Matt Adler

After learning how to surf by using the local wave tanks, Arizona resident Rick uses his winnings from a recent contest to fly to Hawaii and try to make a living for himself as a professional wave rider. Before entering art school, Rick Kane sets out to surf the big wave season on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii, after winning a surfing contest in an Arizona wave pool by his home. Once in Hawaii, he immediately finds out that he knows nothing about the local habits, customs, or pecking order which cause him some starting problems. After being robbed by the local surf gang, he has a chance meeting with famous surfboard shaper Chandler, and after figuring out they have an artistic connection, Chandler offers Rick a place to sleep and something to eat. Chandler teaches him how to "read" the big waves and the difference between 'soul surfers' and those who surf for fame and money. He also manages to get the attention of a beautiful young native, which further stirs the pot with the "locals" but in the end gives him the courage and determination to take what he has learned from Chandler and surf the big waves like he had dreamed he could. —Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>

An older and more mature and confident Alan narrates the story. Alan's parents want him to do something worthwhile with his summer, and camp counselor Vic is trying to encourage him to go on a camping adventure with several other boys. Alan, who is smart and kind of a nerd who hates the idea of an outdoor adventure, does not want to go, but his parents manage to persuade him. The other boys are Mitch, George and Chris. Mitch and Alan are the same age and George and Chris are older, in addition to being belligerent and bullying, especially toward Alan. One of the boys buys a Penthouse magazine at their last stop to buy supplies before arriving at their destination, and the boys enjoy looking at that occasionally. On the trail, Alan and Mitch listen on a radio to a broadcast of a New York Mets game when Vic emphatically tells them to turn the radio off. Vic has staunch principles about the hike being free of any urban influence. Alan reluctantly puts the radio away. At their first campsite, Alan is assigned to go get the water. While doing that he uses a knife to carve his initials in a tree. George pops out from a hiding place, scaring Alan and causing him to drop the bucket he was carrying. Vic discovers Alan's damage to the tree and takes away his knife for disturbing nature. When they reach the river, Vic wants one of the boys to go with him and help paddle the canoe, while the others carry their supplies and equipment along a trail. Alan is chosen to go with Vic, but being inexperienced loses his paddle. The hike to their next campsite requires crossing a rickety and scary rope bridge several hundred feet above a gorge. Alan lingers behind, afraid to cross but he eventually crosses, celebrating when he reaches the other side. However he forgets to bring the poles for one of the tents. Vic sends Alan back over his protests that it's too dark. Alan tries to cross and nearly slips off the bridge when one of the support ropes snaps. Too afraid to continue, Alan returns saying it is too dark and he couldn't find the poles, though he has lost his glasses. Vic appears with the poles and curtly tells Alan to get something to eat. The next morning Vic finds a quiet spot in the woods to do tai chi exercises and is interrupted when Alan turns his radio on nearby to listen to music. Vic harshly admonishes him again for using the radio and also tells Alan that he'd seen him the night before when he was scared on the bridge and further tells Alan that he can lie to his guide. The group goes to an island and Vic teaches the boys how to catch fish with their bare hands. Alan is much more creative, building a trap. Infuriated, Vic punishes him by throwing back the fish he caught and tells Alan to clean the fish the others caught while the rest of the group returns to their campsite. When he has cleaned the fish, Alan is to signal that he is ready to be picked up. After a cold and rainy night, Vic orders the other boys to take the canoe and find Alan. Alan has rebelliously refused to clean the fish and had even thrown them back in the river. When the boys return to the campsite, Vic is missing and the boys don't know what to do, but somehow they make it through another rainy night, arguing with each other over where to take shelter after the one tent they have has blown away in a high wind. George has a breakdown, fearing they'll all be stranded and will die. Eventually, Vic reappears, congratulating them all for surviving the night on their own, but Alan isn't very enthused to see him. The final adventure involves rock climbing, and Vic demands the boys behave and work together because what they are doing is very dangerous. Each of them get a turn at a technique where they will "pendulum" to another cliff. Vic rigs a climbing rope and shows them all how to swing. Alan and Mitch are both terrified but Mitch follows the others and, overjoyed, encourages Alan to try it. Alan hooks himself to the rope but doesn't kick hard enough off the ledge and ends up hanging and even more frightened. Vic tries to instruct and encourage him but Alan is too scared, begging Vic to pull him in. After a few minutes, Vic tells Alan to find his own way out of his predicament and orders everyone else to follow the trail. Alan eventually is able to get a handhold on the rock face, climb back to the ledge and kicks off properly, swinging successfully to the other ledge. Further down the trail, the boys argue with Vic and decide that Vic's abandonment of Alan crossed a line. Alan appears and immediately tells Vic he plans to find his own way off the trail and back home. Vic tries to reason with Alan, saying that he'd shown more of a sense of responsibility but Alan refuses to listen. They leave Vic behind and strike out. With Alan mostly leading the way, the eventually find their way back to their base camp. Vic tries to talk them out of leaving, becoming ever more forceful until Chris and the others beat him with the canoe paddles. Vic tries to run and is hit in the head with a rock thrown by Chris and falls off a short cliff, breaking his leg. Alan leads the others in rigging a contraption to hoist Vic back up the cliff. The others want to go for help and just leave Vic, but Alan says someone needs to stay with Vic. As Vic's condition gets worse, Alan realizes he has to try to get Vic medical help, and he figures out how to move Vic to the canoe. With Vic's help, Alan is successful in getting the canoe far enough down the river. However, the rapids further down the river are quite challenging and dangerous and they eventually capsize. Vic is caught in a whirlpool and Alan goes in after him. Safe onshore, Vic praises Alan for his ingenuity and bravery. A helicopter appears and picks them up. The movie ends with the older Alan revealing what happened to Mitch, George and Christ: they'd found their way down river to a ranger's station and were able have help sent for Vic and Alan. Alan also says he's lived near the woods since the adventure, which actually turns out to be Central Park in New York City.

High school student Scott Howard (Michael J Fox) is seventeen years old, sick of being average and wishing he were special. His father Harold (James Hampton) runs a local hardware store. Scott plays basketball for his high school's team, the Beavers, with a not-so-good win-loss record. The Beavers are last in the league and their coach want to forfeit their games against the top teams, rather than go through the humiliation of losing by huge margins. Chubby (Mark Holton) is one of the players on the team who is particularly overweight. The girl of his dreams, Pamela Wells (Lorie Griffin), is dating Mick (Mark Arnold), a jerk from an opposing high school team, the Dragons. Boof is Scott's best friend, but Scott cannot notice that Boof is interested in him. Pamela is on the school play team. Scott wants to quit basketball and join the school play, just so he can spend more time with Pamela and get her to notice him. After another of the team's losses, Scott begins to notice strange changes to his body (long hairs in the chest, hypersensitivity to high pitched sounds, elevated heart rate, a rash on his back). Scott's friend Stiles wants him to help get a keg of beer for his upcoming party. The liquor store refuses to sell any without an ID proof. But Scott suddenly gets a very deep, throaty voice and red glowing eyes that scares the store attendant into selling him one. While at a school party at Stiles's house, Scott keeps undergoing changes. Stiles is the party master and engages the whole gang in games. Each girl has pulled out a name of a boy from a hat and Stiles asks them adult stuff to do together. Boof says that she had Scott's name (even though she didn't) and gets 2 minutes in the closet with him where "anything goes". Boof slaps Scott when he gets too "handsy" and emerges from the closet with the back of dress shredded to pieces. Eventually Scott returns home, locks himself in the bathroom, and undergoes a complete change and becomes a werewolf, while his father demands that he open the door. He tries to refuse, only to finally give in and obey, to find his father has also transformed into a werewolf. Harold never told his son about the condition because "sometimes it skips a generation" and he was hoping it wouldn't happen to Scott. Scott's perception of the werewolf is made from the movies, and he is afraid that he will end up becoming a freak. Howard tries to counsel him that being a werewolf will give Scott many advantages as well. As Scott acts anxious in school, vice principal Rusty Thorne keeps a close eye on him and wants to see his hands. Scott reveals his transformation to Stiles and he says that he is learning to control his change into a Werewolf. Boof knows that something is bothering Scott and tries to reach out to him, but he doesn't open up to her. Scott first reveals his transformation to the public at one of his basketball games, after getting pinned in a pile-up. After momentarily stunning the crowd with The Wolf, Scott goes on to wow them with his basketball skills and he finishes the game with a quadruple double. Scott subsequently learns to use his family "curse" to gain popularity at school, becoming the team's star basketball player, and learns to transform at will between his normal self and The Wolf. His basketball team goes from last to first, and Scott begins spending most of his school time as The Wolf. He also wins the interest of Pamela while ignoring the affections of his best friend, Boof (Susan Ursitti), who has loved him since childhood. Scott's other best friend Stiles (Jerry Levine), a party animal with an entrepreneurial streak, quickly cashes in on Scott's new-found popularity, selling Teen Wolf T-shirts and other merchandise. Stiles' "Wolfmania" reaches such extremes that Scott trades in his own vehicle for a step van dubbed "Wolfmobile." After he gets a role as a "Werewolf cavalryman" in the school play alongside her, Pamela comes onto him in the dressing room, and they have sex. Later, after a date set up to make Mick jealous, Pamela tells Scott that she is not interested in him as a boyfriend, much to his disappointment. Harold tells Scott he is responsible for his son's conflicts with vice principal Rusty Thorne (Jim McKrell), due to a scare Harold had given him when he was in high school. He advises Scott to be himself. Boof agrees to go with Scott to the upcoming Spring Dance, but only if he goes as himself. Scott goes alone as the Wolf instead. She takes him into the hallway, and they kiss, which turns Scott back into himself. When they return to the dance, Scott garners everyone's attention, including Pamela. A jealous Mick punches him in the face, then proceeds to insult Boof and taunt Scott until the Wolf angrily attacks. Scott runs out of the hall right into Thorne, who threatens expulsion. Harold sends his son home before going on to intimidate Thorne by growling in his face, causing the vice principal to wet himself. During the final basketball game (Beavers vs. Dragons again), Scott refuses to "wolf out" and insists on winning the game on his own. Coach Bobby Finstock (Jay Tarses) tells Scott that the team is doomed to fail without The Wolf, but Scott is able to prove him wrong. In a dramatic game ending, and with the help of five fouls from Mick, Scott is able to rally the team back to within a point as time is expiring. Scott is fouled one last time by Mick on the final play and given two shots. Mick stands underneath the basket as Scott attempts his foul shots. Scott makes both baskets and the Beavers win the game by one point. Pamela smugly expects to get Scott's attention after the game is over, but he passes her by to hold Boof in his arms, kissing her passionately. Mick tells Pamela that they should leave, but she tells him to "drop dead" and storms off while everyone else celebrates the victory.