Max Grabelski is taking six Ranger Scouts to a place he’s never been before… outdoors.
Bushwhacked is a 1995 family comedy starring Daniel Stern as Max Grebelski, a delivery man on the run after being wrongfully accused of murder. While on the run, he ends up mistaken for a scout leader and takes a group of kids, the Ranger Scouts, on an over-nighter in the mountains. Hilarity Ensues.Bushwhacked provides examples of:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When the scouts discover that 1) Max is not a scout leader, but a wanted criminal and 2) Max's got a gun, they all get scared when they let the fact that they know out around Max and they all get on their knees to beg for their lives...All of them, in unison: Please don't kill us, Mad Max!
- The Bad Guys Are Cops: Agent Palmer turns out to be in league with the Big Bad.
- Butt-Monkey: Max Grebelski.
- Also Leader Erikson. After finding out Max was accused of a crime, Max glues Erickson's hands and chin to the steering wheel of Max's car while stealing Erickson's car, and later, Erikson gets handcuffed to a very tall tree.
- Call-Back: Erikson inflicts a number of things that had happened to him on Agent Palmer, including gluing him to a tree and putting an "I am an inconsiderate person" sign on him.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Max is not allowed to chew gum, he puts it in a napkin with the address of a lodge he was supposed to go to in the mountain and gives it to one of the mothers. She later finds the address on the napkin.
- The Determinator: After Scout Leader Erikson gets his hands cuffed around a big, tall tree, he climbs up the tree, primarily using his legs and breaking branches in the way, in order to get out.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Agent Palmer remarks that he had only wanted Max killed, not the scouts.
- Faking the Dead: Reinhart Bragden fakes his death for insurance money, setting up Max as the murderer because "nobody cares about Max". Later, Max and the kids fake their own deaths to fool Bragden and Palmer.
- Hero Insurance: Erikson points out that Max broke almost every scouting rule, but ultimately did the right thing in saving the troop.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Max, who is framed for a murder.
- "No Peeking!" Request: Some kids want to hurl projectiles at some people. The girl of the group tells the boys to close their eyes. When the camera does cut back to the kids, we see that the kids are using the girl's training bra.
- Oh, Crap!: When one of the kids refers to Max as Grebelski instead of Erikson.
- Parking Payback: Erikson has a pretty mild version of it, all things considered, involving super-gluing the label "I Am An Inconsiderate Person" to the driver's side window of the guy that made such a thing.
- Police Are Useless: Agent Palmer appears this way at first, but is later revealed to be in on framing Max.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Max knows Agent Palmer is just a guy doing his job, and doesn't bear him any ill will. Only for it to be revealed that Palmer is a Dirty Cop.
- Scout-Out: The Ranger Scouts.
- Shout-Out:
- Max's nickname is Mad Max.
- Too Dumb to Live: Max isn't exactly the brightest guy around. When he is framed he makes the situation worse by pointing a gun at the FBI, stealing two cars, and kidnapping children. He also shows a complete lack of basic survival skills. He messes with a bear cub, drinks bug repellent instead of spraying it on, and mistakes a bee hive for a pinecone. It is a wonder he is still alive.
- Verbed Title
- Would Hurt a Child: Bragden, although Palmer is more reluctant.
- The kids believe that Max would, if he discovered that they know his secret. So they try to knock him out without his knowledge and get on their knees to beg for their lives when the secret's out, befuddling Max.
