| Skatetown, U.S.A. | |
|---|---|
Katherine Kelly Lang and Greg Bradford are shown on the theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | William A. Levey |
| Produced by | Lorin Dreyfuss (producer) William A. Levey (producer) Peter E. Strauss (executive producer) |
| Written by | Nick Castle (Screenplay & story) Lorin Dreyfuss (story) William A. Levey (story) |
| Starring | Scott Baio, Patrick Swayze, Flip Wilson, Maureen McCormick, Katherine Kelly Lang |
| Music by | Miles Goodman Dave Mason |
| Cinematography | Donald M. Morgan |
| Editing by | Gene Fowler Jr. |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 1979 |
| Running time | 98 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Skatetown, U.S.A. is a 1979 American comedic feature film produced to capitalize on the short-lived fad of roller disco.[1]
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 skater "Ace" was his first movie performance. Also in the cast are Sydney Lassick, Billy Barty and Dorothy Stratten (later subject of the film Star 80).
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The setting is one evening at a fictional Los Angeles-area roller disco called Skatetown, U.S.A, drawn by scriptwriters from Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace, a disco roller rink which had opened in West Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard earlier in 1979 and was fleetingly a very popular celebrity hangout. The plot, such as it is, has to do with a rivalry between two skaters in a contest (played by Swayze and Bradford), the winning prize for which is $1000 and a moped. There are many short, broadly comedic and slapstick sub-plots (such as a gag having to do with itching powder) set between long roller skating sequences and musical performances. After a game of chicken played on motorized roller skates the two rivals become friends.
Filming was done mostly at the Hollywood Palladium, built in 1940. Its sprawling blond hardwood dance floor, chandeliers and soap bubbles blown by a machine from the Lawrence Welk Show can be seen in sundry scenes. Some exteriors were shot on Santa Monica Pier and at nearby Venice Beach. Patrick Swayze, who had roller skated competitively as a teenager and was a trained dancer, did his own skating and stunts in the film. April Allen, Swayze's uncredited roller skating partner in the movie, had won the world championship in women's free skating seven years earlier.[2][3]
Twenty-nine years after filming, Maureen McCormick recalled that "Like a disco, there was a lot of cocaine being done on the set. Many people were open about it." McCormick wrote that she fell back into severe cocaine addiction during production, often showing up late for shooting or not coming to work at all.[4]
| Skatetown, U.S.A. | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |
| Released | 1979 |
| Genre | Disco |
| Length | 39:00 |
| Label | Columbia Records |
The film features almost non-stop synchronized music, much by popular disco and pop artists from the mid and late 1970s. Most of this music is diegetic, in that it is shown within the plot as being played either through records spun by the roller disco's "wizard" DJ or performed on the club's stage and hence, is heard by both the characters and the movie's audience. Dave Mason is featured as a performer in the roller disco, playing himself. Mason sings the movie's disco-tinged theme song "Skatetown" (written by Mason and Brenda Cooper) over the opening credits. He is also shown performing "I Fell in Love" along with a cover of his own 1968 Traffic hit "Feelin' Alright." Among other songs on the soundtrack are the Patrick Hernandez dance hit "Born to Be Alive," "Boogie Wonderland" (Earth, Wind & Fire and The Emotions), "Shake Your Body" (The Jacksons), "Boogie Nights" (Heatwave), "Baby Hold On" (Eddie Money), "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" (McFadden & Whitehead), "I Want You to Want Me" (Cheap Trick), "Roller Girl" (John Sebastian), "Perfect Dancer" (Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr.) and a cover of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' "Under My Thumb" by the Hounds.
A soundtrack album was released in 1979 by Columbia Records.
Side A:
Side B:
Following a widely publicized premiere party at Flipper's roller disco in West Hollywood on 1 October 1979[2][7] and billed as the Rock and Roller Disco Movie of the Year,[4] by the time of its release roller disco was a fast-waning fad and the popularity of disco music had peaked (Disco Demolition Night had already happened two and a half months earlier). Aside from some praise for Swayze's skating and screen presence[2] the movie was neither a critical nor a box office success. However, by the early 21st century a writer for oddculture.com called the film "a true cult item and one of the best 70s time capsules around. [...] There’s just something magical about a slutty Marsha [sic] eating drugged pizza with a bearded Horshack."[8]
It was later shown on cable television from time to time. There have been no known licenced VHS or DVD releases. This may be owing to home video licencing woes over the soundtrack's many major label recordings.[8][9] 35mm and 16mm full frame prints of the movie (which was shot in 35mm and cropped to widescreen for theatrical release) have been exhibited at film revivals[10] and low quality video copies made from a much faded full frame 16mm print have been in commercial circulation.[11]