Les Challengers

Before the days of "in-line" skates there was a less forgiving variety that went in and out of fashion for a century with everyone but elementary school age children. "Roller Boogie" (1979) caught one of the periods when the activity had once again become trendy, especially with teenagers. Skate shops opened all over the place but the really trendy location was Venice, California. "Roller Boogie" involves a bunch of teens who hang around on the Venice boardwalk and do a lot of roller skating; and burn their eyeballs girl and boy watching.

Because much of the film is composed of many cinema verite ("fly on the wall film-making" where the filmmakers attempt to make their presence as unobtrusive as possible) documentary shots of real skaters engaging in real skating at this real location, the film is more interesting and impressive now than at the time of its release. "Breakin" was a similar film from the same time period which also unintentionally documented a portion of social history (insert break dancing here).

Of course those who went to "Roller Boogie" at the time of its release were mostly there to see Linda Blair in her abbreviated skating outfits; which had been widely showcased in the film distributor's marketing campaign. "Roller Boogie" was basically a cheap exploitation film that disappointed very few viewers because it delivered exactly what it promised and maybe a little bit more.

Rich girls Terry (Blair) and Lana (too old television actress Kimberly Beck) do their slumming on the boardwalk, where they skate up and down to the pop music beat from their now ancient looking transistor radio headphones. The plot is mostly about Terry's puppy love romance with Bobby (real life super-skater Jim Bray) the summer before she heads off to college.

There is also a story about developers conspiring to tear down the old roller rink. One of these is played by former "Lost in Space" pre-teen heartthrob Mark Goddard, whose career never took off after his adventures with Dr. Smith and the robot had made him famous. MST3K favorite Beverly Garland has a small part as Terry's rich mom.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child

It'an innocent final 70s movie, where Linda Blair moves to skate with her boyfriend, expert roller skater Jim Bray and her friends making a plan to safe the disco palace where a devilish business man tries to build a Shopping Mall there. At the end of the night is the roller skating championship. Evertything must go perfect. The movie is bad, but you cannot denied to be amazed about the disco music, the roller skates and Linda. There's innocence in this movie. This kids loves sport, to hangout with girls not only for sex and loves have fun drinking a soda in the roller boogie place. This are times hard to get now, and the nostalgia wins a 10. Maybe will bore some, but still got it's cheesy magic.

Directed by Mark L. Lester.

I was positively giddy when this flick came on T.V. yesterday afternoon because it wasn't something that I would actually go out and rent, wasting precious time and money. I have a morbid curiosity about stinker movies and I had heard about this one's notorious stinkiness for a while now. It was just the laugh I needed to cheer me up on a cloudy, gloomy day: the plot was ludicrous, the cast's wardrobe was just as gloriously tacky as expected, the skating was decent (but in the context... so silly!), and the script was absolutely ridiculous! Plus I loved the heavy-handed use of clichés used to hit the audience over the head, "Hey, in case you haven't figured it out yet, these people are RICH" when showing Terry Barkley (Linda Blair) and her family: 1.) her 1920's(?) era car--Hey, I know the Beverly Hills rich bitches of today drive Beemers and such, but back in the late 70's, it had to be kind of the same situation with similar model cars driven. Why would Terry's rich daddy want his precious little girl driving around L.A. in such an impractical and most likely unsafe fossil of a car! 2.) The Barkley household's princess phones--another impractical device. 3.) Terry's typical "poor little rich girl"/"my mommy and daddy don't care about me" issues.

Other gleeful love/hate moments of sheer comedy: the opening sequence where the Roller Boogie "gang" is rolling though the streets to a Cher song (an obvious effort to get the audience pumped up and lured into the "magic" of the film... it only had me and my boyfriend rolling in laughter), the roller boogie guy with the radio strapped to his shoulder and the HUGE headphones on ALL the time, the one mobster heavy who always wore that awful-looking plaid jacket in every scene he's in (isn't that what ALL mob heavies wear???), Bobby James' lone tribute skate routine to the rink's owner Jammer that was supposed to get the audience all emotional(?!?), the shirt that he wore during this scene with his sequined "BJ" monogram on it (sooooo cheesy!), the chase scene when Bobby and Terry are skating for their lives from the mobsters and they jump over the car (can you say, WIPEOUT??? I mean, their neat little landing without any stumbling whatsover was sooooo unbelievably funny!), plus too many more to mention.

I gotta mention here that I'm even a HUGE fan of 'Xanadu,' another roller skating movie from the same time. But that movie had the redeeming factor of more charismatic actors, better plot, much better soundtrack, and awesome costumes and stage sets. It also had a dreamy, hopeful, and inspirational feel that 'Roller Boogie' never even came CLOSE to achieving. I just can't see how ANYBODY could have written the script for, acted in, or directed this classic piece of crap with a straight face. But it DID deliver the cheese factor I was craving. Thanks for the laughs, 'Roller Boogie!' May you live on as an undisputed masterpiece of bad cinema... a deliciously cringe-inducing time capsule of that age.

"roller Boogie" is an absolute time capsule. It features Linda Blair at her ultimate cutest and a full bevy of roller skating teens. Undoubtedly this is the best roller boogie movie ever made! Which isn't saying much, but still its enjoyable fluff from start to finish, and considering its run time of over two hours, it never gets dull.

Terry barkley is a talented musician who'd rather skate at the local hot spot than get into Julliard! Wow, there s plot to root for. Her father, played by Roger Perry of "Facts of Life" fame, is not thrilled. Doesn't matter, Terry's heart is in her skates. But watch out, there are bad guys, rotten land-developers who want the roller rink for themselves! And they'll do anything to get it! Can Terry and Bobby save the day and win the big roller contest? DAre we hope? OK, you won't be on pins and needles, the plot in this flick is telegraphed so a two year old could get it.

Like I said, though, Roller Boogie is a time piece. If you want to see life in southern California in the late 70's this is it. I actually felt sorry for some of the guys and gals cause those outfits were really skin-tight! Linda looks great though. Jimmy Bray doesn't make an impression and that does hurt the film, but just enjoy the silly music, the stunts, some of which are righteous and the cheesy plot and your'e bound to have a good time. Note the extreme sports preview when Terry and Bobby are on the run and cross a pipeline! The party scene is also classic and was ripped off a dozen times after this.

Roller boogie has it all, pathos, passion, pepperoni! Hey, you can't take this too seriously, just enjoy and let your'e brain freeze.

I know this movie isn't all that great. But It's not all that bad either. Linda Blair is the ONLY star in this flick and I like her in this flick. She's cute and she has money and she's not spoiled ( much ) and she has beautiful clothes. Unless you are a fan of either roller skating , roller disco or Linda Blair , you probably won't think this one is all that great. I'll rate this one 5 / 10