 | |
List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 23218
Released: August 24, 2004 |
| Our Price: $8.04 |
| Used Price: $3.78 |
|
MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
Love is born to boogie in this electrifying and enjoyable (The Hollywood Reporter) romantic adventure about a Beverly Hills teen who takes love for a spin with a boy from the wrong side of the roller rink! Starring Linda Blair (The Exorcist), Roller Boogie is the ultimate fast-paced, freewheeling 70s roller rompfull of hot bodies (Variety), cool skating and hard-driving disco music (Film Journal)! Terry Barkley (Blair) has a talent for the flute, a scholarship to Juilliard and her whole future planned outuntil she falls head over wheels for a roller-boogie bad boy (Jim Bray). But Terry may lose more than her bearings when the local roller park is threatened by a shady development dealand the mob threatens to turn her boogie hot spot intoa disco inferno!
Roller Boogie Reviews:
Now Available On DVD 
2009-04-13 - To all that may not be aware,
Rolleer Boogie is now available on DVD.I ordered it from either Amazon or Wal Mart,I don't remember which.It was back in 2008.However,I am still looking for the CD of the soundtrack album.Someone please help me locate it.
Hey! You Got Your Pool Party In My Flute Recital! You Got Your Flute Recital In My Pool Party! 
2009-03-27 - Oh the humanity!
I knew I was in trouble 25 seconds into the film when the credit "An Irwin Yablans Production" rolled up the screen. (Feel free to check out his other work.) It turned out I was right: this film is basically "Saturday Night Fever" with worse music and much, much worse writing: compared to "Roller Boogie," "Saturday Night Fever" is sedate and tasteful. The story is utterly predictable: pretentious Beverly Hills girl (Linda Blair) gets involved with a buffoon from the wrong side of the tracks (Jim Bray) who dreams of his future in roller disco at the next Olympic games. The writing is painful corny, so much so that it made me laugh out loud at several dramatically significant places. The film shows roller boogie uniting all parts of the socioeconomic spectrum; look for my favorite demonstration of this, which involves an enormous afro with headphones worn over it at all times.
Blair, whose horrible rich parents just don't understand her, want her to pursue her musical art at Juilliard and are dumbfounded when she yells things like "I'm a musical genius! What a drag! What a bummer!" Sadly, this is some of the better writing in the film. While Blair gallivants around with her seedy roller boogie boy toy, the film gets down to the plot (such as it is) involving a couple of mobsters who are also real estate developers who want to buy the roller disco from the owner, Jammer. He doesn't want to sell, but they threaten to burn the building down with the kids in it. Fortunately the kids have a plan to save the disco, which involves getting Blair's dad, a lawyer, to listen to their case at a formal flute recital at their palace. Unfortunately the two goons are there and are clients of Blair's dad, so the kids have to take matters into their own hands to keep the moguls from buying the roller disco. Mostly this plan involves turning the flute recital into a pool party, and Blair pouting.
Jammer decides to sell under the threats, which is so traumatizing to the kids that one of them becomes a Hare Krishna in one of the funniest scenes in film history. But wait! The kids discover that the afro headphones actually tape recorded the conversation threatening Jammer! What will happen? Only the funniest car chase in history. It's basically a couple of kids on skates versus a Cadillac. I especially enjoyed the part where our heroes decide to get towed by the very car containing the gun-toting thugs, but the use of a table to jump over the car in what must stand as the most pointless stunt of 1979 is my very favorite. Of course the kids win, Jammer keeps his valuable roller disco, and Blair and Bray go on to win a huge roller boogie contest. The ending is high on pathos, and is humorously staged around a large roller disco trophy. The whole last half of the movie made me think how happy Jammer must have been to keep his valuable roller disco, because that will never go out of style. He was obviously right to turn down millions offered by the real estate goons and live his dream.
This film is extremely difficult to rate, as I would actually rate it differently for different viewers: if you want to see a good movie, this is in sub-one star terrain, but if you want to see a camp classic in which every single frame has something to laugh at, this is off the charts at five plus stars. Since I have to make a choice, I settled on three stars as a kind of average. This film is truly dreadful, but nonetheless absolutely and ruthlessly entertaining.
This Flick Wasn't Meant For Me...But 
2009-03-07 - The roller disco craze was the polar opposite of what I was into in the seventies. I kind of looked like Joey Ramone sporting a Wrangler jacket and an iron on decal Pink Floyd T-Shirt. The one time I went to the rink was when my buddies wanted to pick up chicks. None of us looked like the buff and bronzed skaters in "Roller Boogie". I probably fell on my behind as the din of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" tortured my eardrums. Needless to say I wasn't in the opening day crowd when this flick opened. To be honest, I think the roller disco craze had pretty much petered out when this film was released in the holiday season of 1979. Viewing this movie as a time capsule curio, though, it's not bad. The makers were probably trying to cash in on the moment's craze, if roller disco was truly a phenomenon, but it is a sincere effort. Granted, the skating scenes are not on par with the electricity of the dancing in "Saturday Night Fever". For that matter the acting isn't first rate and the dialogue is oh so corny. I give "Roller Boogie" the pass because the young cast seem to have an infectuous enthusiasm for what they're doing and it comes across as winning. Linda Blair is cute in the girl-next-door mold but it is pretty obvious that she was doubled in her skating scenes. "Roller Boogie" is cinematic ice cream and I don't mean that as a negative.
Lind Blair never looked so good!
2007-11-29 - Yes, I admit it. The ONLY reason I bought this DVD was to see Linda Blair in all her panty hosed/spandex glory. Was I disappointed? NO!!!!!!!!
Linda is fantastic as the young, nubile Theresa 'Terry' Barkley. About to go to Julliard, Terry picks up a new fad-Roller skating. She soon catches the eye of Robert "Bobby" James. (Played by Jim Bray, a real life champion skater, in his only film role) After turning down his advances at first, soon, he is teaching her how to `dance skate', and they fall in love. Mixed in the plot is a "Roller Boogie" contest which Terry wants to win, local mobsters who plan to close down the Boogie hall (and also have Terry's dad as their lawyer) and the young gang of skaters(Led by Bobbie and Terry) determined to stop them.
This being a "PG" film, Linda Blair does get nude, as she did in a few others but I like the fun spirit of this one, as opposed to the meaner, harder feeling of her other films.
And she looks simply stunning thru out the entire movie. Her body, while not nude, IS on display here quite often! And yes, Linda did do a lot of her own skating. It seems like she enjoyed making this movie and it shows on the screen.
I can think of worse ways to spend an hour and 40 minutes.
Roller Boogie WOW!!!!
2007-11-24 - If you love the roller disco days of the 80's, then you will surely love this movie. It is a story of a young man Bobby James, played by Jim Bray who dreams of entering the olymics for his roller skating.
He meets a young uperclass woman Terry (played by Linda Blair) who is destined to go to Juliard music acadamy becuase of her musical genius. But Terry is fed up with her boring life.
She doesn't like always having to be little miss perfect, and she is looking to have some fun.
Terry loves to skate, so she asks Bobby (who is the best skater on the Venice Beach Boardwalk), if he would teach her all the moves on wheels. Of course they fall in love.
The story line itself is not the best part, but surely the skating and the funky disco music is.
I actually got to see Jim Bray skate in person, when he was promoting this movie, and he is one of the best Artistic skaters in the business. So if your into Fantrastic Roller skating and dancing on 8 wheels, then take a look at this Terrific 80's skating classic.
