Roller Boogie
Encyclopedia
Roller Boogie is a United Artists
film starring Linda Blair
(the former child actress
from The Exorcist
) and introducing Jim Bray
(a former competitive artistic skater from California.) The film also stars Beverly Garland
, Mark Goddard
, and Kimberly Beck
, and is directed by Mark L. Lester
.
The film is set in the Venice, Los Angeles, California
area at the height of the quad roller skating
fad. Two characters, Bobby James (Bray) and Terry Barkley (Blair), fall in love while boogie skating to disco
music. Along the way they must thwart a powerful mobster who wants the land their favorite roller rink
sits on and compete in the Boogie Contest.
) with friends Phones (Stoney Jackson
), Hoppy (Jimmy Van Patten), Gordo (Albert Insinnia), and a myriad of extras skate to work on the Venice, California, boardwalk. Meanwhile in Beverly Hills, Terry Barkley, genius flautist is also heading towards the beach in her Excalibur Phateon car. She also is joined by her stuck-up girlfriend Lana (Kimberly Beck
).
Bobby is skating on the boardwalk with a female friend when he encounters Terry. But she remains aloof and spurns his advance. Later they meet at a local skating rink called Jammers. During a near catastrophic skating incident where Bobby saves the day, she gives in. Terry wants to pay him to teach her how to skate for the Roller Disco contest. Even though they share a flirty, romantic couples skate, later on she rebuffs him yet again.
The next day has both Terry and Bobby getting flack from their respected friends and family. She has had enough and goes to the beach. She finds Bobby there, practicing a jump and turns on the charm. He shares with her his dream to become an Olympic Roller Skater. They end up making out on the beach. Bobby asks her if she's going to pay him for sex as well, which garners a mighty slap in return and she takes off.
Terry goes home and has a row with her mom, played by Beverly Garland
. She wants to give up her dreams of playing Classical Flute at Juilliard School
and win a roller disco contest at the beach. Her mom is shocked, enough so she needs a valium. Terry decided to run away.
The next morning, she calls and invites Bobby to breakfast where she apologizes. He wants to skate with her, but on his terms: no money; he calls the shot. Through a series of outdoor scenes we see them work together to form a routine.
Unfortunately, Jammers is about to be sold to a ruthless mob developer. Bobby and Terry are clued into this plot and try to get her father, a lawyer, to help. But he refuses. The skaters find evidence to kill the deal and race to get it to the cops on time. They do, the mobsters are hauled off and the Boogie Contest is on. Terry and Bobby skate their routine and win.
Later on, back at the beach Terry and Bobby share a sad goodbye. Both promise to write each other as she heads off to New York City and him to the Olympics.
, who is credited with creating the story. Yablans' Compass International Pictures, founded with Joseph Wolfe, would distribute the movie. Compass International Pictures had unprecedented success the previous year with John Carpenter
's slasher Halloween
. In between Halloween and Roller Boogie, the company would distribute three other titles, Nocturna, Fyre, and Tourist Trap, the latter the most successful of the three.
Almost undoubtedly made quickly before the roller-skating fad of the late-1970s and early-1980s ended, the film was originally led by Linda Blair and Canadian actor David Kennedy, with whom Blair was dating at the time. However, when Kennedy and Blair ended their relationship Kennedy was dropped from the picture, rumors stating at Blair's request. Several other actors were considered for the character Bobby James, including Peter Galagher and Albert Insinnia; who would actually play the character Gordo in the finished movie. Jim Bray, an American amateur roller skating champion who had won over 270 awards for his skating talents by the age of eighteen, was originally cast as the stuntman for the uncast male lead. When producers had difficulty finding someone to fill the role, Bray was given acting lessons and cast in the role.
In an earlier version of the script, Bobby James' primary interest was song-writing. In the movie, Bobby and friends were trying to write a new song by humming into a tape recorder. Once he meets Terry she assists him in scoring it using her musical abilities. By the end of the movie, Terry leaves for her music scholarship whilst Bobby pursues his musical career. There is no mention of the Olympics in the earlier version. Another scene that does not feature in the movie that was present in the script comes where Bobby helps Terry escape from her bedroom after she is grounded by her parents. This scene was shot, however, since there are photos in various publicity items with Jim Bray peeking through a window on a ladder.
All of the skating sequences and the dancing sequences were choreographed by David Winters
and were instrumental in the success of the movie. Prior to the production of the picture, skating trainer Barbara Guedel tested over 300 young skaters, finally selecting fifty that would make up the skating crowds in the picture - many of whom would also feature in another skating-influenced picture, Xanadu
(1980). The ensemble were then given three weeks of training before the photography began, and, at the behest of their managers/producers, the principal actors were only on roller-skates for short periods of time. However, Blair did much of her own skating for the picture. Two stunt doubles were used, one for the skating chase around the streets of Venice - Barbara Guedel would perform the trickier dancing stunts in the competition sequence. Blair would develop bursitis in her hip during the making of the picture.
The film was shot in eight weeks through the Summer of 1979, mostly on the Venice boardwalks but also in Beverly Hills and, for the final competition sequence, at The Stardust Ballroom in Hollywood. At the end of principal photography, Blair had to return to Florida for a court appearance (from her arrest, in 1977).
sound that was popular in the late 1970s. A double-LP soundtrack was issued by Casablanca Records
in 1979.
Almost all of the tracks were written directly for the movie by Bob Esty and Michelle Aller. Esty/Aller had at the time recently scored a sizable hit, writing Cher
's disco-single "Take Me Home". Incidentally, they produced Cher's accompanying LP of the same name, as well as the ill-fated follow-up Prisoner. Cher would contribute one song to the Roller Boogie soundtrack - the Esty produced "Hell on Wheels
", used in the opening sequence. The track originally featured on the Prisoner album, and a rare accompanying video clip featuring Cher roller-skating also appeared around the same time as the release of the movie.
Interestingly, the "Hell on Wheels" Japanese single includes another Prisoner album track, the 12" version of "Git Down (Guitar Groupie)", which is advertised as "Theme from Roller Boogie". However, the song does not appear in the movie. This single features a still of Linda Blair and Jim Bray on the cover.
The song "Lord is it Mine", performed by Bob Esty, was originally written by Supertramp
's Roger Hodgson for their Breakfast in America
LP. He also performed the tracks "Summer Love", "Rollin' Up a Storm", and "Roller Boogie". The segued opening tracks of side two of the double LP, "Electronix (Roller Dancin')", and the Latin-disco instrumental "Cunga", are credited to Bob Esty and Cheeks. Craig Safan composed cues for the film's original score, however, the film tends to rely on actual songs as opposed to instrumental pieces.
Along with "Hell on Wheels", the other song on the soundtrack that was previously available prior to the soundtrack release is Earth, Wind & Fire
's well-known disco single, "Boogie Wonderland". Only one song featured in the movie does not feature on the soundtrack, Jean Shy's "Night Dancer", which appears in the movie when Terry first visits the roller-disco rink.
Side A:
Side B:
Side C:
Side D:
, and many Elvis Presley
films of the 1960s, were all choreographed by the same dance genius who choreographed Roller Boogie: David Winters
. Initially, Compass International Pictures planned on a sequel (to be set in Mexico—Acapulco Roller Boogie); however, probably due to the end of the disco fad the idea was scrapped. Linda Blair, according to a Teen Beat article published in 1980, intended on moving away from the horror genre in favor of more light-hearted pictures such as Roller Boogie, but returned to the genre the following year in another Compass International Pictures produced movie, Hell Night
(1981). Jim Bray did not appear in any other movies after Roller Boogie, despite achieving something of pin-up status in teen magazines largely based on his appearance in the film. Stoney Jackson would appear in the third and final season of The White Shadow
as Jesse B. Mitchell before its cancellation in 1981, and in Michael Jackson
's pop video "Beat It
", in 1983.
Recently, fashion brand American Apparel
played the movie in store windows. Matthew Swenson, the company's fashion media director, stated; 'We became obsessed with that movie. On a whim, we also bought lamé fabric and turned them into leggings, and the gold and silver took off.". Despite a low average rating of 3.4 on the Internet Movie Database, the film has developed a loyal following and is seen as something of a time-capsule of the late 1970s and the disco era.
The film is considered a cult classic, to teenage and disco fans in general.
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
film starring Linda Blair
Linda Blair
Linda Denise Blair is an American actress. Blair is best known for her role as the possessed child, Regan, in the 1973 film The Exorcist, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and two Golden Globes, winning one. She reprised her role in 1977's Exorcist II: The Heretic.-Biography:Blair...
(the former child actress
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
from The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
) and introducing Jim Bray
Jim Bray
Jim Bray was a competitive artistic roller skater. He won several national titles in Singles and Pairs. At the age of 18 he gave up his amateur status to star in the roller disco movie Roller Boogie starring Linda Blair. This would be his only film appearance...
(a former competitive artistic skater from California.) The film also stars Beverly Garland
Beverly Garland
Beverly Garland was an American film and television actress, businesswoman, and hotel owner. Garland gained prominence for her role as Fred MacMurray's second wife, "Barbara Harper Douglas", in the 1960s sitcom My Three Sons...
, Mark Goddard
Mark Goddard
Mark Goddard is an American film actor who has starred in a number of television programs. He portrayed Major Don West, the space adversary of Dr. Zachary Smith in the cult 1960s CBS series, Lost in Space, and Detective Sgt...
, and Kimberly Beck
Kimberly Beck
Kimberly Beck is an American actress with over sixty television and film roles to her credit.-Biography:...
, and is directed by Mark L. Lester
Mark L. Lester
Mark L. Lester is an American writer, producer, and director, primarily of action films.After his debut in 1970 with the film Just Can't Reach, he went on to make his mark with such memorable drive-in fare as Truck Stop Women and Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw...
.
The film is set in the Venice, Los Angeles, California
Venice, Los Angeles, California
Venice is a beachfront district on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is known for its canals, beaches and circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, fortune-tellers, artists, and vendors...
area at the height of the quad roller skating
Roller skating
Roller skating is the traveling on smooth surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreation as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation. Skates generally come in two basic varieties: quad roller skates and inline skates or blades, though some have experimented with a...
fad. Two characters, Bobby James (Bray) and Terry Barkley (Blair), fall in love while boogie skating to disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
music. Along the way they must thwart a powerful mobster who wants the land their favorite roller rink
Roller rink
A roller rink is a hard surface used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, and recreational skating...
sits on and compete in the Boogie Contest.
Plot
The film opens as Bobby James (Jim BrayJim Bray
Jim Bray was a competitive artistic roller skater. He won several national titles in Singles and Pairs. At the age of 18 he gave up his amateur status to star in the roller disco movie Roller Boogie starring Linda Blair. This would be his only film appearance...
) with friends Phones (Stoney Jackson
Stoney Jackson
Stonewall W. "Stoney" Jackson is an American character actor. Jackson was born in Richmond, Virginia.-Career:He was featured in numerous teen magazines in the 1970s and 1980s, including Right On, Teen Beat, and Tiger Beat.He portrayed high school basketball player Jesse Mitchell on the ensemble...
), Hoppy (Jimmy Van Patten), Gordo (Albert Insinnia), and a myriad of extras skate to work on the Venice, California, boardwalk. Meanwhile in Beverly Hills, Terry Barkley, genius flautist is also heading towards the beach in her Excalibur Phateon car. She also is joined by her stuck-up girlfriend Lana (Kimberly Beck
Kimberly Beck
Kimberly Beck is an American actress with over sixty television and film roles to her credit.-Biography:...
).
Bobby is skating on the boardwalk with a female friend when he encounters Terry. But she remains aloof and spurns his advance. Later they meet at a local skating rink called Jammers. During a near catastrophic skating incident where Bobby saves the day, she gives in. Terry wants to pay him to teach her how to skate for the Roller Disco contest. Even though they share a flirty, romantic couples skate, later on she rebuffs him yet again.
The next day has both Terry and Bobby getting flack from their respected friends and family. She has had enough and goes to the beach. She finds Bobby there, practicing a jump and turns on the charm. He shares with her his dream to become an Olympic Roller Skater. They end up making out on the beach. Bobby asks her if she's going to pay him for sex as well, which garners a mighty slap in return and she takes off.
Terry goes home and has a row with her mom, played by Beverly Garland
Beverly Garland
Beverly Garland was an American film and television actress, businesswoman, and hotel owner. Garland gained prominence for her role as Fred MacMurray's second wife, "Barbara Harper Douglas", in the 1960s sitcom My Three Sons...
. She wants to give up her dreams of playing Classical Flute at Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
and win a roller disco contest at the beach. Her mom is shocked, enough so she needs a valium. Terry decided to run away.
The next morning, she calls and invites Bobby to breakfast where she apologizes. He wants to skate with her, but on his terms: no money; he calls the shot. Through a series of outdoor scenes we see them work together to form a routine.
Unfortunately, Jammers is about to be sold to a ruthless mob developer. Bobby and Terry are clued into this plot and try to get her father, a lawyer, to help. But he refuses. The skaters find evidence to kill the deal and race to get it to the cops on time. They do, the mobsters are hauled off and the Boogie Contest is on. Terry and Bobby skate their routine and win.
Later on, back at the beach Terry and Bobby share a sad goodbye. Both promise to write each other as she heads off to New York City and him to the Olympics.
Development
Roller Boogie was written by Barry Schneider with Irwin YablansIrwin Yablans
Irwin Yablans is an American independent film producer and distributor known for his work in the horror film industry.-Biography:...
, who is credited with creating the story. Yablans' Compass International Pictures, founded with Joseph Wolfe, would distribute the movie. Compass International Pictures had unprecedented success the previous year with John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
's slasher Halloween
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
. In between Halloween and Roller Boogie, the company would distribute three other titles, Nocturna, Fyre, and Tourist Trap, the latter the most successful of the three.
Almost undoubtedly made quickly before the roller-skating fad of the late-1970s and early-1980s ended, the film was originally led by Linda Blair and Canadian actor David Kennedy, with whom Blair was dating at the time. However, when Kennedy and Blair ended their relationship Kennedy was dropped from the picture, rumors stating at Blair's request. Several other actors were considered for the character Bobby James, including Peter Galagher and Albert Insinnia; who would actually play the character Gordo in the finished movie. Jim Bray, an American amateur roller skating champion who had won over 270 awards for his skating talents by the age of eighteen, was originally cast as the stuntman for the uncast male lead. When producers had difficulty finding someone to fill the role, Bray was given acting lessons and cast in the role.
In an earlier version of the script, Bobby James' primary interest was song-writing. In the movie, Bobby and friends were trying to write a new song by humming into a tape recorder. Once he meets Terry she assists him in scoring it using her musical abilities. By the end of the movie, Terry leaves for her music scholarship whilst Bobby pursues his musical career. There is no mention of the Olympics in the earlier version. Another scene that does not feature in the movie that was present in the script comes where Bobby helps Terry escape from her bedroom after she is grounded by her parents. This scene was shot, however, since there are photos in various publicity items with Jim Bray peeking through a window on a ladder.
All of the skating sequences and the dancing sequences were choreographed by David Winters
David Winters (choreographer)
David Winters is an English-born American dancer, choreographer, producer, director, screenwriter, and actor. Winters has participated in, directed and produced over 400 television series, specials, and motion pictures...
and were instrumental in the success of the movie. Prior to the production of the picture, skating trainer Barbara Guedel tested over 300 young skaters, finally selecting fifty that would make up the skating crowds in the picture - many of whom would also feature in another skating-influenced picture, Xanadu
Xanadu (film)
Xanadu is a 1980 romantic musical fantasy film written by Marc Reid Rubel and directed by Robert Greenwald. The title is a reference to the poem "Kubla Khan, or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is quoted in the film. Xanadu is the name of the Chinese province...
(1980). The ensemble were then given three weeks of training before the photography began, and, at the behest of their managers/producers, the principal actors were only on roller-skates for short periods of time. However, Blair did much of her own skating for the picture. Two stunt doubles were used, one for the skating chase around the streets of Venice - Barbara Guedel would perform the trickier dancing stunts in the competition sequence. Blair would develop bursitis in her hip during the making of the picture.
The film was shot in eight weeks through the Summer of 1979, mostly on the Venice boardwalks but also in Beverly Hills and, for the final competition sequence, at The Stardust Ballroom in Hollywood. At the end of principal photography, Blair had to return to Florida for a court appearance (from her arrest, in 1977).
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of the film largely draws on the discoDisco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
sound that was popular in the late 1970s. A double-LP soundtrack was issued by Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records was an American record label started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris, and Buck Reingold in 1973, and based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after all of them had left Buddah Records and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture...
in 1979.
Almost all of the tracks were written directly for the movie by Bob Esty and Michelle Aller. Esty/Aller had at the time recently scored a sizable hit, writing Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
's disco-single "Take Me Home". Incidentally, they produced Cher's accompanying LP of the same name, as well as the ill-fated follow-up Prisoner. Cher would contribute one song to the Roller Boogie soundtrack - the Esty produced "Hell on Wheels
Hell on Wheels (song)
"Hell on Wheels" is a disco song performed by American singer-actress Cher from her sixteenth studio album, Prisoner. It was written by Bob Esty and Michele Aller and produced by Esty. It was released as the album's first and only international single in late 1979. The song was also added to the...
", used in the opening sequence. The track originally featured on the Prisoner album, and a rare accompanying video clip featuring Cher roller-skating also appeared around the same time as the release of the movie.
Interestingly, the "Hell on Wheels" Japanese single includes another Prisoner album track, the 12" version of "Git Down (Guitar Groupie)", which is advertised as "Theme from Roller Boogie". However, the song does not appear in the movie. This single features a still of Linda Blair and Jim Bray on the cover.
The song "Lord is it Mine", performed by Bob Esty, was originally written by Supertramp
Supertramp
Supertramp are a British rock band formed in 1969 under the name Daddy before renaming to Supertramp in early 1970. Though their music was initially categorised as progressive rock, they have since incorporated a combination of traditional rock and art rock into their music...
's Roger Hodgson for their Breakfast in America
Breakfast in America
Breakfast in America was seen as a departure for the band, with its pop sound deviating from the progressive rock stylings that defined their earlier work...
LP. He also performed the tracks "Summer Love", "Rollin' Up a Storm", and "Roller Boogie". The segued opening tracks of side two of the double LP, "Electronix (Roller Dancin')", and the Latin-disco instrumental "Cunga", are credited to Bob Esty and Cheeks. Craig Safan composed cues for the film's original score, however, the film tends to rely on actual songs as opposed to instrumental pieces.
Along with "Hell on Wheels", the other song on the soundtrack that was previously available prior to the soundtrack release is Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...
's well-known disco single, "Boogie Wonderland". Only one song featured in the movie does not feature on the soundtrack, Jean Shy's "Night Dancer", which appears in the movie when Terry first visits the roller-disco rink.
Side A:
- Hell on WheelsHell on Wheels (song)"Hell on Wheels" is a disco song performed by American singer-actress Cher from her sixteenth studio album, Prisoner. It was written by Bob Esty and Michele Aller and produced by Esty. It was released as the album's first and only international single in late 1979. The song was also added to the...
- CherCherCher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
(5:32) - Good Girls - Johnnie Coolrock (3:38)
- All for One, One for All - Mavis Vegas Davis (4:20)
- Boogie WonderlandBoogie Wonderland"Boogie Wonderland" is a 1979 hit single by Earth, Wind & Fire featuring The Emotions. Boogie Wonderland was written by Allee Willis and Jon Lind, and included on the album I Am...
- Earth Wind & Fire (4:48)
Side B:
- We've Got the Power - Ron Green (5:15)
- Top Jammer - Cheecks (4:12)
- Summer Love - Bob Esty (3:53)
- Takin' My Life in My Own Hands - Ron Green (5:25)
Side C:
- Electronix (Roller Dancin') - Bob Esty & Cheeks (5:00)
- Cunga - Bob Esty (4:54)
- Evil Man - Mavis Vegas Davis (4:17)
- Lord is it Mine - Bob Esty (4:26)
Side D:
- Rollin' up a Storm (The Eye of the Hurricane) - Bob Esty (6:30)
- The Roller Boogie - Bob Esty (6:09)
- Love Fire - Bob Esty & Michelle Aller (4:54)
Release and Critical Response
The film was promoted with a lengthy trailer in the Autumn of 1979, before the premiere in New York City in early December. The film was released nationally on December 23. The film grossed $13.5 million dollars at the box office, proving popular with teen audiences despite receiving generally negative reviews from the critics - Roger Ebert compares the picture to the 'beach-party' movies of the 1960s now with a disco twist, which is understandable as the 1964 beach party film Pajama PartyPajama Party (film)
Pajama Party is a 1964 beach party film starring Tommy Kirk and Annette Funicello. This is the fourth in a series of seven beach films produced by American International Pictures...
, and many Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
films of the 1960s, were all choreographed by the same dance genius who choreographed Roller Boogie: David Winters
David Winters (choreographer)
David Winters is an English-born American dancer, choreographer, producer, director, screenwriter, and actor. Winters has participated in, directed and produced over 400 television series, specials, and motion pictures...
. Initially, Compass International Pictures planned on a sequel (to be set in Mexico—Acapulco Roller Boogie); however, probably due to the end of the disco fad the idea was scrapped. Linda Blair, according to a Teen Beat article published in 1980, intended on moving away from the horror genre in favor of more light-hearted pictures such as Roller Boogie, but returned to the genre the following year in another Compass International Pictures produced movie, Hell Night
Hell Night
Hell Night is a 1981 American independent horror film . Tom DeSimone directed the film, which was written by Randy Feldman and stars Linda Blair. The film depicts a night of fraternity hazing set in an old manor, during which a deformed maniac terrorizes and murders many of the college students...
(1981). Jim Bray did not appear in any other movies after Roller Boogie, despite achieving something of pin-up status in teen magazines largely based on his appearance in the film. Stoney Jackson would appear in the third and final season of The White Shadow
The White Shadow
The White Shadow is an American drama television series that ran on the CBS network from November 27, 1978, to March 16, 1981.-Overview:...
as Jesse B. Mitchell before its cancellation in 1981, and in Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's pop video "Beat It
Beat It
"Beat It" is a song written and performed by American recording artist Michael Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones . It is the third single from the singer's sixth solo album, Thriller . Eddie Van Halen was hired to add the song's distinctive overdriven guitar solo, but was prevented by his...
", in 1983.
Recently, fashion brand American Apparel
American Apparel
American Apparel is a clothing manufacturer in the United States. It is a vertically integrated clothing manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer that also performs its own design, advertising, and marketing...
played the movie in store windows. Matthew Swenson, the company's fashion media director, stated; 'We became obsessed with that movie. On a whim, we also bought lamé fabric and turned them into leggings, and the gold and silver took off.". Despite a low average rating of 3.4 on the Internet Movie Database, the film has developed a loyal following and is seen as something of a time-capsule of the late 1970s and the disco era.
The film is considered a cult classic, to teenage and disco fans in general.
Trivia
- Daryl HannahDaryl HannahDaryl Christine Hannah is an American film actress. After making her screen debut in 1978, Hannah starred in a number of Hollywood films throughout the 1980s, notably Blade Runner, Splash, Wall Street and Roxanne and Kill Bill.-Early life:Hannah was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Susan...
auditioned for the role of Lana. - Shortly after the success of GreaseGrease (film)Grease is a 1978 American musical film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Warren Casey's and Jim Jacobs's 1971 musical of the same name about two lovers in a 1950s high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway...
(1978), Olivia Newton-JohnOlivia Newton-JohnOlivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
and John TravoltaJohn TravoltaJohn Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
were considered for the lead roles. - Beverly D'AngeloBeverly D'AngeloBeverly Heather D'Angelo is an American actress and singer.-Early life:D'Angelo was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Priscilla , a violinist, and Gene D'Angelo, a bass player and television station manager. She is of part Italian ancestry...
was close to star as Lana. After she won the role of Sheila in HairHair (film)Hair is a 1979 American film adaptation of the 1968 Broadway musical of the same name about a Vietnam war draftee who meets and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to the army induction center...
(1979) she left the project. - In 2002, the movie National Lampoon's Van WilderNational Lampoon's Van WilderNational Lampoon's Van Wilder is a 2002 comedy film directed by Walt Becker that stars Ryan Reynolds as the main character. The film also stars Kal Penn, Tara Reid, and Daniel Cosgrove. It features Sophia Bush's acting debut...
paid a small tribute to Roller Boogie during a scene where Van sets up a party for a group of nerdy guys at his college and calls it Roller Boogie nights. The scene has the front of Jammer's skating rink where the party was held.
See also
Other films released during the late 1970s disco craze:- Saturday Night FeverSaturday Night FeverSaturday Night Fever is a 1977 drama film directed by John Badham and starring: John Travolta as Tony Manero, an immature young man whose weekends are spent visiting a local Brooklyn discothèque; Karen Lynn Gorney as his dance partner and eventual friend; and Donna Pescow as Tony's former dance...
(1977) - Thank God It's FridayThank God It's FridayThe triple album was, unlike the movie, a commercial success. It contained contributions from some of the biggest names in disco at the time, including Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Thelma Houston, The Commodores, and many others....
(1978) - Skatetown, U.S.A.Skatetown, U.S.A.Skatetown, U.S.A. is a 1979 American comedic feature film produced to capitalize on the short-lived fad of roller disco.The film features many TV stars from the 1960s and 1970s, among them Scott Baio, Flip Wilson, Maureen McCormick, Ron Palillo and Ruth Buzzi. Patrick Swayze's leading role as the...
(1979) - The Apple (1980)
- XanaduXanadu (film)Xanadu is a 1980 romantic musical fantasy film written by Marc Reid Rubel and directed by Robert Greenwald. The title is a reference to the poem "Kubla Khan, or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is quoted in the film. Xanadu is the name of the Chinese province...
(1980) - Can't Stop the MusicCan't Stop the MusicCan't Stop the Music is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by Nancy Walker. It is a pseudo-biography of disco's Village People which bears only a vague resemblance to the actual story of the group's formation...
(1980) - Fame (1980)
External links
- Roller Boogie - Unofficial Fan Site
- Information about the movie