Roller Boogie

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Roller Boogie
Directed by	Mark L. Lester
Produced by	Bruce Cohn Curtis
Written by	Irwin Yablans (story) Barry Schneider
Music by	Craig Safan
Cinematography	Dean Cundey
Editing by	Byron 'Buzz' Brandt Edilberto Cruz M. Edward Salier
Distributed by	United Artists Compass International
Release date(s)	1979
Running time	103 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Roller Boogie (1979) 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.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film is set in the Venice, 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.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

At the time of filming, Jim Bray had won over 270 trophies at age eighteen. He was originally meant to be the stuntman on the film, but when the producers couldn't find a perfect male lead, Bray was given the lead role.

The original male lead was slated to be the brash, Canadian actor David Kennedy. However, due to his torrid off-screen romance with Blair and their subsequent breakup, he was sanctimoniously dismissed at the behest of Blair.

Blair also did a some of her own skating, even though a couple of roller skating scenes, including skating chase down the streets and canals of Venice and jumping over a car, was done by two different stuntwomen. Barbara Guedel did Blair's skating tricks during the Boogie competition.

Blair at age twenty had to leave filming quickly to appear in court in Florida.

There were plans to do a sequel but the studio and producers killed the idea.

On the surface, "Roller Boogie" is a campy low budget movie obviously made quickly before the roller skating fad met its end. But even to this day the film still even enjoys a loyal following.