Brutal Beleza

Bruising action and bruised egos propel the plot in this look at the pro roller derby world of the early 1970s. Raquel Welch plays K.C. Carr, a physically tough but emotionally vulnerable young woman who can "jam" with the best of them. For K.C., her job as a player pays the bills, but it keeps her on the road, separated from her two young, fatherless children.

I would estimate that roughly fifty percent of the film takes place in an indoor rink, where skaters go lap after lap around the rink, trying to gain advantage on each other, as the audience cheers and jeers, depending on who they like and don't like. The film portrays fans as low-class, uneducated dolts, oblivious to their obvious manipulation by franchise owner Mr. Henry (Kevin McCarthy), who carefully orchestrates skater performances. The seedy backstage world of pro skating reeks of cheap quarters and beer joints. Among the players, jealousies, anger, and fear lurk just below the surface.

Aside from the roller derby element, the story is rather thin. But it does end in a somewhat surprising way.

Raquel Welch gives a really fine performance, even though she's just a tad too "pretty", relative to the other women skaters. K.C. wants to get along and be a team player, but her adversaries give her a rough time. Welch gives her character an emotional depth that makes K.C. warm-hearted despite her physical toughness.

Lighting is very dark, which matches the film's dreary, downbeat tone throughout. Camera shots are quite effective in the fast changing skating action.

Owing to its narrow focus, "Kansas City Bomber" will be of interest to a very restricted base of potential viewers. Beyond this base, the film is worth a look for the fine performance of Raquel Welch.

OK, so before Raquel became a "serious" actress, she did a number of fluffy, inconsequential films which displayed far more of her physical attributes than any heavy-duty acting chops. This film (while keeping la Raquel covered, for the most part) pretty much falls into "fluffy": good-hearted but lonely divorceé Diane "KC" Carr tries to make it in the Roller Games circuit, clashing with female cohorts and dodging male advances. Being a huge fan of Roller Games during the early 70s, I was thrilled that this film featured a number of RollerGame stars who were big at the time. Toss in a love affair between KC and a manipulative team owner, stir in strained relationships between KC & her mother and KC and one of her two young children (one played by a young Jodie Foster), add a bitter rivalry with fading Roller Games queen Jackie (excellent Golden Globe nominated performance by Helena Kallianiotes) and there hangs the drama. Kevin McCarthy oozes as the pawn-shifting team owner, and pulls off the love-interest quite believably in spite of the fact he is 26 years her senior! Overall, a good effort (with La Raquel executive producing) and a check-your-brains-at-the-door kind of movie, but one I still love to curl up in front of... even while folding laundry.

As of March 15, 2005, I just learned that the movie is finally scheduled for DVD release May 31, 2005. For those of you who have bought previous DVD versions, you're probably already aware that they're cheesy bootleg copies, mostly taped from TV then transferred to DVD-R; says the seller, "I bought this at a convention, so that's why the picture isn't so great."

Kansas City Bomber is both a gritty,realistic action film and a perfect showcase for the talents of Raquel Welch! The film opens with a (staged) match-race which sests the tone for the rest of the story... Raquel portrays Diane"KC"Carr-a beautiful,dissallusional mother of two who has become a pro-skater for both the money and the desire to succeed in something for HERSELF!Her two children(curiously about the same ages as Raquels kids in real-life) live in Kansas City with her concerned yet old-fashioned mother.KC's mother of course wants her to quit the life on the road and simply come home to the kids.KC says she just needs"a piece of the action" but we can tell that Mom's advice IS sinking in! Meanwhile life on the road as a pro-skater is no bed of roses: KC's new team the Portland Loggers is managed by the shifty and suave Burt Henry-Mr. Henry has "big plans" for KC-not to mention making her his(latest?) love interest!Much to the dismay of the other girls on the team-especially the aging,alcoholic,scrapper Jackie Burdett. Mr.Henry's idea of achieving his 'big plans' involve elevating KC's status at whatever the cost! Will he succeed? Or will KC's better judgement win out? Aside from the obvious plot drama,Kansas City Bomber is probably the first movie to reveal the life of second-rate athletes.This movie takes some chances with showing it's skaters as they were in the 1970s-mostly middle-aged and lonely! They travel from city to city in buses,hang out together in cheap bars,and get no other joys from their lives-except while signing thier fans autographs! I especially appreciate the way that the filmakers resisted the temptation to glamourize the sport of pro-skating-instead they have portrayed it mostly as it was in the 70s-a dying sport! These skaters perform to dingy and half-empty arenas and expo centers-populated with the elderly,disabled and too young patrons! Clearly nobody is getting rich here-EXCEPT for the sleazy Mr.Henry!

Let me get this out of the way, not only was I a huge roller derby fan, Raquel Welch was my first pubescent crush. I was only six at the time this film was released and I every Saturday afternoon I would sit glued to the set watching my favorite team, the Los Angeles Thunderbirds do battle every week with their rivals. Now when I heard that there was a movie about the roller derby coming out, I was extremely excited. Also, when I saw Raquel Welch on the cover of Life Magazine, I really got excited. However, I had to wait a few years to see this movie on television and when I did, I couldn't see what I made a fuss about. Sure, Ms. Welch was hot in this film and the skating sequences were excellent, but as far as the story goes, you can have it. The story was nothing but pure soap opera. The only thing I really enjoyed about this film was Norman Alden's performance as the aging roller derby star who acted as sort of a big brother to K.C.. Other than that and the skating sequences, this movie fell flat. However, if you want to see what made roller derby big in the 1970's, this film is for you.

Raquel Welch broke her wrist doing some of her own stunts, in this movie where action is all-important, and plot non-existent. In 1972, by her own admission, Raquel Welch was a sex goddess who hasn't turned serious actress -- and "Kansas City Bomber" changed nothing. Raquel said in an interview at the time, that when she was growing up in La Jolla, CA, she would sometimes strap on a pair of skates and clank all the way from her porch to her garage and back. When she was 7, she put the skates away and didn't skate again until a year ago when she began readying herself for "Kansas City Bomber." Raquel reported to a banked oval track built for her on a Hollywood lot, where she skated 5 hours a day for 3 months. Her tutor was famous skater Paul Rupert who skated along beside her, coaching her and teaching her the basics of 5 strides on the banked track, how to take falls (fall backwards -- if you fall forwards you could break a wrist), and everything else she needed to know.

There is almost no time for any love interest in this movie, what with the all the Roller Games and bruising grudge matches. Whatever its dramatic shortcomings, and there are many, "Kansas City Bomber" does offer Raquel looking good even in pads, some authentically seedy roller skating locales, and real heroes and villains of the banked track. Sharp-eyed fans will recognize real-life Roller Games players from the L.A. Thunderbirds: tall John Hall, and big blocker Danny "Carrot Top" Reilly; the games announcer even mentions the names of top jammer Ralphie Valladares, and Ronnie "Psycho" Rains (with a beard), and "Little" Richard Brown -- who is still skating (now in Roller Jam) almost 30 years later! The game they play is some hybrid of Roller Derby and Roller Games that does not exist in real life. It lends a surreal atmosphere which is appropriate. Raquel's nemesis on the banked track is Helena Kallianiotes, a Belly Dancer in "Head" (1968). Try suspension of disbelief, and you will enjoy this movie forever ("and forever is a long, long time!")