I just purchased and watched my copy of this newly-released DVD. Raquel plays K.C. Carr, a single mom with two kids (one of them is a very young Jodie Foster) who makes her living on the Roller Derby circuit! This is bad filmmaking at its best. Raquel zooms around the roller derby rink, knocking down other skaters and occasionally falling on her ass. Of course, most of the rough stuff is obviously being handled by a stunt double (whose hair always seems to be covering her face so that we won't notice that she isn't really Raquel).
I saw this at the drive-in when I was a kid (I think it might have been part of a double feature with BEN). The roller derby scenes seemed a lot more exciting then. Watching the movie now at age 41 was a mind-numbing experience.
Raquel does wear a couple of nice outfits during the film. But keep in mind that this is only rated PG.
In addition to Raquel, the equally embarrassing supporting cast includes Kevin McCarthy and Cornelia Sharpe. As if you really care . . .
Post Edited (06-04-05 15:13)
I remember watching rollar derby as a kid although I never figured out a point for it (except seeing women in short horts on roller skates).
I first saw KANSAS CITY BOMBER on TV in the 70's and liked it and always also liked watching the weekly TV Roller Derby broadcast. I also remember reading a book on the Roller Derby from the public library and like Ozzymandias said it's hard to understand it, but it was always entertaining. The big team was the L.A. Thunderbirds. Never saw a live Roller Derby show. That would have been fun.
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The part that was hard to understand in Roller Derby (http://www.rollersport.us/history.cfm) was the scoring of points by passing the opposing team players. You could never tell who was yet to be passed. I'm sure the referees couldn't either, but they knew when the big blocks where coming up and a score would result. Each team had some type of pivot person with a black or white helmet that was the player who scored points.
Then you have ROLLERBALL the movie also in the 70's.
Roller Derby was like watching Pro Wrestling in the 70's.
Raquel Welch (born Jo Raquel Tejada). Grew up in Southern California and her father was from Bolivia.
Raquel Welsh films that I've seen are:
Bandolero !
Hannie Caulder
100 Rifles
Bedazzled
The Three Musketeers
The Four Mustketeers
One Million B.C.
Kansas City Bomber
Mother, Jugs, and Speed
Tortilla Soup
Fantastic Voyage
Post Edited (06-04-05 21:25)
They tried to resurrect it like 4-6 years ago. Updated with better looking women and inline skates. Apparently flopped, cause I haven't seen it since.
Yep, I think it was called ROLLER JAM on TNN. The atmosphere of old time Roller Derby I guess can't be duplicated.
The book I read long ago on the ROLLER DERBY told how two guy at a Chicago restaraunt created it by drawing out the design on a napkin. If I remember correctly they were already promoters of the dance marathons of the time, but I could be wrong about that.
In the 80's they came up with a show that featured a figure 8 track with alligator pits.
Post Edited (06-05-05 14:58)
I prefered the roller derby that aired on ESPN back in the mid-eighties. The whole show was clearly all scripted with the mentality of WWF wrestling. They then left ESPN and tried to syndicate it all glitzed up as Rock 'n' Roller Jam. It ended up being canned in less than a single season but it was hilarious seeing them blatantly recycle many of the same material they used on ESPN. It wasn't nearly as amusing the second time around.