Speedway Junky
Tags: violence, storytelling, romantic

Plot synopsis:
The film stars Jesse Bradford as Johnny, a young man with dreams of becoming a stock car racer. After he loses all of his money and possessions in Las Vegas, he drifts into the world of hustling, in the hope of making enough money to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina to join the car racing industry. He meets Eric (Jordan Brower), a gay hustler, who finds himself falling for Johnny. Jonathan Taylor Thomas also stars as Steve, a bisexual hustler, and Daryl Hannah plays Veronica, a former showgirl and prostitute who has served as a surrogate mother figure for Eric since his own mother died. Other than Veronica, the only thing Eric has to remind him of his mother is a silver dollar she gave him that he carries for good luck.
Eric falls deeply in love with Johnny, and is saddened that his love will remain unrequited. Eric finds out that Johnny is a virgin and really wants to have sex with a woman, so Eric asks Veronica to have sex with Johnny. Under the guidance of Eric and with tips from Steve, Johnny slowly becomes a good hustler. Steve then asks Johnny to join him in entertaining some gay clients for a potentially large payment. Johnny refuses because it is Eric's birthday, much to the annoyance of Steve, who really needs the money from the clients who will only pay if both Steve and Johnny arrive. When Eric remains sombre, Johnny questions him, they argue, and Eric finally confesses his love for Johnny. Johnny tells Eric that he really cares for Eric too because Eric has been the best friend that he has ever had, and asks Eric to move with him to Charlotte. Delighted to find out that Johnny really cares for him, Eric agrees.
J.T., a sociopathic drug dealer, tosses Johnny a package while running from the police. It contains crack cocaine and cash. Steve finds it in their place and steals it. When J.T. shows up looking for it, it's missing. J.T. holds Johnny hostage while Eric looks for Steven. Steven refuses to return the cash and the drugs, so Eric heads to Veronica's place. There he steals the gun belonging to her police officer boyfriend and heads home. J.T. is playing William Tell with Johnny, shooting a can of tomato soup off his head. Eric comes in and thinks Johnny's been shot. He gets into a gun battle with J.T., killing him. Johnny and Eric flee but Eric realizes he's been shot. Eric dies in Johnny's arms, giving Johnny his lucky silver dollar. At the bus station, Johnny puts the dollar in a slot machine and hits a jackpot. He buys a bus ticket and leaves town.
A year later, Veronica is working as a cocktail waitress. She glances up at a television and sees Johnny. He's a member of a pit crew, having taken a step toward realizing his dream.

Review: I think Speedway Junky was very well acted.Jordan Brower's heart-felt unrequited love really getting to me.
I was expecting something good out of this movie -- it being produced by Gus Van Sant and all, the genius behind two incredible gay films, My Own Private Idaho and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.
Luckily, Gus Van Sant's influence is evident in a few scenes, which makes me think there's a good movie in there somewhere.At times, Speedway Junky feels like a Gen-Y remake of My Own Private Idaho, and it obviously doesn't do its predeccesor justice.
If you buy him something, he'll have sex with you.")But, like I said, there's a bit of Van Sant in this film, most notably in the scenes between the two protagonists.
In both films, a naive guy with a Southern accent comes to the big city with high hopes, but ends up as a john alongside an unlikely friend, who may or may not be an object of desire.
The ending is similar too, but I don't want to ruin it in case anyone actually wants to watch either movie.All in all, bad movie, but if you look closely, you'll see it could've been great.
Despite some rough edges and a questionable Hollywood-like ending, this film offers an endearing relationship between two young men, one gay, the other not.
Midnight Cowboy wannabe about a teen (Jesse Bradford) who runs away to Vegas in order to raise some quick cash in order to live his dream as a race car driver.
However, his dreams are shattered upon arrival in Vegas and he quickly becomes friends with a gay hustler (Jordan Brower) and his extended group of friends including a former hooker (Daryl Hannah) and a bisexual hustler (Johnathon Taylor Thomas).Jesse Bradford's accent comes and goes.
Speedway Junky finds young and innocent Jesse Bradford who was raised in a military family running away from California to Charlotte, North Carolina so he can become part of the NASCAR circuit.
Jesse makes a detour in Las Vegas and begins an odyssey with an ending that would have astonished him before he entered Sin City.Getting ripped off his first night in Vegas, Bradford falls in with a gang of street hustlers led by Jonathan Taylor Thomas of whom one of the members is gay kid Jordan Brower.
Bradford does what he has to do to survive, but not being gay or street wise his heart just ain't in the work.But Brower's heart is with Bradford, he's crushing out big time on Jesse and sad to say that aspect of the friendship isn't and can't be returned.
this movie, is a great movie, personally i like high definition films but the story is excellent!
jesse bradford plays a stranded hustler that moves to vegas to make money where he meets jordan brower and jonathon taylor thomas, jordan plays a gay hustler that falls in love with jesse this movie is a 100 % thumbs up i insist that everyone watches it..
Writer/Director Nickolas Perry mixes up "Midnight Cowboy," "Where the Day Takes You," "johns," and an ABC Afterschool Special and comes up with a concoction so bland that you'll find yourself pushing it around on your plate, wondering what to do with it.The story focuses on a naive county boy runaway (Jesse Bradford) who comes to Las Vegas to strike it rich so that he can become a race car driver.
It's revolting stereotypical crud.But Jesse is fortunate enough to meet young Jordan Brower, a gay urban hustler who takes him under his wing.
Jordan has his sights on Jesse but he's such a sweet young gay hustler that he wouldn't dream of forcing himself on the other boy.
They become fast friends when Jesse gets the stuffingkicked out of him and Jordan nurses him back to health, like the good homosexual teenage boy that he is.
Thomas does the best he can, but he is relegated to the backdrop of the Jesse/Jordan love story - or rather, the lack thereof of it.
It's a shambles.If there is any savior of the piece, it is Brower who does his absolute best here to bring his gay teen character to life.
A particularly good scene comes when Brower cries in unrequited love while his friend Jesse makes it with Hannah.
But occassionally you hit a small payoff, and Brower pops up with another good bit of acting in an otherwise barren wasteland of lost, pointless neon.Personal Notes: Seen on 8/28/99 as part of the Austin Gay and Lesbian Independent Film Festival.
JTT was on hiatus during the summer from "Home Improvement" and accepted the role after being faxed pages of the script.Perry did not write the cross cut scene where Bradford and Hannah make love and Brower cries.
The editor did this and showed it to Perry who wisely saw it's genius.Perry said that he thought of Brower's character as a sort of saint but did not consciously act visually on this idea.
The director agreed to work with Perry about the time he was coming off the phenomenal "Good Will Hunting" which helped spark interest in his script for "Speedway Junky" and got the ball rolling.Perry said his next project was that he was hired to write a script about a rock star who fakes his own death after his biggest hit so he can find the girl of his dreams.
It seems like a regular film, but it's more complex, it has deep levels of understanding, every sentence or look of the characters have at least 2 or 3 meanings in some scenes so that i can't stop watching and watching it.
I was a male prostitute when i was young and this movie is so way off that i can't believe someone even thought of making it.
Maybe they should have played this like a fantasy cuz then maybe it would have at least been somewhat entertaining but the only characters who is even worth watching is the gay guy and Daryl Hanna and thats it.
I gave this movie 2 stars for the gay dude and Daryl Hanna but other than that save your time and money and don't watch this..
This was due partly to the hokey script but also partly to the miscasting of some of the central characters, especially Erik Alexander Gavica as "J.T." I find it hard to believe that anyone could ever REALLY think he was dangerous until after his voice had changed!The one thing in this film I WAS pleased with -- and surprisingly so -- was Darryl Hannah's performance.
I usually AM a fan of Jonathan Taylor Thomas, but even he was unfortunately miscast in this film."Speedway Junky" was a noble attempt, but didn't quite hit the mark..
It's a movie about love and friendship and trying to make your way in life and the consequences of that.
I only rented it because of Daryl Hannah and Jonathon Taylor Thomas and left the movie loving the performance of Jordan Brower.I really don't care if this movie has been done before or any crap like that cos nothing's original in Hollywood anymore!
Jordan Brower, who I'd never heard of before seeing this provided a realistic, sensitive character that you felt obligated to fall in love with and pity him, I know I did.The story of the friendship should've had more focus.
Unfortunately it looks as if JTT chose this role more for shock value than for actual content, which is a shame since almost every actor in this short dizzy little film gave it their all but couldn't save it from its own mediocre plot.
Thats when angel-faced Jorden Brower (Texas Rangers) steps in as Eric, a gay male prostitute who just wants somebody to love him.
He takes Johnny under his wing and falls in love with him which is the main plot of the story.Both Brewer and Bradford play they're roles well.
Confusing the story are Veronica, Daryl Hannah (Splash) in a subdued role as an ex-prostitute/showgirl, and Taylor Thomas as the jaded hustler Steven.
That, in the end, was the biggest problem with this film.For all the characters fretting and brooding and crying I had to wonder what all the fuss was about since the actual act of selling they're bodies for money was never really discussed and never shown.
On top of that, key points like what happened to Eric's mother were left unanswered and in the end when the credits rolled I was left wanting more or at least to know what the moral was.
As it seems, the Johnny straight boy suddenly turned up to be gay and fall in love with Eric for no apparent reason.
Even more, the movies too much provide audience evidences that Johnny is straight and all off sudden we are shocked that he could be gay after all (Which is deliberately unrealistic since he met Eric just in the night alone and they had done nothing).
The reason that Eric cared for him and be his best friend also are not strong enough to turn him into gay.Its hardly believable although at times entertaining with some sense of humor.
With a dynamic young cast, Speedway Junkie shines as one of Director, Gus Van Sant's films.
But don't take my word for it, just listen to writer/director Perry's own commentary, which leads me back to where I began.The main problem with "Speedway Junky" is that it so predictable that the audience will know exactly how it is going end almost from the moment it starts.
Jesse Bradford is an excellent young actor, but he overacts constantly and gives a totally annoying performance as Johnny, which isn't good when you are the film's hero.
And poor Jonathan Taylor Thomas is simply horrible as the devious hustler Steven; in fact, after the shock value of hearing the clean-cut former child star use four letter words and graphically describe anal sex is over, his entire act becomes tiresome until late in the film when he is required to become vicious and then he is laughable.
On the other hand, Hannah is wonderful as a faded beauty who has hit rock-bottom, and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen and Patsy Kensit have nice cameos as two of Johnny's potential female "tricks." And then there's Jordan Brower, who is simply wonderful as Eric, giving the kind of eye-opening, and wholly unexpected, performance that in a better, and more widely-seen, film would have brought him a great deal of attention.
This film was very good, but there were too many coincidences and too many questionable things just simply accepted as fact.When Jordan Brower's character takes the money and drugs out of the pocket of his sleeping friend and places it in the bedside drawer, it is never questioned or brought up again until the end.
Why anyone would recommend this to gay/bi teens is beyond me - it's the type of movie that would lead you to feel quite hopeless about your sexuality.
That being said, I must say that the actors (particularly Daryl Hannah, Jordan Brower, and Jonathan Taylor Thomas) put in splendid performances.
Jordan Brower is the only main character who is gay.
I'm pretty sure the character is not the only gay teen in Vegas.
See the films "Edge of Seventeen" or "The Incredible True Story of Two Girls in Love" if you want to see some excellent films about gay teens..
Well done acting on the parts of Jesse Bradford, who takes this character to a level of such believability that you can only guess why?
Now now johnny boy it's not all bad to be your true self, if you like the hersey highway that's great, life is not for those to choose for you, have fun and run with it.
It has a bit of grit from movies like KIDS and then a bit of Cruel Intentions, it wasnt complete grit but it was pretty different as films go.
Although the claims that it is like other films may be true (although i haven't seen those films...)I couldnt see Jonathan Taylor Thomas being a bad boy, but i thought he did pretty well...
I like this movie.I wanted to watch this movie because I am a big fan of Jesse Bradford, which I am sure is why most of you saw it.
It could have been better.I watched the commentary; it talks about how they didn't really have a lot of money, that the producers wanted them to add things like a car chase, sex scene and a happy ending.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas was very mis-cast and the audience laughed every time he came on screen, trying to play the bad boy.
If you want a good film to recommend to a gay/bi/questioning youth I would suggest Beautiful Thing or Get Real.
Seriously it was a good movie and Im sure you just watched it on cable and now your looking it up to buy it..
It was not hard to like these characters at all.The film that i would compare this one to more would be "Showgirls".
Our lead character ends up in Vegas with a dream.
Jesse Bradford is a good looking guy (those lips!)& his acting in this film is very good.
It's got everything you'd expect from a movie like this: An old fat pervert, lust, violence, car chase, street life, gay & bi-sexuality, teen angst, unrequited love, booze, death, etc.
A Dickensian tale set in contemporary Las Vegas, with very spunky Jesse Bradford (also seen in all his naked torso glory in "Swimfan") trying to get his portion of the American dream, as in "rugged individualism and trampling on everybody gets you to the top" kind of ideology, but he is actually completely depending for survival on his newly adopted "family" of gay hustlers and former prostitutes.
Terrific dialog though (via About Gay Movies):Steven: So, you completely straight or what?Johnny: Of course, yeah aren't you?Steven: Well, personally, I dig that but, but when it comes to work it is simply a matter of cash flow.Eric: See, Steven is bisexual.
Johnny and Eric's relationship will take a lot of people back to a time when friendship was all that mattered or perhaps even remind people that Stand By Me friendships can exist beyond those hazy days of childhood.Yet ANOTHER dodgy turn from Daryl Hannah and an example of why Patsy Kensit is no longer actively working in Hollywood are but two of the big names that let this film down.
When watching this for the first time I began to wonder how much the director, Nickolas Perry, had researched 'life on the street' and male hustlers  having listened to a commentary from Perry many of these choices are explained.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas comes on this film as the hustler.
"Speedway Junky" is all about a disenfranchised young man who blows into Vegas where he encounters silly caricatures of the kind of street people we're used to seeing in movies about disaffected and rebellious youths.
Jonahon Taylor Thomas will floor you with his performance...especially when he is trying to get Bradford's character to do a three way with him for "big money."  Darryl Hanna is terrific as the beat down showgirl with the heart of gold.
Good acting with the same old hustler story.
The acting of Jordan Brower, Daryl Hannah, and several others saved this otherwise so-so movie.
It'd be nice if the studios and writers could come up with another gay teen story-line to overdo to death, this one is getting boring..
WHAT A GREAT FILM...ALL TEENS ARE GOING TO LIKE THIS ONE...IT IS A GREAT CHANGE OF CHARACTER FOR JOHNATHAN TAYLOR THOMAS...I LOVED IT AND I AM IN MY MIDDLE TWENTIES...GREAT CASTING..
Especially if they are gay/bi sexual, but it's a great movie for everyone.
Jordan Brower is appealing as Eric and has particularly good chemistry with Jesse Bradford.
Like so many rookie writer- directors, Perry suffers from making the film too "busy" with endless characters, no sense of momentum, and endless clichés.
I assume that the people that drifter teen Johnny encounter during his stay in Las Vegas would be much more hostile, crazy, and the like.
If you're not looking for a vigorous story of similar circumstances like say, 'Where the Day Takes You,' then Speedway Junky is a good weening toy.
Namely, Eric (played nicely by Jordan Brower), the kid who helps Johnny out the most when it seem many others won't.
A gay young man, he likes Johnny, but is consistently obsessed with the idea that maybe Johnny isn't going to carry on the deep friendship Eric imagines simply because Johnny is straight.
Johnny is kind of an obnoxious character, despite being the main presence in the movie.
no one but a young gay hustler (Eric) who quickly takes Johnny under his wind and help him earn the money he needs.
At the beginning of the movie I was very enthusiastic about it, because the main characters Johnny and Eric were so cute.
I think, Johnny doesn't deserve Eric's love in any way.
Eric would have deserved another person, who's more like him and loves him, too, without using him and without playing the cool all the time.
But Eric's love was so big, that he wanted to make Johnny's wish come true.
He loved him so much and Johnny's happiness was so important for Eric that he even made him have sex with another one.
Beyond the ending, the acting was quite fine, particularly Jordan Brower (who reminds me so much of my true love's personality, it's not even funny).
*SPOILER WARNING!* Why, oh why, is it that so many gay themed movies have to have tragic ends where one or the other of the main characters ends up dead?
Gay kid fall in love with straight kid, all sorts of tired drama, gay kid dies tragically, The End. For God's Sake someone make a film with real gay characters that is uplifting or enlightening or how about, just interesting.