Basecamp podcast: ‘Hot Dog…the Movie’s’ enduring impact on skiing culture

One of the most quotable films in skiing lore, “Hot Dog…the Movie” is on the precipice of its 40th anniversary in 2024. 

On the latest New England Ski Journal Basecamp podcast, Eric Wilbur and Mike Specian welcome the film’s writer, editor, and producer Mike Marvin to the show along with Vermont native Lynne Wieland, who played “Banana Pants,” to head down memory lane and discuss the making of the movie now four decades into its impact on skiing culture. 

“I work in a ski shop now here in Boise (Idaho) as a buyer,” Wieland said. “People walk into the store and we start chatting and the movie comes up. Every season I hear — like you do — from so many people that, ‘we all get together and watch it. It’s our kickoff to the whole season. We have a ski cabin in Tahoe or Vermont or Colorado and it’s what we all do. The first thing we all do before the season even starts. Let’s get together and watch Hot Dog.’

“It has become an iconic cult following. And it’s just so much fun to have been a part of it. Even just my little part.” 

Highlights from this edition of the Basecamp podcast: 

On what it took to film the movie’s climactic scene 

Marvin: I storyboarded the entire Chinese Downhill, Spielberg style. I storyboarded every shot on that. And the politics of getting the Chinese Downhill produced, you would not believe the problems that were involved with that. You would think that it would have been easy to do — it looks fun and it goes to show you that sometimes the most nightmarish experiences of making movies sometimes turn out to be the best. We were on the Chinese Downhill almost all winter. We shot it in pieces because the winter of ’83 was brutal as far as weather goes. Sometimes we’d be sitting at the top, up there at Gold Coast, for six hours waiting for a window. We’d get it, we’d ski out, and then it would start snowing again. It was just brutal.

On the movie’s cultural impact: 

Marvin: It turned into a cult movie. There’s no question about it. I’m fascinated by the fact that guys go to Hollywood and very few cult movies come out. And I came out with two of them. I’ve always kind of laughed at how it was a cultural thing. There are a couple of kids named Harkin out there.