Kansas City Bomber

It took some courage to make a sports movie like this, one that's cynical about everything, including the sport it's highlighting. Sports movies today (ever since "Rocky") are usually uplifting and positive and as such feel kind of fake and silly. But this movie is nothing like that. It takes you right down into the gutter of life. And at times it can be kind of depressing to watch. In fact, one of the main characters is a clinically depressed alcoholic very effectively played by Helena Kallianiotes, who was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for this role. But as the movie goes along you feel like you're watching something real, even though the sport itself is supposed to be "fake".

And Raquel Welch gives a very real performance. Her character is gritty, sad, lonely, and vulnerable, and Raquel captures all of that very effectively. She tries to work her way through all the cynicism, even her own.

If you prefer dark and gritty sports movies then you might enjoy this. And, of course, Raquel Welch is in it and that's always a big plus.

A movie that cries out for the Michael Ritchie or Robert Altman treatment is instead outsourced to the too somber Jerrold Freedman and the result is a roller derby film with virtually no laughs or fun. Also, the usually good scenarists Tom Rickman ("Coal Miners Daughter") and Calvin Clements (of "Gunsmoke" fame) provide rather flat, unmemorable dialogue. So, aside from a decent Raquel Welch performance, and a bit better than decent Helena Kallianiotes, as well as their shapely bods, there's not much to hold onto. C plus.

Renowned sex symbol Raquel Welch is front and centre as Diane "K.C." Carr, a reigning roller derby star who is obliged to leave town early in the tale. She signs up to play for leering team owner Burt Henry (Kevin McCarthy), the kind of guy who ultimately does what's good for business. She must overcome the vindictiveness of another player, Jackie Burdette (Helena Kallianiotes), who'd previously been the big cheese of the team, and fend off advances from horny pig teammates. In the meantime, single mother K.C. ends up with little time for her two kids (the daughter is played by Jodie Foster, in one of her earliest roles).

The script here is just okay, but at least it manages to entertain, and create a key emotional moment for teammate Horrible Hank Hopkins (character actor Norman Alden, giving the movies' standout performance). What is striking is the way that this fad of the 70s has definite similarities to pro wrestling: the colourful personalities, the bone-crunching brutality, the circus-like nature of the sport, life on the road, and the frequent smack-talking. This helps the picture to at least be a reasonably good artifact of time and place, if not a great film. The action on the track is pretty damn amusing, and adding a degree of authenticity is the presence of real-life roller derby players of the period. Decent location shooting in Kansas City, Fresno, and Portland is an asset.

Raquel is very appealing and also quite convincing in a very physical role, giving as good as she gets. McCarthy is fine as the unlikely romantic partner for her. Kallianiotes is one of those antagonists whom you do come to understand and sympathize with, to some degree. Jeanne Cooper, Katherine Pass, Cornelia Sharpe, William Gray Espy, Richard Lane, and Russ Marin round out a solid supporting cast. If you're watching it for Jodie, be advised that her role is actually quite minor.

Overall, a watchable picture, certain to appeal to fans of Raquel and roller derby in general.

Seven out of 10.

OK, so before Raquel became a "serious" actress, she did a number of fluffy, inconsequential films which displayed far more of her physical attributes than any heavy-duty acting chops. This film (while keeping la Raquel covered, for the most part) pretty much falls into "fluffy": good-hearted but lonely divorceé Diane "KC" Carr tries to make it in the Roller Games circuit, clashing with female cohorts and dodging male advances. Being a huge fan of Roller Games during the early 70s, I was thrilled that this film featured a number of RollerGame stars who were big at the time. Toss in a love affair between KC and a manipulative team owner, stir in strained relationships between KC & her mother and KC and one of her two young children (one played by a young Jodie Foster), add a bitter rivalry with fading Roller Games queen Jackie (excellent Golden Globe nominated performance by Helena Kallianiotes) and there hangs the drama. Kevin McCarthy oozes as the pawn-shifting team owner, and pulls off the love-interest quite believably in spite of the fact he is 26 years her senior! Overall, a good effort (with La Raquel executive producing) and a check-your-brains-at-the-door kind of movie, but one I still love to curl up in front of... even while folding laundry.

As of March 15, 2005, I just learned that the movie is finally scheduled for DVD release May 31, 2005. For those of you who have bought previous DVD versions, you're probably already aware that they're cheesy bootleg copies, mostly taped from TV then transferred to DVD-R; says the seller, "I bought this at a convention, so that's why the picture isn't so great."

Much like pro-wrestling, roller derby was pure entertainment. Fake. A put on, really. But nothing about Raquel Welch was fraudulent. At the time this movie was made, she was thirty-two and prime choice. Her role (roller derby siren) is athletic, sexy, dramatic, physical, and smashes, forever, the starlet mold she had been frozen in for years. Never again would she achieve such a perfect mix in the acting arena. She has a great introduction: we see only her lower body (legs and skates) moving through darkness, as Don Ellis' rousing score penetrates the blackness. She has an entrance even an emperor would give thumbs up to. I like how she turns (briefly) the wrong way during the National Anthem. Your other left, Raquel. Cute. Jodie Forster plays her hero-worshiping daughter with a heavy dose of arsenic. Kevin McCarthy is the devious, unethical owner of the roller derby club. Raquel's fellow skaters, especially Hellena Kallianiotas and Norman Alden, give excellent support. I believe that Miss Kallianiotes inhabits one of the most depressing characters ever seen in a sports film. She is a loner. And she drinks bourbon from a brown paper bag--all the while alienating fans, teammates, and ownership. The film's cameraman performs magic with his gorgeous on location shooting in Portland. Also, there are some very unusual and lengthy tracking shots at a marina and through a hotel. Fantastic. Watch for the freeze-frame shot at the conclusion of the movie. It foreshadows James Caan's iconic pose in the upcoming Rollerball. Both films visualize an out of control society: where rules and fair play don't exist. I like how McCarthy's character barges into the ladies locker room, helps himself to a drink, and makes himself at home with his half-dressed female skaters. Later, he lets slip a business confession: "Everyone is bought and sold--including you and me." Telling.