Guilty Pleasure No. 97: Roller Boogie (dir by Mark L. Lester)

Posted on January 2, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

1979’s Roller Boogie opens with an impromptu parade of roller skaters rolling across the Venice Beach boardwalk. They don’t care about any stuffy people who think that they should be in school or working behind a counter. They’re young, they’re free! One of them wears rainbow suspenders and juggles while skating. (I’ve noticed that every roller skating movie seems to feature at least one juggler in rainbow suspenders. Strangely, you never see them in real life.)

This is followed by a scene of a teenage rich girl Terry Barkley (Linda Blair) getting ready for her day in her poster decorated bedroom. The camera zooms in for a close-up as she picks just the right chunky bracelet to wear.

In other words, it doesn’t get much more late 70s/early 80s than Roller Boogie.

The plot is pretty simple. Terry meets the king of the roller skaters, Bobby James (Jim Bray). Bobby is a kid from a working class background and he dreams of the day that his roller skating skills will lead to him competing in the Olympics. Terry is rich and she has a snooty best friend (Kimberly Beck) and parents (Beverly Garland and Roger Perry) who are planning on sending her to Julliard. Despite everyone saying that they’re from different worlds, Terry and Bobby enter the roller disco contest together! Cue the montage!

Unfortunately, a crooked businessman (Mark Goddard) is planning on bulldozing the skating rink. Can Bobby and the other skaters defeat the businessman and his gangster pals? Even when guns are pulled on them, Bobby and his friends refuse to give up. Myself, I’d just find another skating rink. I mean, it’s Venice Beach in 1979. It’s hard to believe that there’s only one place to go.

The gangster subplot feels out of place, a misguided attempt to bring some action to a perfectly acceptable teen romance. This was Jim Bray’s only film role and he wasn’t a particularly good actor but he and Linda Blair had enough natural chemistry to bring some charm to the film. Linda Blair, for her part, skates as if the fate of the world depended upon it and she seems to enjoy playing a relatively happy character for once. It’s totally predictable, a bit dumb at times but it’s still likable enough. Ultimately, it’s such a product of its time — look at the clothes, look at the hair, listen to the slang — that it becomes rather fascinating to watch. This is a movie that you watch and say, “So, that’s what 1979 was like!”

Previous Guilty Pleasures

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Mark L. Lester Edition

Posted on November 26, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films is all about letting the visuals do the talking.

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to director Mark L. Lester. It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Mark L. Lester Films

Roller Boogie (1979, dir by Mark L. Lester, DP: Dean Cundey)

Class of 1984 (1982, dir by Mark L. Lester, DP: Albert Dunk)

Commando (1985, dir by Mark L. Lester, DP: Matthew Leonetti)

Public Enemies (1996, dir by Mark L. Lester, DP: Misha Suslov)

6 Classic Trailers For January 1st, 2022

Posted on January 1, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, it’s the first day of a new year and that means that it’ time for me to bring back a feature that was once quite popular on this site, Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film Trailers. This is where I just share six trailers, sometimes all dealing with the same thing and sometimes not. Unfortunately, because there’s only so many trailers available on YouTube, you’ll probably see a few trailers listed more than once. It can’t be helped but no matter! Trailers are fun and hopefully, watching a few of them will be an enjoyable way for you to start your day or your week or whatever. I certainly enjoy them!

Since it’s the start of a new year and I already shared a music video for The Hustle, I figured I would continue that disco theme now. Below are 6 trailers that will hopefully leave you dancing!

Thank God It’s Friday (1978)

Considering that this film won an Oscar and was released by a major studio and featured both Jeff Goldblum and future Oscar nominee Debra Winger in the cast, it may seem odd to include this trailer in a feature about exploitation film previews. But seriously, just watch the movie! Yes, Last Dance is great but otherwise, this movie is pure drive-in gold.

2. Skatetown USA (1979)

“The greatest story ever rolled!” Check out Patrick Swayze, playing a bad guy. Swayze made his film debut here and, when he became a star, he actually tired to buy the rights to the film to keep anyone from ever seeing it again. Honestly, though, it’s not that bad. The music’s good. Some of the routines are fun. Swayze smolders with intensity. Put on your skates and dance!

3. Roller Boogie (1979)

At the same time that Patrick Swayze was dominating Skatetown USA, Linda Blair was teaching a nation how to roll, dance, and love.

4. Disco Godfather (1979)

Of course, the disco wasn’t always a safe place. Even in the 70s, it was a dangerous world out there. Fortunately, Rudy Ray Moore was around to keep the peace and prevent the dancers from getting hooked on PCP. “Put your weight on it, put your weight on it, put your weight on it!”

5. Can’t Stop The Music (1980)

You can’t stop the music …. no matter how much you try! This was an attempt at a Village People movie. It apparently didn’t really go very well. I’ve never actually seen the film, though I suppose I’ll have to watch it someday.

6. Xanadu (1980)

Heh …. on YouTube, this is listed as being “A Gene Kelly movie.” Yeah, Gene Kelly is one of the stars but I still don’t know if I’d necessarily call this “A Gene Kelly movie,” in the same way that I might use the label for Singin’ In The Rain or An American In Paris. Xanadu was one of the last of the big disco movies and it’ll live forever, though perhaps not in the way that it was originally intended to.

Scene That I Love: Linda Blair and Jim Bray’s Roller Skate Routine From Roller Boogie

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is not only Jim Jarmusch’s birthday. It’s also Linda Blair’s!

Now, of course, the first film that probably comes to mind when you hear the name “Linda Blair” is The Exorcist and that makes sense. After all, it’s probably the best film in which Blair ever appeared. Blair even received an Oscar nomination for playing the demonically possessed Regan MacNeil and for convincingly vomiting all over Jason Miller and Max von Sydow. If not for the fact that Mercedes McCambridge provided the voice of the demon, Blair probably would have won that Oscar as well. Instead, the Oscar went to Tatum O’Neal.

Blair’s gone on to have an active career, though none of her subsequent films ever proven to be as popular with critics or audiences as The Exorcist. In fact, the majority of her films have been received rather dismissively by the critics. Of course, Blair’s subsequent films haven’t exactly been in the type of genres that are usually embraced by the critics. Instead, Linda Blair appeared in several women-in-prison films. She also appeared in several vigilante films, including Savage Streets. She did several low-budget horror movies, like the classic Hell Night. Blair also appeared in two bad-but-kind-of-fun sequels, Airport 1975 and Exorcist II: The Heretic. (Airport 1975 features Linda Blair as the most perky seriously ill person ever. Exorcist II, of course, featured Blair trying to keep a street face.)

And here’s the thing — the movies may have occasionally been bad but Linda Blair always kicked ass. In fact, she often literally did just that. At her best, Blair was the type of exploitation heroine who would kick the bad guy in the balls and then taunt him for crying about it afterwards. And good for her!

Now admittedly, today’s scene of the day does not feature Linda Blair kicking anyone or exacting violent revenge on the patriarchy. But no matter. The 1979 film Roller Boogie is a lot of fun, precisely because it’s a mix of disco, roller skating, and the mob. Linda Blair and Jim Bray have to protect their favorite skating rink from the mafia. They also have to win the annual Boogie contest. Needless to say, that’s a lot to deal with but if anyone can handle it, it’s Linda Blair.

“It’s love on wheels!” the posters proclaimed, presumably because Skatetown U.S.A. was already using, “It’s the greatest story that ever rolled.” Roller Boogie is a thoroughly silly movie and, not surprisingly, it’s also a very 70s movie. Every single moment of the film screams out, “1979!” You know how Saturday Night Fever used the disco scene as the backdrop for a rather melancholy story about a young person struggling to grow up and become a better person? Well, Roller Boogie‘s not like that at all but it does feature a lot of disco and a lot of skating and how can you go wrong with that?

Anyway, here is today’s scene that I love. Here are Linda Blair and Jim Bray competing for the top prize in Roller Boogie!

6 Trailers For A Sick, Sick World

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to the latest installment of Lisa Marie’s Grindhouse Trailers. Since I’ve been battling a pretty bad cold for about a week now, I thought I would use this installment to highlight a few trailers that prove that the rest of the world is just as sick.

1) Massacre at Central High

I’ve read so much about this 1976 film but — for whatever reason — it has never officially been released on DVD (though there all bootlegs out there as well as an “all-regions” DVD that apparently is not “all-regions.”) From what I’ve read, this is apparently a political satire disguised as a high school revenge film. The trailer has an oddly off feel to it. Maybe it’s just the exploding locker…

2) Class of 1984

I first saw this film (directed by Mark Lester) on DVD about three years ago. I was expecting to see a silly, urban vigilante film from the early 80s so imagine my surprise when I discovered that Class of 1984 is a seriously dark and oddly disturbing movie. Tim Van Patten (he’s the one going, “I am the future…”) is now a pretty succesful television commercial. He actually gives a pretty good performance in this film, something that’s not necessarily obvious from this trailer.

3) Savage Streets

Yes, another high school revenge film. In this one, Linda Blair’s sister is raped so Linda tracks and down and kills the Class of 1985. Usually, this is where I’d make my standard argument that this is a case of exploitation serving to empower. Honestly, though, it would be more empowering if the film’s villains weren’t so silly and stupid (you get the feeling that they’re all going to die soon anyway regardless of what Linda does) and if the avenging angel was played by someone other than Linda Blair.

4) The Warriors

The Baseball Furies always make me smile. 🙂

For extra fun, imagine the “gang” from Savage Streets trying to fight any of the gangs in this trailer.

5) Sweden: Heaven and Hell (not available from Amazon.com)

The previous trailers paint a pretty grim picture of America. According to the “documentary” Sweden: Heaven and Hell, the best thing about America is that it wasn’t Sweden.

Sweden: Heaven and Hell is actually an Italian mondo film, a rather vile form of “documentary” that was big from the mid-60s up until Ruggero Deodato did the world a favor and satirized the genre out of existence with Cannibal Holocaust. It was released in the States in 1968 (I think). This is one of those movies that I know by reputation as I’ve never actually seen the actual film. However, the trailer is grindhouse tackiness at its absolute best. Everything from the narrator’s leering tone to the “shocking” footage (a woman dancing with another woman — gasp!) makes this trailer a perfect time capsule of the Grindhouse Era.

6) Skatetown USA (not available in any format on Amazon. com — how odd)

But, as sick as Sweden apparently was, can it possibly be sicker than whatever it was that was going on at Skatetown, USA? Seriously, what was wrong with this country in the 70s? That said, I do like this ludicrous trailer if just for the sight of a young and dangerous Patrick Swayze. Plus, how can you dislike any trailer that claims to be advertising “the greatest story ever rolled?”

Seriously, the 70s were fucked up.

SPECIAL BONUS TRAILERS FOR A SICK, SICK WORLD

7) Roller Boogie

Seriously, what was the deal with people roller skating at a disco? Is that what passed for fun back in the 70s? Weird. Maybe it was all the cocaine. I came across this trailer while I was downloading the Skatetown USA preview and I just had to include it. Not only is the movie called Roller Boogie but it’s directed by the director of Class of 1984 and it stars the star the Savage Streets. So, everything ties together.