Skateboard

This movie is worth watching when there's skating on screen; too bad there's isn't more of it. Most of the screen time is taken up with the stupid, predictable plot, and I, too, found myself thinking that the stupid dialouge must have been improvised, plus I can't figure out how they managed to make 35mm film look so bad. Manny reminds me of the park owner from Kiss meets the Phantom, a fat loser frantically running around trying to figure out what's cool and then cash in on it. Perhaps more beer or bad behavior from the kids would improve this movie, too.

It's worth watching this just to spot Tony Alva (I can't believe he's in this turkey) and to see what skaters looked like in 1977. This movie was already a curiosity when I taped it off TV in the 80s.

A low rent LA promoter Manny (Alan Garfield) latches onto a bunch of hotshot teenage skaters and turns them into a traveling skateboard demonstration roadshow entering lots of skating competitions to pay a debt back to Sol (Antony Carbone) his mobster type investor.

This is definitely a B movie with stilted acting and weak plot line but it is a fascinating piece of 1970's history chronicling for the first time on film the dramatic rise of the skateboarding craze. It features some of the early real life icons of skating only in their late teens who helped build the sport: Tony Alva, Richard van Der Wyk and Ellen O'Neill along with some excellent footage of skating in deep empty pools that was the forerunner to the big pipes that became a feature of the sport from the 80's on. The skating tricks pulled in the skater boys and throw in 15 year old Leif Garrett who was on the cusp of major stardom as blond eye candy for teen girls (actually Garrett did all his own skating stunts) and the movie wasn't a complete box office flop.

Anyone who grew up in the 70s is going to love the bell bottom jeans, big collared shirts, the proliferation of green and brown styles and short shorts. It also features cameos from WKRP Cincinnati star Gordon Jump and famous Hollywood 50s and 60s icon Orson Bean.

Manny is in debt to Sol, among others, and he has to come up with an idea to make money quickly. Earlier, he nearly ran into some kids who were skateboarding in the road. When he sees one of them outside his window, he pitches the idea of a skateboarding team to Sol, who reluctantly accepts this chance to get his money back and then some.

Manny knows nothing about skateboarding. He doesn't even realize there are already teams, and as talented as the kids are, it's hard to believe at first anyone will pay money to see them.

A number of problems get in the way of the team's success. One is the need for someone to supervise them, like a parent. So Millicent is hired. Of course, as often happens in sports movies, one of the kids thinks he is too good to follow the rules. Later, the events really look like something worth seeing.

I didn't see anything here approaching good acting, but Manny, Millicent and the kids were all easy enough to like. Manny was certainly funny because he was such a loser. And the kids certainly had talent on skateboards if nothing else. The situation was hard to believe but was executed well enough.

I seriously question any reference to this being a 'family' movie. The sound went out a number of times, and other times it sounded like words had been substituted, and while tame by today's standards, the sex talk seemed pretty frank.

If you're not looking to use your brain and if your expectations are not high, I suppose this was a pleasant enough film.

The phenomenon of skateboarding which blossomed in the 70s gets a look in this G rated film about a down and out promoter who sees a bunch of kids doing their skateboard thing and turns them into a team. Allen Garfield stars as the promoter who gets to like the kids no matter how much he first sees them as just a cash cow.

Garfield's probably a decent enough guy under ordinary circumstances and considering what he does for a living. But these times aren't ordinary, Garfield is into Anthony Carbone for some bucks and then borrows some bigger bucks to promote the team. The leg breakers will be paying him a call if he doesn't succeed.

Which explains the pressures he puts on the kids to win although they don't understand it. Neither does Kathleen Lloyd, team nurse and guardian and all around confidante to Garfield though he levels with her.

Leif Garrett who was on the cusp of bubblegum stardom plays one of the kids and Garfield's eventual savior. The rest of the players are skateboarders first and barely handled the dialog.

Still it's skateboarding and Leif Garrett that people paid to see and Skateboard gives them their money's worth.

This is actually a pretty decent movie for a B skater movie. What makes it cool is that they used a lot of real skaters! You will recognize a lot of the skaters from this movie once they start doing competitions. Even some old name brands like Sims. Plotwise it's a simple plot. Older dude who looks WAY older than 31 when he started filming this who is balding, fat and has a lot of gray in his hair. He looks about 50. The Nurse lady reminds me of a Sarah Silverman, but I am not a fan of hers, and in the main LA Wheels group you have Tony Alva. Then there is the Sims brand girl, Laura Thornhill, who I had a huge crush on even though she was almost 20 years older than I am. I saw the movie at first when I was very young, and didn't realize when it was filmed and that she was a lot older than I was.