Alan Parsons’ power jam “Lucifer” as the soundtrack to what is possibly the most spectacular snowboarding film sequence of the 1980s – seriously, what’s not to like?
A few days ago, I woke up with that tune in my head. I couldn’t remember what it was. Jean-Michel Jarre maybe? I kept thinking about it all morning. But then there were images in my head. Sandboarding. Snowboarding. The 80s. Yes! It was from “Fire and Ice”.
For today’s kids it might be hard to imagine a world where snowboards aren’t totally normal. It’s even in the Olympics these days! But in the mid 80s it was pretty much as way out as skateboarding was not even a decade before. Something from another world.
I saw “Fire & Ice” as a kid in the cinema in 1986. The film follows a dude on his quest for that one girl – but the story is merely a device for ski stunts. That was the forte of director Willy Bogner, a skiing ace who became the go-to-guy for snow action in the movies.
He did several James Bond and a number of other movies, and “Fire and Ice” was to be his very own masterpiece. Now, even back in 1986 I didn’t care so much for skiing with torches and ski ballet and countless moguled courses, filmed from virtually every angle.
But this sequence had me in awe, and it still does. Two guys on those pointy one-way snowboards – with the Sims logo underneath – ripping down massive sand dunes and snowy mountains to the tune of Alan Parsons Project’s synth stomper “Lucifer”. Radical!