Prayer of the Rollerboys

I saw this movie shortly after it came out in 1991, and I immediately fell in love with it.

This movie takes you to the worst place possible: the not too distant future! In this future, the government has failed, and there is total chaos in society. There are hardly any jobs left, you have to pay even for basic education, Harvard has been relocated to Japan, homeless shelters have become homeless CAMPS (which look like prison camps), and the pizza guy delivers the pizzas with an M-16!

A gang called the Rollerboys is "buying back America, one piece at a time". but in doing so, they are sterilizing the populace with a drug called "The Rope". The Rollerboys talk about "The Day of the Rope", which is the day they say they will get even, and hang all their enemies. The Rollerboys are a prejudiced group, and their enemies are those who are not white, and those who are too weak and who take their drugs.

It is left up to the pizza delivery boy (Griffin, AKA Corey Haim) and what is left of the governmental agents to stop this madness, and to capture the leader of the Rollerboys, Gary Lee, before he can do any more harm to those that Griffin cares for.

This movie is a great combination of the movies Solar Babies and Class of 1999, with it's own twists....a must have for any one who is a fan of bleak futuristic movies!

I only watched this movie in the first place because I always kind of had a crush on Corey Haim. The plot didn't sound particularly interesting or original -- I didn't expect much. But this movie surprised me. It is without question messy -- it needs more time for character development, it goes right for a bunch of stereotypes that take away some of its credibility. But there's a lot in this film that's worth considering. The idea is half-"1984," half-"Lord of the Flies" -- a futuristic society where kids rule the world, yet there's less freedom or honesty than ever. It's a little scary in that thrilling way because it's something you can imagine, especially in light of recent history. And the constant use of iconography from the "Golden Age" of family values in American culture was stunning (an evil character named "Bullwinkle," an otherwise-bleak roller park with a giant record painted on the ground, Patricia Arquette's many costumes including cowgirl and sailorette). This is a movie that would do well to be remade a little more carefully. More focus on the obvious symbolism, more thought given to character. I'd like to see that, because I actually think this story has quite a bit to say to us today that might have seemed unimportant in 1991.

I gave this flick a shame faced 7 (a baseline 6 + 1 because I've thoroughly enjoyed it...twice!) I saw it first in 1991, a full 5 years before I learned to roller blade myself (at the ripe old age of 44) and again last night. I think the mistake made by those rating it so lowly was in taking it seriously. It certainly didn't take itself seriously. Not with lines like (paraphrase) [after a criminal is shot by a cop] "thank God we could take care of him here. I hate court". Or with newspaper headlines that read "Germany buys Poland". Or with a radio newscast describing Mexican INS agents rounding up and deporting American fruit pickers who had illegally entered their country to find work. Any sense of reality exited my mind as I watched them do everything in those skates, I, myself, having gotten hopelessly bogged down in the neutral ground trying to cross the street in my blades at City Park in New Orleans. The movie also had a refreshingly original take on the "doomed future" theme. Instead of the grim setting being a post nuclear apocalypse, we have a wasteland created, instead, by the crash of the American stock market. And this well explains the sad state of affairs (no money for police, a greatly weakened government, extensive homelessness, etc.) that is the backdrop for the film. The rollerboys seemed to be a blurry composite of all the evils of mankind since the beginning of time...racial hatred, greed megalomania, anti-semitism...you name it. The visage of the rollerboy gang materializing from the end of a dark tunnel, gliding effortlessly in white trench coats and black rollerblades, their arms swinging mightily in unison immediately called to mind goose stepping Nazis. The two undercover cops, who seemed to literally dwell in their van, making off the cuff quips about the rollerboys were a hoot. True, the acting was, at best mediocre but had it been excellent it would have spoiled the film. Occasional lapses into the melodramatic only added savor to the stew. Much of the dialog was so bad it was not only good but great. I guess this movie will remain one of my guilty pleasures. If it comes on again...I'll watch it again. I only wish Corey Haim hadn't grown up so they could make Rollerboys 2.

You know it seems that just because it had Corey Haim in it people knock the movie. Corey my not be my favorite actor but he did good in this movie. The story line was also good with some most excellent blading in it. I give this movie a hmmmm 8/10 for good soundtrack, story, and ok acting. Give this movie a chance you may like it.

The Oklahoma City Bombing, according to American government officials, was inspired by an obscure controversial novel named "The Turner Diaries." The novel depicts a future race war initiated by White racial supremacists against non-Whites. A similar world exists in "Prayer of the Rollerboys," where an Adolf Hitler-like charismatic leader,Gary Lee (Christopher Collet), motivates his group of dominant young paramilitary skaters known as the Rollerboys. They envision an all-White world achieved through violence and the overthrow of governments. Depression-level economic turbulence have weakened local authorities. Gary Lee and his gang fills a void; a somewhat parallel to Hitler's ascension during the Weimar Republic.

There is a plausible case to be made that screenwriter W. Peter Lliff had a deep familiarity with "Turner Diaries." The novel and the film presents a "The Day of the Rope" for the unmerciful elimination of perceived enemies. They parts ways in its implementation. On that eventful day in the book, many "race traitors" end up in nooses. The "rope" of the Rollerboys is a chemical modification to the recreational drug Mist, an adjustment which sterilizes its non-White users. (Compare that to Walter Mosley's "Futureland," where an artificial plague bypasses anyone whose DNA is at least 12.5% African.)

By the time "Prayer Of The Rollerboys" was released, Corey Haim's career was in decline. Long gone were the theater-ready times of "Lost Boys." Because of personal issues, Corey became a true lost boy--with skates--eager to get by, having lost the power of selectiveness in his movie roles. True life wasn't better, as his character Griffin avoided addiction. My standards for movies are not high, maybe that's why I will watch a Corey Haim film post-super stardom.

The futuristic nature of the movie was promising, while the unconvincing unfolding of events and the frequently sub par performances went below my low requirements.Yet the movie got me hooked like a Mist addict. It retains a significant appeal in a "Lord of the Flies"-like environment with minimal parental authority. The Rollerboys feed the "what if" imaginations of those eager to escape the restrictions of society. Ideology aside, the Rollerboys are cool skaters swinging in reinforced rhythmic uniformity, well at home in a semi-dystopia.