Roll, Freddy, Roll!

This was one of the funniest movies my family has ever been privileged to see. My husband and kids literally laughed so hard that they fell on the floor. My jaw and stomach muscles ached for days afterward. I have tried for years to find information about this made-for-TV film to no avail. Most of the time there was simply NO information to be had. It was as if the media moguls just let this hilarious piece fall through the cracks into some sort of limbo. It did my heart good to see other folks so interested in seeing this film again. Laughter cures so many ills and the world sure could use some laugh medicine about now. Come on Disney, give us a smile, give us a DVD.

Even when I first saw "Roll, Freddy, Roll" as an 11-year-old fan of anything starring Tim Conway, something puzzled me. Sure, I enjoyed Tim as always. And the climax where he's rolling through the streets like "Bullitt" on roller skates is amazing. But I just couldn't figure out the ex-wife and kid. I mean, Freddy's rival for his son's attention is a car dealer during an oil crisis ... while Freddy designs mainframe computers before anyone even knows what they are! So it's pretty obvious who the cool dad really is. If the ex and the kid are really that shallow, we need a sequel to set things straight - one where Freddy's a billionaire with a half-dozen IPOs under his belt, preferably roller blading with his third trophy wife.

This is a funny movie about a man trying to get his son's approval. He decides to get in the Guinness Book of records by wearing roller skates longer than anyone. He ends up being a pall bearer on roller skates and whipping out of control down a parking ramp--all silly fun that's a perfect vehicle for Conway type physical humor and a good movie for kids to watch.

After all these years, I've finally found someone else who remembers "Roll Freddy Roll". Maybe we are the only two demented minds to have reacted similarly when it was viewed, but it has been an ongoing project to obtain a copy of this movie in any form as a means of either validating the absolute comic genius of this movie; or to finally denigrate my ability to assess what is funny. As I read the previous comment, I kept saying "YESSS!!!" after each sentence as if it came from my keyboard. All I can say is if Disney, Persky, Conway, or anyone else with access to this movie can make it available to the public, they have a confirmed customer in me.

I remember seeing "Roll, Freddy, Roll" when it first aired on December 17, 1974; I had just begun junior high school in Lansing, Michigan.

Seeing this film again would bring back many great memories; unfortunately, the last time I saw "Roll, Freddy, Roll" was in 1987 when an independent station here in Detroit ran it. Naturally, the station cut the film in order to fit the time slot (without commercials, "Roll, Freddy, Roll" ran about an hour and 40 minutes).

I discovered Disney now owns "Roll, Freddy, Roll;" in mid-1995 they purchased ABC, whose former ABC Circle Films division produced the film (ABC Circle Films was later responsible for "Moonlighting").

In unity there is strength, and the more requests Disney receives about "Roll, Freddy, Roll," the quicker they'll dig into their vaults, unearth it, and put it on DVD!

(Postscript, May 12, 2020: I discovered about five years ago *MGM* now owns the rights to "Roll, Freddy, Roll." It's part of an ABC Films portfolio MGM distributes for all media including such other ABC Circle Films made-for-TV movies as "Can Ellen Be Saved?" and "The Day After," as well as such ABC Motion Pictures theatrical films as "Silkwood." So all I can suggest now is to try contacting MGM and/or Universal Studios Home Entertainment, who now distributes all MGM product - with the exception of the pre-June 1986 MGM films, which are owned by Warner Bros. - on DVD. If either or both companies are hounded enough, then hopefully they'll put "Freddy" on DVD.)