title? Yes. But so much about this movie is dumb and I love it anyway. I figured it was some geographically and culturally specific slang from the late 80’s, and I think it is that, but it doesn’t actually refer to anything. It just is. And that means that there is no way you could guess that this movie was about skateboarding from the title.
I’ve always heard that this was a great skateboarding movie, but I had never seen it. In my head, I was thinking that it was like Thrashin’ or Rad. I was always a Rad kid. Which is BMX, not skateboarding. I’m pretty sure Thrashin’ is the Skateboarding version of Rad. Where there is a competition at the end and the scrappy good guy from the wrong side of the tracks has to galvanize his will and defeat the cocky, rich bully. But, to my surprise, Gleaming the Cube goes in a totally different direction.
I was made aware of this when I read the movie’s description on Prime Video. A description which, if I’m being honest, nearly gave me a stroke. Here is that description verbatim:
The interest of Brian, is his skate-board, his adoptive brother, a Vietnamese boy, is studious and staid. One day he comes into contact with a fellow countryman, who deals with assistance to the Vietnamese who are fighting against the communist regime. But the drug and food trade hides an arms trade. Discovered the traffic, the boy is killed. Then the brother sets out in search of the killers.
I don’t know who was responsible for authoring that blurb but somebody should get them a cup of coffee because it seems like they need it.
What that disjointed description should have clued you into, however, is that this movie is about a Christian Slater finding out who is responsible for his adopted Vietnamese brother’s death. Skateboarding manages to find its way into nearly every scene, but skateboarding is just something Christian Slater does while he is cracking the case, skateboarding in and of itself doesn’t motivate the plot in this movie.
And that’s kind of cool. It’s wish fulfillment for the teenage boy. He can have a level of agency and ability beyond just being the burnout skater that everyone takes him for. He can right the wrongs done to his brother, himself and his family and he can use the power of skateboarding to help him do it. I liked it. It was incredibly silly, but I liked it.
A few things were a source of surprise in the plot though. I mentioned it earlier, but Brian AKA Christian Slater, strikes up a relationship with his dead brother’s Vietnamese girlfriend. He does this in service of getting closer to her dad, who was wrapped up in his brother’s murder, but it seems a little skeevy nonetheless. It also is pretty shocking when his brother’s girlfriend’s dad gets shot in the chest and killed by the evil white businessman who is the real bad guy in the story. I mean, the viewer had already experienced one death when Brian’s brother Vinh kicked the bucket, but this one was shocking. And it was made all the more shocking by the fact that after seeing his girlfriend’s dad with a bullet in his chest, Christian Slater chases after the bad guy on his skateboard completely unarmed. I guess his desire to live was outweighed by the cube he had to gleam.
But that is one thing about this movie. Logic and consequences be damned, you will get some thrilling skateboard action. If that’s what you’re looking for, this movie delivers. It’s even got Tony Hawk in it. He skates in the beginning and drives the iconic Pizza Hut truck for the rest of the movie. It is probably one of the most memorable things I saw.
Also, I love the stunt doubles they use for Christian Slater. Since Rodney Mullen and Mike McGill were both used, his height fluctuates quite a bit. Also, you never see Christian Slater’s face when he’s busting out tricks. He always busts out tricks and then the show a closeup. I mean, I guess it’s to be expected. He couldn’t act and be a world-class skateboarder. But my favorite is in the freestyle skating montage, there’s an overhead shot where Rodney Mullen appears to be wearing a gray old-lady wig. Christian Slater had spiky blond hair with bleached tips so they probably figured… good enough.
But, as far as skateboarding movies from the 80’s go, this is one of the classics for a reason. I had a lot of fun watching it. I’m sure I’ll never visit it again, but I can say I’ve seen it now. I give it a B. Totally watchable. That’s all I’ve got for today. Goodbye.