Roller Boogie

Roller Boogie
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMark L. Lester
Screenplay byBarry Schneider
Story byIrwin Yablans
Produced byBruce Cohn Curtis
Starring
CinematographyDean Cundey
Edited by
  • Byron "Buzz" Brandt
  • Edilberto Cruz
  • Edward Salier
Music byCraig Safan
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • December 19, 1979 (1979-12-19)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.5 million[1]
Box office$13.3 million[2]

Roller Boogie is a 1979 American teen musical exploitation film[3] 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 fellow skater (Bray) while 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. Filming took place in Los Angeles in the summer of 1979, and its elaborate skating sequences were choreographed by David Winters.

Released by United Artists on December 19, 1979, Roller Boogie received mostly negative reviews from film critics, who deemed it a shallow film exploiting the trends of disco and roller skating, though it was a box office success, grossing over $13 million. 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.[4]

  1. ^ Schreger, Charles (December 31, 1979). "Irwin Yablans Boogies All the Way to the Bank". Los Angeles Times. pp. 8–9. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Roller Boogie". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  3. ^ "Roller Boogie". The Loft Cinema. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023.
  4. ^ "David DeCoteau on Roller Boogie". Trailers from Hell. April 16, 2015. Archived from the original on May 16, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)