From satanic panic to full on spandex, Linda Blair is spinning heads with Roller Boogie! So dig out your skates and lace up for some super disco madness. Directed by Mark L. Lester (of Commando and Class of 84 fame) this 1979 flick is bound to get you to dust off your ol’ Roller Derby Roller Stars and boogie down.
The Quick Gist
Linda Blair plays a rich kid musical prodigy headed for Julliard. But of course, her true love lies with skating the Venice Boardwalk and Jammers, the local roller rink. But when the mob tries to shut down Jammers, the group of skating teens band together to fight and keep it open.
Roller Boogie
Mark L. Lester’s 1979 film is seemingly set in an alternate reality where every single young person roller skates. Everywhere you look, skaters are zipping around, boogying up and down the boardwalk, rolling around the rink, just living their best lives. Bikinis and booty shorts abound. You can’t escape it. These teens love to skate!
Linda Blair plays Terry, a depressed rich kid who has her life already planned out for her by her disengaged parents. She’s a real deal musical prodigy, and we know this because the movie reminds us at every chance it gets. But Terry just wants to be your average skating teen, rolling down the boardwalk, boogying her life away. Can you blame her?
She quickly catches the eye of Bobby, the local skating prodigy. No one can hold a wheel up to Bobby. Terry agrees to hang out with him as long as he teaches her how to dance on skates so she can compete at the summer roller dance competition. He agrees, they fall in love, and the rest is history.
Or is it? Because believe it or not, the mob actually has a vested interested in Jammers. It’s a switcharoo that gives Psycho a real skate for its money. But the kids get a whiff of the gangsters’ plans to demolish the joint for some land development deal. Maybe Terry’s lawyer father can help… or is he mixed up with the crooks too? Can the skating teens put a stop to the mob. Will the disco madness be too much for Two Bit Tony and his gang of cronies? Well, whatever happens, at least we get a sensual dance scene of Bobby bidding farewell to the Jammer’s owner with an ultra homoerotic slo-mo skate show.
There are plenty of things that’re funny about this movie. The hamfisting of the mob plotline an hour in is just one of them. Dean Cundey happens to be the DP, probably brought on by writer/EP Irwin Yablans, who executive produced Halloween a year earlier. And for some reason, Linda Blair does her best femme fatale voice, doing her damnedest to channel Barbara Stanwyck. Who knows why? But honestly, it’s hard to deny her charm and allure. Maybe it’s just all the sexy spandex squeezing my brain.
I admittedly know next to nothing about these disco roller skating movies. I’ve never seen Skate Town, U.S.A or anything else like it. So, is this good comparatively? No idea. But it’s kind of a brainless fun time capsule of late 70s Venice. And no doubt about it, there’s some epic roller boogying going down. After all, Bobby is played by Jim Bray, a competitive artistic roller skater. So yeah, there’s some fun to be had.
Well, there you have it! Another summer flick, this time set on skates. Kick back, enjoy the show, and get your roller boogie on!
More Summer Movies Streaming on C&C
A Summer at Grandpa’s (1984) - Hou Hsiao-hsien
Last Summer (1969) - Frank Perry
Countryman (1982) - Dickie Jobson
Station Six-Sahara (1964) - Seth Holt
A Real Young Girl (1976) - Catherine Breillat
Ostia (1970) and Beach House (1977) - Sergio Citti
Kill Me Quick I’m Cold (1967) - Francesco Maselli
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