Roller Boogie is a 1979 American teen musical exploitation film[3] about roller disco, directed by Mark L. Lester and starring Linda Blair, Jim Bray, Beverly Garland, Roger Perry, Mark Goddard, Jimmy Van Patten, and Kimberly Beck.
Set in the Venice suburb of Los Angeles at the height of the roller skating fad of the late 1970s, it follows an upper-class young woman (Blair) who falls in love with a working class skater (Bray).
The two seek to thwart efforts from a powerful mobster attempting to acquire the land where a popular roller rink is located.
The film was developed by Irwin Yablans, head of Compass International Pictures, who had experienced notable commercial success with Halloween (1978), which was a major box-office hit the year prior.
In the years since its original release, the film has developed a cult following for its campy style and focus on disco and roller skating culture.
She wants to give up her dreams of playing classical flute at Juilliard School and win a roller disco contest at the beach.
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; Blair would go on to appear in Compass International Pictures' final film, the slasher Hell Night (1981).
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.
Linda Blair was cast in the lead role of Terry, and at the time had intended on moving away from the horror genre in favor of more lighthearted pictures, after her breakthrough appearance in The Exorcist (1973).
[6] Although originally hired as a stunt double, Professional roller skater Jim Bray was cast as Bobby James, and was paid approximately $20,000 for his appearance in the film.
The film was shot in eight weeks through the summer of 1979, mostly on the Venice boardwalks but also at the nearby acclaimed Marina Del Rey skatepark, in Beverly Hills and, for the final competition sequence, at The Stardust Ballroom in Hollywood.
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.
Cher would contribute one song to the Roller Boogie soundtrack – the Esty produced "Hell on Wheels", used in the opening sequence.
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", but the song does not appear in the film.
The song "Lord Is It Mine", performed by Bob Esty, was originally written by Supertramp's Roger Hodgson for their LP Breakfast in America.
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.
[1] Though initial ticket sales were not as high as the film's producers anticipated,[1] it went on to gross a total of $13.2 million at the box office, proving popular with teen audiences.
[2] Initially, Compass International Pictures planned on a sequel (to be set in Mexico—Acapulco Roller Boogie), but probably due to the end of the disco fad, the idea was scrapped.
[12] Roger Ebert awarded the film one-and-a-half out of four stars, likening it to the beach party-themed films produced by American International Pictures: "There is a sense in which Roller Boogie comes as a refreshing surprise: I didn't think it was still possible, in the dog-eared final days of the 1970s, to have this silly, innocent, lame-brained and naive movie.
[7] Despite having a rare 0% approval rating on the internet review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes,[17] the film has developed a loyal following and is seen as something of a time-capsule of the late 1970s and the disco era.